Spring is here which means the PGA Tour season really gets rolling, and it gets a big jolt this week with the so-called “fifth major,” the 2026 Players Championship, teeing off at TPC Sawgrass. Rory McIlroy is the defending champion and is hoping to tee it up despite having to pull out of last week’s PGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational with a back issue.
The tournament tees off Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET, with streaming and TV coverage on Thursday and Friday from 1-7 p.m. Weekend coverage will be from 2-7 p.m. ET on Saturday and 1-6 p.m. ET for Sunday’s final round.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is the +425 favorite at DraftKings Sportsbook, followed by McIlroy at +1500 and Collin Morikawa at +2000. Among the other contenders expected to be in the mix for the victory are Si Woo Kim, Ludvig Aberg, Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley and Xander Schauffele.
2026 Players Championship betting preview
Scheffler is the clear favorite, and McIlroy and Morikawa round out the top three at sportsbooks before the field gets tighter. Kim is the fourth option at both DraftKings (+2450) and FanDuel (+2000), while Aberg is the +2000 fourth choice at BetMGM.
McIlroy has won the Players twice, also hoisting the trophy in 2019, and Scheffler was going for a three-peat here last year before 20th. The world’s No. 1 golfer shot 17 under par to win by five strokes in 2023 but needed to take a four-man playoff to win in 2024.
Schauffele, Fleetwood and Henley are all priced at +3000 or lower at most sportsbooks, though Caesars has almost a dozen golfers below that number. If you like a certain golfer and have multiple options available, shop around to find the best payout.
BetMGM is among the sportsbooks to offer dual forecast or double chance bets. In BetMGM’s Dual Forecast, the lowest odds are +3300 on Scheffler or McIlroy to finish first and second, in any order.
At DraftKings, you can bet on Scheffler OR McIlroy to win at +245, and Schauffele is a key piece in its three-way plays. Scheffler OR McIlroy OR Schauffele to win and Scheffler/Morikawa/Schauffele are the lowest priced options at +205 at DraftKings.
Unsurprisingly, Scheffler is the favorite for the higher finishes, with DraftKings pricing him at +120 to finish in the top five, -162 for the top 10 and -350 to end up in the top 20. Most of the finishing position bets correlate with the odds to win, but there can be slight variations.
Scheffler led the PGA Tour with 17 top-10 finishes last season, so he’s almost a lock, hence the odds. But Russell Henley had 10 finishes in the top 10 in 2025 and while he is +3000 to win at BetMGM, he is +300 for a top-10 finish.
Aberg is one of the tour’s most promising younger golfers, and he is expected to keep emerging as a major threat. The 26-year-old Swede has two career victories but got off to a rough start this season. Now he comes in off a tie for third at last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational. You could pair him with Scheffler or McIlroy for a decent plus-money payout. Scheffler or Aberg to win is +315 and McIlroy or Aberg is +820 at DraftKings.
Akshay Bhatia won the Arnold Palmer last week for his third PGA Tour victory at age 24. He also tied for third at Sawgrass last year, and he is +4500 to win, +700 for a top-10 finish and +330 for a top-20 finish at Caesars Sportsbook.
Bet on your favorite Players Championship props at Caesars Sportsbook here:
Ben Griffin had 12 top-10 finishes in 2025, second only to Scheffler, but his highest finish this season is a tie for 24th. He missed the cut last week, which is why he is +8000 to win at FanDuel. Meanwhile, Jacob Bridgeman has four straight top-20 finishes, including a Genesis Invitational victory, and is +6000 to win and +250 to crack the top 20 at FanDuel.
Weather can play a role in how you approach betting, as will the course characteristics. A cold front is expected to start moving through the area, and there is a good chance of scattered showers Thursday and Sunday. The rain shouldn’t be steady enough to affect the players, but the course will present plenty of challenges.
At Sawgrass, accurate ball striking is more important than power, which is why Scheffler is the ideal type of player to win. He led the tour in total strokes gained and strokes gained on approach while finishing second off the tee and 22nd in putting last season.
He is in the top five in total strokes gained in 2026, with McIlroy leading but players like Jacob Bridgeman, Jake Knapp and Nicolai Hojgaard joining them early this season. Knapp has four top-10 finishes in five outings this season and is +5000 to win and +700 for a top-10 finish at DraftKings.
Bet on where your favorite golfers will finish in the 2026 Players Championship at FanDuel here:
Groups and head-to-head matchups are prominent golf betting options, and FanDuel is among the sportsbook with 72-hole matchups like Viktor Hovland (-200) vs. Brooks Koepka (+150) and Schauffele (+150) vs. Morikawa (-150), among many others.
Caesars Sportsbook has head-to-head matchups with ties, so for example, you can bet on Patrick Cantlay at -106 to score better than Rickie Fowler, who is priced at -115, or you can play for the big plus-money payout of +1500 if you wager it will be a tie.
BetMGM, like most books, has numerous group matchups, with the most prominent golfers grouped together in the featured group. At BetMGM, Scheffler is the +125 favorite to win in a group that also includes Morikawa (+400), Kim (+450), Fleetwood (+600) and Schauffele (+600). One of the tightest groups at DraftKings includes Hovland (+300), Matt Fitzpatrick (+315), Min Woo Lee (+330), Akshay Bhatia (+340) and Chris Gotterup (+355).