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Setting the scene
This week, golf’s best players compete for the PGA Tour’s most coveted prize. The PLAYERS Championship will be held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Florida, in 2022. As always, here’s an early look at the 2022 PLAYERS Championship and a preview. TPC Sawgrass will host 48 of the world’s top 50 golfers. However, there are a few conspicuous absences. Bryson DeChambeau is the most well-known of them. Bryson’s wrist and hip problems from earlier this season are still bothering him.
The event’s first edition took place in 1974 at Atlanta Country Club in Marietta, Georgia. It came to Florida in 1976 and resumed play on the Stadium Course in 1982, after being held in Texas the previous year. The field comprises 144 players who must meet specific requirements to compete. At the 36-hole midway point of the event, the field is reduced to the top 70 players and ties. Following the fourth round at the 72-hole mark, it concludes on a Sunday.
There have only been six multiple-time champions in the tournament’s history, and no player has ever won it in consecutive years. Jack Nicklaus has the most wins, with three in five years from 1974 to 1978. Two-time winners include Tiger Woods, Davis Love III, Hal Sutton, Steve Elkington, and Fred Couples.
Betting Angles
Beware of the Course
It’s worth noting that course history may not be as helpful this week as it has been in previous championships. This is because this event was dramatically altered when it moved from May to March. To begin with, agronomy is quite different. In May, a firm and fast Bermuda dominated TPC Sawgrass’ turf. The golf course, though, is overseeded in March.
Accurate Driving
The feature of driving accuracy is the only thing that most TPC Sawgrass leaderboards have in common. On the golf course, those who keep the ball in play and hit many fairways fare well. This isn’t a big deal. TPC Sawgrass is one of the more difficult PGA Tour golf courses.
Scrambling to Victory
Last year’s top-eight all finished in the top-20 for Scrambling, indicating that the vast majority of winners scramble well around these considerably smaller than usual greens.
| Tue | Thu | Fri | Sat | Sun | Mon |
| +77° | +68° | +66° | +70° | +54° | +66° |
| +66° | +64° | +64° | +44° | +36° | +57° |
Course Correlation
If you're looking for a course correlation aspect, look at the RBC Heritage, Travelers Championship, and Zurich Classic of New Orleans, all of which are played on Pete Dye-designed courses.
Early Start
It's always a good idea to start the week early on the first day, but it's especially true here. Sawgrass quickly dries out and becomes fast and hard, making Thursday morning the best time to play it - especially if the wind picks up later in the day.
The Form Book
The last 11 winners of the Players all ran well last time out, with 22nd being the worst finish of any of them in their previous appearance. In addition, nine of the 11 had tied for fourth or better in at least one event earlier in the calendar year.
Horses for courses
The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass, which opened in 1980 and is set among the North Florida marshes, is a layout that demands accuracy from tee to green. Its putting surfaces are smaller than the Tour average, while its fairways are narrower than average. In addition, the course was redesigned in 2016 to increase the number of times water was used during a round.
The Stadium Course, located 12 miles south-east of Jacksonville's city center and one mile from the Atlantic Ocean, first hosted the PGA Tour in 1982. When Tour commissioner Deane Beman bought the land for this course in the mid-to-late 1970s, he told Pete Dye to design a course that would appeal to a wide range of golfers.
Where’s the money?
Let’s now look at the betting for the week ahead:
Collin Morikawa 1200
Jon Rahm 1400
Justin Thomas 1400
Rory McIlroy 1800
Viktor Hovland 1800
Patrick Cantlay 2200
Scottie Scheffler 2500
Xander Schauffele 2800
Hideki Matsuyama 3000
Cameron Smith 3300
Daniel Berger 3500
Dustin Johnson 3500
Brooks Koepka 4000
Matt Fitzpatrick 4000
Sungjae Im 4000
Sam Burns 4500
Shane Lowry 4500
Tyrrell Hatton 4500
Will Zalatoris 4500
Billy Horschel 5000
Joaquin Niemann 5000
Jordan Spieth 5000
Adam Scott 5500
Gary Woodland 6000
Louis Oosthuizen 6000
Corey Conners 6600
Talor Gooch 6600
Webb Simpson 6600
Paul Casey 7000
Tommy Fleetwood 7000
Tony Finau 7000
Abraham Ancer 8000
Chris Kirk 8000
Jason Day 8000
Jason Kokrak 8000
Marc Leishman 8000
Max Homa 8000
Russell Henley 8000
Sergio Garcia 8000
Si Woo Kim 8000
Justin Rose 9000
Keith Mitchell 10000
Maverick McNealy 10000
Alex Noren 12500
Brian Harman 12500
Bubba Watson 12500
Cameron Tringale 12500
Harold Varner III 12500
Ian Poulter 12500
Lanto Griffin 12500
Lee Westwood 12500
Luke List 12500
Ryan Palmer 12500
Seamus Power 12500
Aaron Wise 15000
C.T. Pan 15000
Erik Van Rooyen 15000
Jhonattan Vegas 15000
Keegan Bradley 15000
Kevin Kisner 15000
Kevin Na 15000
Mackenzie Hughes 15000
Matthew Wolff 15000
Mito Pereira 15000
Patrick Reed 15000
Tom Hoge 15000
Adam Hadwin 20000
Denny McCarthy 20000
K.H. Lee 20000
Lucas Herbert 20000
Matt Kuchar 20000
Sebastian Munoz 20000
Brendan Steele 22500
Brendon Todd 22500
Charley Hoffman 22500
Dylan Frittelli 22500
Francesco Molinari 22500
Joel Dahmen 22500
Martin Laird 22500
Matt Jones 22500
Pat Perez 22500
Patton Kizzire 22500
Sepp Straka 22500
Troy Merritt 22500
Andrew Putnam 25000
Cameron Champ 25000
Cameron Davis 25000
Chez Reavie 25000
Emiliano Grillo 25000
J.T. Poston 25000
Lucas Glover 25000
Matthew NeSmith 25000
Russell Knox 25000
Sam Ryder 25000
Carlos Ortiz 30000
Doug Ghim 30000
Garrick Higgo 30000
Hudson Swafford 30000
Kevin Streelman 30000
Stewart Cink 30000
Hey Guys
My name is Dean, AKA The Stat Man. I am a Sports Betting Analyst who uses math, algorithms, probability and logic to create my posts. I specialize in many sports, with Golf being the primary focus. You can find a lot of my work on various websites but the best content is found here on Beer Life.
I live in the UK, on the outskirts of London but my background and heritage is Irish. I'm an avid Manchester United fan who sees following them as a religion. Sport is pretty much my life, as I live and breathe it daily. If there is something I don't know it's probably not worth knowing as I have over 20 years industry experience and insight.
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As always, believe in the power of statistics!
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