There was no The Players Championship in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we are lucky to have one this year at TPC Sawgrass. Have you made your picks yet? If not, let the experts below convince you with their own selections.
Here’s what Ballengee of Golf News Net had to say about Dustin Johnson ahead of the 2021 The Players Championship:
“We have to put aside the horrible performance at Concession and chalk it up to a down week. DJ hadn’t finished that poorly since the WGC Mexico last year, pre-pandemic.”
Clearly, it would take more than just one bad performance from Johnson for Ballengee to hop off the DJ bandwagon. Johnson finished just third for the 54th place in last week’s Worlf Golf Championship-Workday Championship, but that’s also the first time he’s not cracked the top 11 this season. With his overall form this season, it’s hard to see Johnson fumbling yet another start in back-to-back fashion.
CBS Sports | SportsLine
Expert
Golfer to watch out for
Mike McClure
Viktor Hovland
Hovland is +2500 to win the 2021 The Players Championship, making him a non-favorite, but according to CBS Sports, there’s a reason to believe that he could shock the field with an unexpectedly strong performance. Hovland, after all, is having quite a season. He just won the second win of this pro career when he topped the Mayakoba Golf Classic then also had a second-place finish at the Farmers Insurance Open and at the World Golf Championship-Workday Championship. Momentum could play a huge role here for Hovland.
PGA.com
Expert
No. 1 ranked player
Rob Bolton
Xander Schauffele
Rob Bolton of PGA.con ranked 20 players he thinks would have the best chance of winning this weekend and on top of his list is Xander Schauffele, who’s got three runner-up finishes this season and five top 10s in nine starts. Schauffele also had a runner-up finish at TPC Sawgrass back in 2018 before missing the cut there both in 2019 and 2020.
Ryan Simpson | TopBet News Editor
Expert
Pick
Ryan Simpson, TB News Editor
John Rahm
Simpson states that while Rahm took a stumble last week with a T32 at the World Golf Championship-Workday Championship after a T5 at the Genesis Invitational, he could definitely bounce back stronger this week at TPC Sawgrass. He led for 54 holes there last year before collapsing in the final round.
