The PGA Tour’s best will coalesce for its flagship event this week as preparations begin for the 2026 Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. TPC Sawgrass again serves as a gracious host that has been conquered by some of the top names in the game over the last few years.
The stern test of Pete Dye’s masterpiece boasts as strong a list of recent winners as any event in the world: Rory McIlroy (2019, 2025), Scottie Scheffler (2023, 2024), Cameron Smith (2022) and Justin Thomas (2021) have emerged from among elite fields over the last six years at TPC Sawgrass.
Still, the 2026 season to this point has been defined by the depth of the top of the PGA Tour. There has been a continuation of last year’s trend of different players winning each signature event, as the last 11 such trophies have been raised without a single repeat champion.
Scheffler and McIlroy still enter as the two best players in the world, but the gap to the next tier of PGA Tour stars seems to be narrowing while simultaneously growing in number.
That bears out on the odds sheet, too, where Scheffler (4-1) and McIlroy (13-1) remain the clear favorites. Below them are 13 players at 40-1 or better. That includes multiple-time major winners returning to form in 2026 like Collin Morikawa (19-1) and Xander Schauffele (25-1), as well as emerging stars looking to cement their place among the game’s elite like Ludvig Åberg (25-1) and last week’s winner, Akshay Bhatia (35-1).
The 2026 Players Championship will be a fascinating battle between the two dominant forces in the game and the field, which is trying to close that gap further. Scheffler, who had a frustrating week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and McIlroy, who had to withdraw due to back spasms, both come in facing questions, but they have combined to win four of the last five Players titles.
Will 2026 see someone new lift the golden trophy, or will Scheffler and McIlroy reassert their dominance and pick up another golden statue? That’s the question the oddsmakers are asking coming into TPC Sawgrass this week.
2026 Players Championship odds
Odds via FanDuel Sportsbook
- Scottie Scheffler (4-1)
- Rory McIlroy (13-1)
- Collin Morikawa (19-1)
- Xander Schauffele (25-1)
- Ludvig Åberg (25-1)
- Tommy Fleetwood (25-1)
- Cameron Young (27-1)
- Si Woo Kim (30-1)
- Russell Henley (35-1)
- Akshay Bhatia (35-1)
- Hideki Matsuyama (35-1)
- Matt Fitzpatrick (40-1)
- Min Woo Lee (40-1)
- Viktor Hovland (40-1)
- Chris Gotterup (40-1)
- Sepp Straka (45-1)
- Brooks Koepka (45-1)
- Jake Knapp (45-1)
- Shane Lowry (45-1)
- Patrick Cantlay (45-1)
- Rickie Fowler (45-1)
- Robert MacIntyre (45-1)
- Jordan Spieth (50-1)
- Daniel Berger (50-1)
- Sam Burns (55-1)
- Maverick McNealy (55-1)
- Adam Scott (55-1)
- Ben Griffin (55-1)
- Harris English (55-1)
- Kurt Kitayama (55-1)
- Justin Rose (70-1)
- Jacob Bridgeman (70-1)
- Harry Hall (70-1)
- Alex Noren (75-1)
- Nicolai Højgaard (75-1)
- J.J. Spaun (75-1)
- Justin Thomas (80-1)
- Pierceson Coody (80-1)
- Aaron Rai (80-1)
- Michael Thorbjornsen (80-1)
- Ryan Gerard (80-1)
- Sahith Theegala (80-1)
- Keith Mitchell (80-1)
- Rasmus Højgaard (80-1)
- Nick Taylor (100-10)
- Max Greyserman (100-1)
- Taylor Pendrith (100-1)
- Wyndham Clark (100-1)
- Jason Day (100-1)
- Davis Thompson (100-1)
- Keegan Bradley (100-1)
- Thorbjørn Olesen (100-1)
- Sam Stevens (100-1)
- Kristoffer Reitan (100-1)
- Corey Conners (100-1)
- Marco Penge (100-1)
- Ricky Castillo (100-1)
- Tony Finau (100-1)
- Matt McCarty (100-1)
- Nico Echavarria (125-1)
- Jordan Smith (125-1)
- Alex Smalley (125-1)
- Christiaan Bezuidenhout (125-1)
- Max Homa (125-1)
- Ryan Fox (125-1)
- Sungjae Im (125-1)
- Haotong Li (150-1)
- Max McGreevy (150-1)
- Patrick Rodgers (150-1)
- Ryo Histatsune (150-1)
- J.T. Poston (150-1)
- Brian Harman (150-1)
- Denny McCarthy (150-1)
- Mackenzie Hughes (150-1)
- Rico Hoey (150-1)
- Aldrich Potgieter (150-1)
- Bud Cauley (150-1)
- Mac Meissner (150-1)
- Garrick Higgo (200-1)
- Michael Kim (200-1)
- Johnny Keefer (200-1)
- Stephan Jaeger (200-1)
- Kevin Roy (250-1)
- Joel Dahmen (250-1)
- Zecheng Dou (250-1)
- Vince Whaley (250-1)
- Eric Cole (250-1)
- Emiliano Grillo (250-1)
- Kevin Yu (250-1)
- Tom Hoge (250-1)
- Michael Brennan (250-1)
- Steven Fisk (300-1)
- Sami Valimaki (300-1)
- Taylor Moore (300-1)
- Chris Kirk (300-1)
- Lucas Glover (300-1)
- Chad Ramey (300-1)
- Matti Schmid (300-1)
- Andrew Novak (300-1)
- Gary Woodland (400-1)
- William Mouw (400-1)
- Lee Hodges (400-1)
- Austin Smotherman (400-1)
- Takumi Kanaya (400-1)
- S.H. Kim (400-1)
- Davis Riley (600-1)
- A.J. Ewart (600-1)
- Jhonattan Vegas (600-1)
- Mark Hubbard (600-1)
- Matthieu Pavon (750-1)
- Sudarshan Yellamaraju (750-1)
- Andrew Putnam (750-1)
- Chandler Phillips (750-1)
- Karl Vilips (750-1)
- Joe Highsmith (1000-1)
- Cam Davis (1000-1)
- Erik van Rooyen (1000-1)
- Zach Bauchou (1000-1)
- Brian Campbell (1000-1)
- Adam Schenk (1000-1)
- Danny Walker (1000-1)
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