Ian JohnGolf fans across the world will be getting excited this week as one of the biggest tournaments of the year, outside of the four Majors, is set to take place at Ponte Vedra Beach near Jacksonville in Florida.
The Players Championship boasts a massive $25 million prize pool, almost $10m more than the players played for back in 2019 and the second $5m increase in prize money over the last two years and it is clear that LIV Golf has had a big impact on these increasingly large prize pools.
Due to the calendar changes that were introduced to the golfing calendar back in 2019, the tournament was moved from its original date in May back to March, with the four Majors taking place in the subsequent months from April.
The Five Key Golf Tournaments – May to July 2023
- March – The Players Championship (TPC Sawgrass) 9th – 12th March
- April – The Masters (Augusta National) 6th – 9th April
- May – The US PGA Championship (Oak Hill Country Club) 15th – 21st May
- June – The US Open (Los Angeles Country Club) 15th – 18th June
- July – The British Open (Royal Liverpool) 16th – 23rd July
So this week’s tournament is one that kick starts the Major period of the golf calendar and the time when all players competing in these events try to be at their best both physically and mentally in order to make a sustained challenge over the five-month period.
At bet365 Sport, you can check out the latest betting on The Players Championship (as well as antepost betting on all four Majors) as well as using the excellent Live Golf Tracker when the tournament is in progress to see how your favourites are doing on course in real time.
Many players will have already been in Florida ahead of this week competing at the famous Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill close to Orlando. Kurt Kitayama produced his best golf of his career to hold off Rory McIlroy and Harris English to claim his debut win on the USPGA Tour, setting him up nicely for this week in Jacksonville.
So, what can we expect at The Players Championship this week? Let’s take a look at the tournament and course in a bit more detail before we give you some of our tips for golfers we expect to go well around the famous TPC Sawgrass course.
The Players Championship – History & Course
The very first Players Championship took place in 1974 at the Atlanta Country Club and Jack Nicklaus was the first winner of the tournament and he repeated that success in 1976 and 1978 and he still holds the record for the most Players Championship wins with three.
After being contested at Atlanta, the Colonial Country Club and Inverary Country Club in its first three years, the tournament moved to Sawgrass Country Club in Jacksonville and was held there between 1977 and 1981, while a new course was being built in nearby Ponte Vedra.
TPC Sawgrass first held the tournament in 1982 but the Pete and Alice Dye designed course was not well received by players initially. Many players complained at the difficulty level of the course including the likes of Ben Crenshaw and Jack Nicklaus.
Over the next few years, a number of modifications based on complaints from players were made to the course which improved player’s perception of the course, so much so Ben Crenshaw admitted just a few years later that TPC Sawgrass had matured into a “damn fine golf course”.
- The Famous 17th – The Island Green
There is no doubt which is the most famous hole on the TPC Sawgrass course and that is the immediately recognisable ‘island green’ 17th.
A very short par-3 by today’s standards, it is strange to think that its iconic look actually came about as an accidental result of the renovations being made to the course when it was being constructed.
Most of the land where TPC Sawgrass was built was boggy and swampy and required a considerable amount of sand in order to make it playable.
It just so happened that there was a part of the course where there was a large amount of sand available, and that was where the original fairway that would comprise part of the 17th hole was located.
During construction of the other holes, excavators used this sand initially with the intention of filling in the large hole that they had dug in front of the 17th green.
However, looking at the excavated area, Alice Dye suggested to her husband that another option was to increase the size of the lake that was to fringe part of the green and instead make it an island green.
Pete Dye wasn’t originally enamoured of this idea, but relented and in doing so created one of the most iconic holes in golf.
Past Winners
Alongside the 3-time winner Jack Nicklaus, there are just a small number of golfers that have won this famous tournament on two occasions. They are Fred Couples, Steve Elkington, Hal Sutton, Davis Love III and Tiger Woods.
A number of players that have won the event once previously are slated to take part in this years event too including Justin Thomas, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler.
American players dominated the event in the early years with the first non-American winner being Scotland’s Sandy Lyle in 1987. Lyle is just one of two British-based players to win the event, the other being Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland in 2019.
However, most recent winners have come from many different parts of the world with just five American winners of the tournament since 2008.
The Weather
While Floridian weather is usually perfect for golf, it should be noted that if the wind picks up then this course becomes much more difficult and the 17th hole in particular can become a graveyard for ambitions to win the tournament.
In one blustery round just a few years ago, of the 144 players competing, 50 saw their tee-shots at the 17th find water.
Fortunately, the weather for the 2023 event does not predict strong winds, but there is a chance of rain for later finishers on the Friday, but the other three days look perfect for playing golf in the Sunshine State.
Who Are The Players To Back At The 2023 Players Championship?
I always strongly suggest that punters use the each way option when betting on golf tournament winners. Currently, bet365 Sport is offering each way payouts on the top five in the event (including ties) which will pay out at ¼ of the odds.
That to me makes far more sense and gives you a much better chance of landing a decent return should your pick land a top five spot.
A number of players are in very good form heading into this event. Kitayama won last week while the likes of McIlroy and Rahm have been in great form this season, while Scottie Scheffler is also starting to hit top form too.
You can’t rule out the 2021 winner Justin Thomas here either and it is not surprising to see four of those players leading the betting.
However, the five players I’d be backing each way are listed below as follows (all odds shown were correct with bet365 Sport at the time of writing but may have changed in the meantime).
- Scottie Scheffler – 10/1
- Justin Thomas – 18/1
- Tyrrell Hatton – 30/1
- Jordan Spieth – 33/1
- Justin Rose – 100/1
Tune in from Thursday for all the action from TPC Sawgrass and to see how our five tips perform in the first round!
NoDepositPoker.co.uk is an affiliate of the brands we promote throughout this site. While we strive to maintain accuracy throughout our content, we do receive compensation for this promotion.
