The anticipation and build up to this year’s Players Championship has been as strong as I can remember but the waiting is over as on Thursday all those who have entered the tournament will get their campaigns underway and we will finally see the newly designed TPC Sawgrass in action.
On a busy opening day we have the first round leader market and the opening round three ball markets to get stuck into and that is exactly what I’m going to look to do.
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First Round Leader
Unlike an official major championship players go off two tees in this tournament but the field is split into a morning half and an afternoon half so the first thing to check is to see if the weather will deliver a bias of any kind. A check of the forecast suggests that isn’t going to be the case so we can get stuck into fast starters wherever they are in the draw.
I’m going to take two men who I’ve backed outright to get us going in this tournament. They are Justin Rose and Charley Hoffman, both of whom have been in early contention here at the end of the first round before. Both are renowned fast starters and quite often when I bet on golf I get someone up there early so I’m going to take the chance that it will be one of these two.
Kevin Na has shared the lead after the first round here before and he is out early in the morning where he could take advantage of a fresh golf course. He is another who tends to produce good first rounds so he fits our bill this week as does Ross Fisher. Fisher is out in the afternoon but he often pings the lids and with his quality ball striking I wouldn’t be surprised to see him put up a good first day showing.
3 Balls
Every group on the opening day has been priced up and I’m going to indulge in three of them to kick off my match betting for this week. One of the bets is the marquee group of the day and then two come in potentially quieter groups.
David Lingmerth/Aaron Baddeley/Fabian Gomez
Match tees off at 12.43 BST
The first group to interest me is the one featuring three overseas players where I think David Lingmerth is a nice price at 8/5 to come through it. Aaron Baddeley has missed his last five cuts here so there is something about the place he doesn’t like while Fabian Gomez made the cut on his only appearance here last year but didn’t do a lot with it.
Lingmerth was tied second here in 2013 and has played this tournament three times. He may have missed the cut in the last two of those but he has shot under par in the opening round on all three occasions. Under par here could get the job done.
Dustin Johnson/Rory McIlroy/Justin Thomas
Match tees off at 18.52 BST
The headline group of the day is the focus of my second bet where I happen to think Justin Thomas is the forgotten man here. He has gone on record as saying he loves this course and looks forward to playing it every year and that is a positive right away.
Dustin Johnson has never really delivered in this tournament which doesn’t really surprised me because it kind of nullifies his strengths while Rory McIlroy is using new equipment this week which even if he fares well overall it is sure to take him 18 holes to get used to under competitive pressures. Thomas was third here last year and has improved markedly since then. He’s great value at 3s.
Steve Stricker/Webb Simpson/Peter Malnati
Match tees off at 19.03 BST
Steve Stricker looks to have found himself a nice spot to lead the way in here. I say that because for my money this is a two ball between Stricker and Webb Simpson. Peter Malnati has only made two of his last 10 cuts and generally plays himself out of a tournament before he’s even got his foot into it so I’m passing him over right away.
Quite simply you have to putt around here and for my money Stricker is going to do that a whole lot better than Webb Simpson. Simpson probably has a slight edge on the ball striking front but only in terms of 20-25 yards but that isn’t such a factor here. Stricker can putt these two to death on Thursday.
Tips
Back J.Rose First Round Leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Betfred (1/4 1-5)
WON – Back D.Lingmerth to beat A.Baddeley & F.Gomez for a 4/10 stake at 2.60 with Betfred
Back them here:
Back C.Hoffman First Round Leader (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Titanbet (1/4 1-5)
Back them here:
Back K.Na First Round Leader (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Winner Sports (1/4 1-5)
Back them here:
Back R.Fisher First Round Leader (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 101.00 with Paddy Power (1/5 1-7)
Back them here:
Back J.Thomas to beat D.Johnson & R.McIlroy for a 3/10 stake at 4.00 with Bwin
Back him here:
Back S.Stricker to beat W.Simpson & P.Malnati for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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