Scottie Scheffler will look to win his second event of the season when he takes part in The Players Championship 2026 at TPC Sawgrass – The Players Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. He is the +480 favorite at FanDuel. Scheffler, 29, had six wins a year ago and has registered 20 career wins on the PGA Tour. He continues to be the world’s top-ranked player, an honor he was first bestowed with on March 27, 2022. His last win came Jan. 25, when he won The American Express.
The 2026 Players Championship gets underway at 7:40 a.m. ET on Thursday. The tournament, with a $25 million purse, will be played on a par-72 course measuring 7,352 yards. Last year’s winner, Rory McIlroy, comes back at +1600, alongside Collin Morikawa. McIlroy defeated J.J. Spaun in a playoff to win his second Players Championship. He also won the event in 2019. Before making any 2026 Players Championship picks, you need to see the 2026 Players Championship predictions and best bets from golf expert Brady Kannon.
Kannon is an elite golfing betting handicapper with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. He’s hit eight major outright winners since 2013, and hit six PGA winners, including 110-1 longshot Harris English at the Farmers Insurance Open, in 2025. In the fall of 2022, he hit outright winners in three consecutive weeks: Russell Henley (40-1), Tony Finau (18-1) and Adam Svensson (150-1).
Last season, he hit Hideki Matsuyama (22-1), Harris English (110-1), Ludvig Aberg (25-1), Ben Griffin/Andrew Novak (25-1) in New Orleans, Tommy Fleetwood at the Tour Championship (14-1) and Hideki Matsuyama (20-1) at the Hero World Challenge. Additionally, he’s 27-23-4 on head-to-head bets since joining SportsLine.
New users can bet on The Players Championship with the latest DraftKings promo code, which offers $200 in bonus bets instantly after any $5+ bet:
Now, Kannon has focused his attention on the 2026 Players Championship field and locked in his best bets sleepers and golfers to avoid. You can only see them here.
Top 2026 Players Championship expert picks
One of Kannon’s 2026 The Players Championship predictions: He’s fading Scheffler, avoiding him in outright bets and advises to go against him in head-to-head bets as well.
“Yes, the world No. 1 has finally drifted out of the 3s and nearly into the 5-1 territory to win a golf tournament,” Kannon told SportsLine. “For the first time in 19 starts, Scheffler failed to finish top 10 at the Genesis Invitational four weeks ago. Last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, a tournament he’s won twice, he barely cracked the top 25. Is this the end of Scheffler’s remarkable run? Not at all but I don’t believe he can suddenly turn it around so much this week that it translates into a win. Scheffler lost nearly 3-shots to the field last week on approach. He didn’t shoot any of the four rounds in the 60’s and ranked middle of the pack for Scrambling and SG: Putting. Scottie Scheffler will be just fine and he may win a third green jacket in about 30-days but I’m not going to dive in here at a golf course this exacting when there are clearly current hiccups in his game.” See who Kannon is backing at SportsLine.
New users can also check out the latest FanDuel promo code and get up to $300 back in bonus bets every day for 10 days:
How to make 2026 Players Championship picks
Kannon has revealed his best bets, and his top outright pick is a surprising golfer going off around 30-1. He’s a perfect course fit, and anyone who backs him could hit it big. You can only see who it is at SportsLine.
What are the best bets for the 2026 Players Championship, and which overlooked golfer should you target? Check out the 2026 Players Championship odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Brady Kannon’s top picks for the 2026 Players Championship, all from the expert who nailed four outright winners last season.
2026 Players Championship odds, field
See Players Championship picks, best bets and predictions here.
(odds from FanDuel and subject to change)
Scottie Scheffler +480
Rory McIlroy +1600
Collin Morikawa +1600
Si Woo Kim +2000
Ludvig Åberg +2200
Russell Henley +2500
Tommy Fleetwood +2500
Xander Schauffele +2700
Matt Fitzpatrick +3300
Cameron Young +3300
Hideki Matsuyama +3300
Min Woo Lee +3500
Viktor Hovland +3500
Sepp Straka +4000
Jake Knapp +4000
Akshay Bhatia +4000
Chris Gotterup +4500
Daniel Berger +5000
Robert MacIntyre +5000
Shane Lowry +5500
Rickie Fowler +5500
Maverick McNealy +6000
Harris English +6000
Patrick Cantlay +6000
Jacob Bridgeman +6000
Kurt Kitayama +6000
Brooks Koepka +6500
Corey Conners +6500
Ryan Gerard +6500
Adam Scott +6500
Alex Noren +7000
Jordan Spieth +7000
Sahith Theegala +7000
Aaron Rai +8000
Sam Burns +8000
Nicolai Højgaard +8000
Justin Rose +8000
Ben Griffin +8000
J.J. Spaun +8000
Pierceson Coody +10000
Michael Thorbjornsen +10000
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +10000
Jason Day +10000
Ricky Castillo +10000
Matt McCarty +10000
Harry Hall +10000
Rasmus Højgaard +10000
Keith Mitchell +10000