Players Championship Prediction and Betting Tips: Three bets at TPC Sawgrass

All eyes will be on The Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass this week with another star-studded field set to battle it out for glory, in what will be the 50th staging of the tournament dubbed the unofficial fifth Major.

While the exodus of certain players to LIV Golf has taken some gloss off the event, this field is still packed with talent and it promises to be another enthralling spectacle at Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida.

Defending champion Scottie Scheffler warmed up for this event with a five-shot victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and he is the warm 11/2 favourite to become the first player to successfully retain this title.

Just five European players have managed to win this tournament, the most recent of those being Rory McIlroy in 2019, but a sixth could be added to that list in the shape of Irishman Shane Lowry.

The 2019 Open champion struggled to hit the mark in his first three appearances of the PGA Tour season but he has thrived since the campaign moved into the 'West Coast Swing', recording back-to-back top-five finishes in Florida.

He was T4 at the Cognizant Classic before finishing third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and his strong tee-to-green game, which has him ranked 11th in strokes gained in that category, should see the 25/1 shot challenge for places this week.

American Andrew Novak is playing with huge confidence and he could be worth an each-way bet at 110/1, as he enters the tournament at his highest-ever world ranking (162nd).

The 28-year-old has bounced back from three missed cuts in a row to record three consecutive top-10 finishes, starting off at the Phoenix Open where he shared eighth place.

The same result followed at the Mexico Open, before Novak then impressed at the Cognizant Classic when ending up T9, a solid start to the 'West Coast Swing' section of the season.

Novak's statistics make for solid reading heading into this event, as he is in the top 10 for strokes gained: total, tee-to-green, approach and around-the-green, while he is also 20th in greens in regulation.

Barring Scheffler's five-stroke victory last year, The Players Championship has been a closely-fought tournament in recent years with one-shot wins in 2019, 2021, and 2022.

It would be no surprise to see that winning margin land again, at odds of 5/2, given the wealth of talent that will be teeing it up at TPC Sawgrass over the four days.

It's also worth noting that four of the first five PGA Tour events this season were decided by a one-stroke margin, while a play-off has been required to determine the winner of three tournaments, so there is generally very little to separate those at the top of the leaderboard.