2024 Players Championship Picks & Predictions: Best Outrights, Props with Scheffler a Heavy Favorite

Scottie Scheffler is set as a prohibitive betting favorite as we look for value with our best Players Championship picks and predictions based on The Players Championship odds from our best golf betting sites.

Scottie Scheffler enters his defense of The Players Championship off a commanding five-stroke victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational. That win - complete with a resurrected putting performance - has Scheffler as a prohibitive betting favorite at TPC Sawgrass, where he also won by five strokes last March.

With last week's victory, Scheffler re-affirmed his position atop the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). However, the 144-man field is one of the strongest fields in golf, making the +550 odds tough to swallow for Scheffler.

We'll look for better value across the odds from our best sports betting sites for our Players Championship picks. Stay tuned to this page as we'll be adding more picks throughout the week. Our Players Championship sleeper picks hunt for a larger payday.

Players Championship outright picks

• Rory McIlroy to win (+1400 via BetMGM)
• Will Zalatoris to finish top 5 (+650 via Caesars)
• Jordan Spieth to be first-round leader (+4500 via Caesars)

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Rory McIlroy to win The Players Championship

Best odds: +1400 via BetMGM

McIlroy posted back-to-back T-21 finishes in the Cognizant Classic and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Those were his best showings through four PGA Tour events this year after he won the DP World Tour's Hero Dubai Desert Classic as his second event of 2024.

But McIlroy remains No. 2 in the OWGR and the second-best golfer in this field by that measure. He won this event in 2019, and though he missed the cut in 2021 and last year, he has still averaged 1.25 true strokes gained on the field per round at TPC Sawgrass.

It was the putter and short game that were McIlroy's undoing in this event last year. He was strong with his putter last week but an uncharacteristically poor approach game has plagued him this season. He still ranks No. 1 in strokes gained: off-the-tee with a nice balance of distance and accuracy.

Most important to backing McIlroy this week is the value in the odds from BetMGM. That book offers odds of +1400 for the chance to turn a $10 bet into a $140 profit. Meanwhile, DraftKings, FanDuel, and Caesars are offering more moderate odds of +1000.

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Will Zalatoris to finish top 5

Best odds: +650 via Caesars

I certainly don't hate FanDuel's +3300 odds for Zalatoris to win The Players Championship, but this +650 price from Caesars for a top-5 finish is far too good to pass up for a little insurance.

Zalatoris is still just five events into a comeback from a serious back injury. While he finished T-13 in the Farmers Insurance Open, T-2 in the Genesis Invitational, and T-4 in last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational, we'll hedge the outright win with the top-5 finish. Zalatoris hasn't finished better than 21st in three appearances in The Players Championship, including a 73rd-place result last year.

But the 27-year-old California native can certainly hold his own against the strongest field(s) in golf. He has six career top-10 finishes in just nine appearances in majors. His Masters odds are already down around the +1800 range, so why are getting nearly double those odds for him to win The Players?

BetMGM offers market-low odds of +450 for this pick, so be sure to place this bet with Caesars for an additional $20 profit on a winning $10 bet.

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Jordan Spieth to be first-round leader (+4500 via Caesars)

Spieth is paired with McIlroy and Viktor Hovland for the first two rounds of The Players Championship, forming the event's marquee group. The three will tee off Thursday at 8:35 a.m. ET, putting Spieth square in our preferred morning draw.

Spieth ranks 14th on the PGA Tour with a first-round scoring average of 68.20 through five events played. His T-19 finish in this event last year was his best result at TPC Sawgrass since a T-4 in 2014.

The three-time major winner also finished the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a final round of 3-under par 69 as the fourth-best round of the day. His 2.08 strokes gained: putting in Round 4 ranked fourth on Sunday. We've seen Spieth ride a hot putter for prolonged periods throughout his career, and we're expecting him to do just that with the short move from Bay Hill to TPC Sawgrass. 

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The Players Championship odds 2024

Players Championship odds last updated Wednesday at 9:05 a.m. ET.

Players Championship tournament info

• When: Thursday, March 14 - Sunday, March 17
• Where: TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.
• Purse: $25 million
• FedEx Cup points: 750
• Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler
• How to watch: Golf Channel, NBC

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