The opening round of The Players Championship is always one of the most eagerly anticipated days on the golfing calendar as the field get to see the course from a competitive view for the first time as get to watch everyone look to deal with the infamous penultimate hole.
Everyone in the field will be looking to make a positive start to the tournament and position themselves in with a chance of landing the serious riches which are available for whoever comes out on top on Sunday.
First Round Leader
Whenever a big tournament comes along we always look at the first round leader market which is often a popular offering. This tournament sees the players going out in a morning and an afternoon wave where the winds are likely to be slightly higher in the morning than the afternoon. Traditionally the morning leader stands the test of time in the opening round but it might be that the better scores come in the afternoon this time around.
There are some star names out in the afternoon but some of them such as Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele have awful records here while one or two others such as Cameron Young and Will Zalatoris don’t have much experience. There are a couple of former champions in Jason Day and Justin Thomas who could go well but I’m going to take a chance on Matthew Fitzpatrick who was the last player off my shortlist outright. He has claimed he loves this tournament and although his record here isn’t special, he arrives here as a major champion for the first time and that added status might well bring about improvement in his results here. Fitzpatrick is perfectly suited for this accuracy test and if the putter starts hot he can take advantage of his later tee time.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Thursday 3 Balls
The field go out in three balls in this opening round with the morning and the afternoon wave both having marquee and featured groups. The top three players in the world will headline the morning wave when Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy tee off on the tenth tee at 12.56 GMT. 11 minutes before that Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler go out while the 12.34 GMT group sees Tony Finau out with Tom Kim and Patrick Cantlay.
In the afternoon session the marquee group sees Max Homa out alongside Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth. They go off the first tee at 17.56 GMT with the winner at Bay Hill last week Kurt Kitayama out alongside Will Zalatoris and Xander Schauffele out 11 minutes before that. The European trio of Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland and Shane Lowry are out in the 17.34 GMT group which also go off the first tee. I’ll go with one bet and it comes in that middle afternoon group.
Kurt Kitayama/Will Zalatoris/Xander Schauffele
Match tees off at 17.45 GMT
The middle of the three big groups in the later wave of players out onto the golf course sees the Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Kurt Kitayama out alongside Will Zalatoris and Xander Schauffele in a three ball which will get plenty of attention.
Schauffele has a very poor record around here. Since the tournament was moved back to March he hasn’t made a cut and that is quite a surprise. There is clearly something about this course when it is firm and fast which he doesn’t appreciate. You’d have to think that Kitayama will have a bit of a comedown from the emotional high of his first PGA Tour win last week and while he might be competitive later in the week it might take him 18 holes to get back into the swing of things. That leaves Zalatoris who has had a couple of top 30 finishes in his two starts around here. He should in theory end up being very good around here, especially now his putter looks to be cooperating a lot more. If Schauffele continues to flounder in these conditions and Kitayama needs the round to get last week out of his system then Zalatoris might not need to go that low to win this but he has a low round in him and at 8/5 he feels like a decent price.
Tips
Back M.Fitzpatrick First Round Leader (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back W.Zalatoris to beat K.Kitayama & X.Schauffele for a 3/10 stake at 2.60 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
