This for most, is the unofficial fifth major on the PGA Tour. The famous TPC Sawgrass in Florida is the scene for the tournament which will be contested starting May 12th. Because ti it such a coveted title you can expect a powerful field out in force including the reigning champion Rickie Fowler and the main Major players of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day.
This year is the 35th edition of THE PLAYERS and it goes as a 7,215-yard course with 144 players in the field. There is over a $10 million prize fund on offer and the winner of the event takes nearly $2 million of that. So huge, huge money and players will take on one of the most recognisable courses in the world which includes one of the most famous holes in the game, the 17th, also known as The Island Green.
Why would it be called that? Because players are trying to land the ball on a small path of island green across the lake. It can be a make or break hole and there were 45 balls fired into the water during last year’s THE PLAYERS. So that it is the kind of beast that it is and it is a nerve-wrecker. Imagine walking off the 16th hole with a one-shot lead in the tournament knowing that The Island Green is coming up. In the 2005 edition of the Players Championship, Bob Tway carded a 12 on the 17th hole.
What makes the betting on this one interesting is that neither Jordan Spieth, Jason Day or Roy McIlroy have won the event but that won’t stop them going as strong contenders at the head of The Players Championship 2016 Golf Betting. It’s not necessarily a bad thing as there have only ever been six multiple winners, so first-timers come up a lot. McIlroy came home with a T8 at least year’s edition, putting in solid rounds, but just lacking that edge to drive on home for the title. Spieth actually missed the cut last year at THE Players after a horrid 75 in the first round. Jason Day suffered the same date as well with one of the most unprofitable round of his career coming on Friday last year when he carded 81.
Day and Spieth have been going along well in the FedExCup standings this year, which is a good indicator, but Adam Scott is also right up there along with Brandt Snedeker. That’s the thing with golf betting, it takes very little for the field to look wide open so you’re better off looking at alternative markets such the Top 4 finish and a Top 10 finish markets. It’s better to hedge your golf bets with a couple of players backed there than putting all of your stock in an outright winner.
The Players Championship 2016 Golf Betting Trends and Stats
Three of the last four winners of The Players have been Americans, with only Germany’s Martin Kaymer snapping that dominance. That having been said, four of the five editions prior to that were all won by non-Americans, so there’s been a fairly even split of winner nationality. Of the last ten editions, there have been 4 USA winners and one each from Germany, South Africa, Sweden, South Korea, Spain, and Canada.
There hasn’t been a win by more than two strokes in any of the last six editions of The Players Championship. Two of these editions in that sequence were settled by a play-off, while two were won by 2 Strokes and two were won by 1 stroke. So you can generally expect a pretty tight battle down the line to occur again. Interestingly of the last five editions of THE PLAYERS the winner has gone -13 to Par with the one exception there being Fowler’s win last year at -12. The lowest score to Par in the last twelve years by a winner was -16 by Tim Clark in 2010.
Going back to the 17th Hole, here is the number of balls hit in the water in The Players Championship editions since 2003 (when records started being kept).
2015 – 45
2014 – 28
2013 – 44
2012 – 39
2011 – 40
2010 – 29
2009 – 32
2008 – 64
2007 – 93
2006 – 67
2005 – 68
2004 – 30
2003 – 29
PGA Tour Players Championship Records:
Overall: 264 – Greg Norman, 1994
Tournament course record: 63 – Fred Couples, 1992; Greg Norman, 1994; Roberto Castro, 2013; Martin Kaymer, 2014
The Players Championship 2016 Golf Betting Odds
Jordan Spieth 13/2, Rory McIlroy 13/2, Jason Day 8/1, Dustin Johnson 18/1, Justin Rose 18/1, Rickie Fowler 18/1, Adam Scott, 181/, Henrik Stenson 33/1, Hideki Matsuyama 33/1, Sergio Garcia 33/1, Bubba Watson 33/1, Danny Willett 33/1, Phil Mickelson 35/1, Branden Grace 35/1, Louis Oosthuizen 40/1, Patrick Reed 40/1,
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The Players Championship History and Stats
This will be the 43rd edition of the Players’ Championship and it will be the 35th time that is has been held at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The first ever winner of the tournament was legend Jack Nicklaus who took a 2 stroke win back in 9174. That sparked a streak of USA winner right through to 1986 (the tournament was known as the Tournament Players Championship then). That was snapped when Scotland’s Sandy Lyle won in 1987.
By and large, it has been a USA dominated event (28 of the editions have been won by an American) including wins for Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods at the tournament during their careers. The only man to have won it three times is Jack Nicklaus who also was victorious in 1976 and 1978 along with his 1974 victory. Throughout the history of The Players Championship, there has never been a back to back winner. Overall there have only been six multiple winners of the tournament (Nicklaus, Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III and Tiger Woods).
Back in 2014, the format of the play off changed from being a sudden death event to a 3-hole aggregate score format. The holes played in a play off are 16, 17 and 18 so if a player has to win the event through a play off , they must face that dreaded 17th hole again and just going back to that one more time, only one golfer in the entire history of THE PLAYERS have managed to birdie the 17thin all four rounds of the same tournament. That was Paul Azinger in 1987.
The Players Championship 2016 Golf Betting Predictions
It is pretty hard to nail down a winner here. No-one has won it back to back so that should push Fowler out of the picture and multiple winners have been so few and far in between that it is well worth throwing money at a first-time winner at the tournament. If you’re looking at the top of the field then you will be split with Spieth and McIlroy, but the latter probably just edges it after a solid top ten finish at TPC Sawgrass last year.
But it’s a wide open field and do not pass up the value that can be found in a Top 10 finish, which is one of the best The Players Championship 2016 Golf Betting tips that we can offer. There is also plenty of betting and value around as well at the close of the first three days of action and don’t pass up live in-play betting action as well which can be found at Stan James.
