The unofficial fifth major of the 2024 golf season starts Thursday from Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. While the Players Championship may not be on paper as one of the four majors in men’s golf, it does hold the distinction of having golf’s largest purse of $25 million, with $4.5 million going to the winner. Here are the three golfers we like this week the most.
Viktor Hovland
I know Scottie Scheffler is the betting favourite at $6.00, but it is very challenging to win on the PGA Tour in back-to-back weeks. Scheffler did win the 2023 Players Championship in convincing fashion by shooting a four-round score of -17, but used up a lot of energy in winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Sunday. So the golfer I like the most this week is the reigning Fed Ex Cup champion, A year ago Hovland tied for third place with American Tom Hoge at -12.
Viktor Hovland is $23.00 to win the 2024 Players Championship. [bet-au-1]
Justin Thomas
Thomas has won the Players Championship before as he was victorious in 2021 by one stroke over Lee Westwood. Thomas shot a four round score of -14. The native of Louisville, Kentucky has won the same major championship twice before, as he won the 2017 and 2022 PGA Championship. Thomas has also won multiple times on the PGA Tour in Malaysia (2015 and 2016), at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii (2017 and 2020), the CJ Cup in South Korea (2017 and 2019), and the World Golf Championship event in Memphis (2018 and 2020).
Justin Thomas is $23.00 to win the 2024 Players Championship. [bet-au-1]
Tom Hoge
Yes, this is a darkhorse for the week. But underdogs have had great success at the Players in the past. They include Craig Perks of New Zealand, who won in 2002 despite being 256th in the world, Stephen Ames of Canada, who won in 2006 despite being 64th in the world, and Si-Woo Kim of South Korea, who won in 2017 despite being 73rd in the world. In the current Official World Golf Rankings, Tom Hoge of Statesville, North Carolina is currently 56th in the world. So why take a chance on him? Well a year ago, Hoge finished tied for third with Hovland.
Tom Hoge is $71.00 to win the 2024 Players Championship. [bet-au-1]
