2024 Players Championship odds, picks, field, predictions: Golf expert fading Rory McIlroy at TPC Sawgrass
One of the PGA Tour's most prestigious events takes place this week when 144 players tee off in the 2024 Players Championship beginning Thursday at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. Widely regarded as golf's fifth major, The Players Championship has annually attracted the best field of any golf tournament. This year's event again has brought together the PGA Tour's biggest stars, led by the top two players in the world, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, and reigning FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland.
Scheffler, who is coming off a victory in last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational and won last year's Players Championship, is the favorite in The Players Championship 2024 odds, at +500. McIlroy (+1200), Xander Schauffele (+2000), Justin Thomas (+2000) and Hovland (+2200) round out the top five on the PGA odds board in The Players Championship field. Before locking in any 2024 Players Championship picks, make sure you see the PGA Tour predictions and best bets from golf betting and fantasy expert Sia Nejad.
Nejad specializes in betting and DFS in golf, among other sports. He's had incredible success in the outright and first-round leader markets and in betting head-to-head matchups. He also has been solid with his head-to-head matchups since last year's Charles Schwab Challenge, going 33-20-2 and returning 9.17 units over that span. That's a $917 profit for $100 bettors since May 2023.
Nejad also nailed 75-1 longshot Wyndham Clark as the outright winner at the Wells Fargo Championship. In 2023, SportsLine debuted "The Early Wedge," and in the first three months of the show, he hit two first-round leaders and three outright winners.
Now, Nejad has focused his attention on the 2024 Players Championship field and has locked in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. See who they are at SportsLine.
Top 2024 Players Championship expert picks
One surprise: Nejad is completely fading McIlroy, even though he is a strong contender according to The Players Championship odds, at +1200. The four-time major winner has had success at TPC Sawgrass. He has one win (in 2019) and three other top-10 finishes in 14 career starts at the Players.
But McIlroy has played four PGA Tour events this season without much success. He finished 66th at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in early February, 24th in The Genesis Invitational and 21st at both the Cognizant Classic and the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week. "Given his recent form, there's no way I can take him at +1200 or less," Nejad told SportsLine.
However, Nejad is high on the chances of Tom Hoge, who's a +6600 longshot. The 34-year-old Hoge has two top-10 and five top-25 finishes in nine starts this season. He is coming off a 12th place finish in the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Hoge has been deadly with his iron play this season. He leads the Tour in strokes gained: approach (+1.227). "His approach game has been dialed-in, and he has some good all-around recent form and history at TPC Sawgrass," Nejad told SportsLine. See whom else to back at SportsLine.
How to make 2024 Players Championship picks
Nejad has locked in his best bets for the 2024 Players Championship and is backing several longshots, including one that is priced at more than 66-1. This player "has been absolutely dialed-in with his approach game" and is a longshot who could surprise. You can see Nejad's PGA Tour picks only at SportsLine.
So which players should you target or avoid for the 2024 Players Championship, and which player in ThePlayersvisit SportsLine to see Sia Nejad's top picks for the 2024 Players Championship, all from the expert who is 33-20-2 on his last 55 head-to-head picks.
2024 Players Championship odds, field
Scottie Scheffler +500Rory McIlroy +1200Xander Schauffele +2000Justin Thomas +2000Viktor Hovland +2200Will Zalatoris +2500Patrick Cantlay +2500Max Homa +2500Collin Morikawa +2800Jordan Spieth +3000Hideki Matsuyama +3000Ludvig Aberg +3000Wyndham Clark +3500Shane Lowry +3500Sam Burns +4000Tommy Fleetwood +4500Si Woo Kim +4500Russell Henley +4500Jason Day +4500Cameron Young +4500Sahith Theegala +5000Min Woo Lee +5000Brian Harman +5000Byeong Hun An +5500Tony Finau +6000Tom Hoge +6000Matt Fitzpatrick +6000Corey Conners +6000Tom Kim +7500Sungjae Im +7500Keith Mitchell +8000Keegan Bradley +8000Harris English +8000Cam Davis +8000Adam Scott +8000Aaron Rai +8000Justin Rose +9000Eric Cole +9000Emiliano Grillo +9000Nick Taylor +10000J.T. Poston +10000Doug Ghim +10000Chris Kirk +10000Brendon Todd +10000Andrew Putnam +10000Alex Noren +10000Adam Hadwin +10000Nicolai Hojgaard +10000Denny McCarthy +11000Billy Horschel +11000Stephan Jaeger +13000Sepp Straka +13000Rickie Fowler +13000Matthieu Pavon +13000Lucas Glover +13000Jake Knapp +13000Erik Van Rooyen +13000Christiaan Bezuidenhout +13000Beau Hossler +13000Ryan Fox +15000Luke List +15000Kevin Yu +15000Davis Thompson +15000Austin Eckroat +15000Akshay Bhatia +15000Patrick Rodgers +18000Maverick McNealy +18000Andrew Novak +18000Taylor Pendrith +20000Thomas Detry +25000Ryo Hisatsune +25000Kurt Kitayama +25000Taylor Moore +30000Taylor Montgomery +30000Seamus Power +30000Sam Ryder +30000Nick Dunlap +30000Matt Wallace +30000Matt Kuchar +30000Lee Hodges +30000K.H. Lee +30000Justin Suh +30000Gary Woodland +30000Garrick Higgo +30000Chesson Hadley +30000Chan Kim +30000Carson Young +30000Ben Silverman +30000Ben Kohles +30000Ben Griffin +30000Adam Svensson +30000Webb Simpson +35000Vincent Norrman +35000Tyler Duncan +35000Sami Valimaki +35000Nico Echavarria +35000Mark Hubbard +35000Mackenzie Hughes +35000Adam Schenk +35000Troy Merritt +40000Steve Stricker +40000Robert MacIntyre +40000Nick Hardy +40000Martin Laird +40000Justin Lower +40000Joel Dahmen +40000Jimmy Stanger +40000J.J. Spaun +40000Greyson Sigg +40000Grayson Murray +40000Francesco Molinari +40000Charley Hoffman +40000Chad Ramey +40000C.T. Pan +40000Brandon Wu +40000Alex Smalley +40000Aaron Baddeley +40000Scott Stallings +50000Sam Stevens +50000Nate Lashley +50000Michael Kim +50000Matt NeSmith +50000Joseph Bramlett +50000Camilo Villegas +50000Ben Martin +50000Brice Garnett +50000Zac Blair +60000S.H. Kim +60000Robby Shelton +60000Matti Schmid +60000Peter Malnati +80000Harry Hall +80000Dylan Wu +80000David Skinns +80000Carl Yuan +80000Ryan Moore +100000Kevin Streelman +100000Hayden Buckley +100000Davis Riley +100000David Lipsky +100000Tyson Alexander +150000Chez Reavie +150000Callum Tarren +150000
