THE PLAYERS Championship Odds: Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau the Favorites at TPC Sawgrass

THE PLAYERS Championship has everything you want as a golf speculator. The field is elite, the course is iconic and the potential for bedlam is pretty high.

With 48 of the top 50 players in the world set to compete, you'd imagine that it would be pretty hard for a longshot to come out on top at TPC Sawgrass. But this tournament is full of surprises and has produced winners from all over the board over the past decade. Si Woo Kim famously won this tournament as a 500/1 longshot back in 2017, but we've also seen some players win at short odds, including defending champion Rory McIlroy who won the 2019 PLAYERS as a +1200 co-favorite according to GolfOdds.com.

• 2010: Tim Clark (+10000)
• 2011: K.J. Choi (+4000)
• 2012: Matt Kuchar (+4000)
• 2013: Tiger Woods (+800)
• 2014: Martin Kaymer (+6000)
• 2015: Rickie Fowler (+5000)
• 2016: Jason Day (+1000)
• 2017: Si Woo Kim (+50000)
• 2018: Webb Simpson (+6000)
• 2019: Rory McIlroy (+1200)

Si Woo's 500/1 extravaganza will be tough to match, but there are a lot of intriguing prices on the board. There's really something for every type of bettor this week. Let's take a look at the odds for the 2021 PLAYERS Championship.

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The Favorites

Dustin Johnson finally came back down to earth with a T54 finish at the WGC-Workday but one poor showing won't be enough to knock the World No. 1 from his perch at the top of the oddsboard. Prior to his 6-over at The Concession, DJ had amassed nine top-10 finishes in his last 10 outings.

Johnson has plenty of company near the top with Bryson DeChambeau and Rory McIlroy right behind him at +1200 and Jon Rahm is next at +1400.

After seeing his odds drift a little bit ahead of the WGC-Workday, DeChambeau was back near the top of the odds at the API and paid off his backers with a victory. DeChambeau was full of chutzpah at Bay Hill, but he was also dialed in.

Bryson was second in the field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and perhaps more importantly for this week gained strokes with his approach. Sawgrass isn't known as a bomber's paradise, so seeing Bryson post strong numbers with his irons is definitely worth noting if you want to bet him to go back-to-back.

McIlroy is an interesting case. The Northern Irishman hasn't won in 15 months, but his odds haven't drifted much at all over that span. This isn't to suggest McIlroy has been bad over his winless stretch. In fact, McIlroy has finished inside the top-20 in 10 of his last 12 starts, including back-to-back top-10s at the WGC-Workday and the API.

The conundrum for bettors is that, while McIlroy has been consistent, he hasn't broken through and that makes odds this short tough to swallow, even if McIlroy is the defending champion.

The rest of the favorites are as expected, save for Viktor Hovland at +1800. The affable Norwegian has been white hot for a long time, but it is still a bit jarring to see Hovland with shorter odds than Patrick Cantlay (+2200), Tony Finau (+2500), Patrick Reed (+3300) and Tyrrell Hatton (+3300).

It will be interesting to see how popular Jordan Spieth is at +2500. At this point, it seems safe to say that Spieth has found his game and is in form, but bettors may be a bit skittish about buying high on Spieth considering he was regularly priced in the triple-digits not too long ago.

Big Names and Big Numbers

One of the great things about a field this deep is you can get some great prices on some big names. Daniel Berger certainly fits that mold at +4000. Berger is only a couple of weeks removed from a win at Pebble Beach, but has drifted into the mid-tier for no real reason. I'd imagine that Berger will get a lot of attention if this number sticks around long enough.

There is plenty of starpower right behind Berger as cases can be made for any of Tommy Fleetwood (+4500), Jason Day (+5000), Joaquin Niemann (+5000), Scottie Scheffler (+5000), Matthew Fitzpatrick (+5500), Sungjae Im (+5500) and/or Paul Casey (+5500) at these prices.

Buy the Dip?

Sam Burns had bookmakers shaking in their boots a little bit at Bay Hill. Listed at +4500, Burns was one of the most popular bets on the board at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and seemingly everybody in the GolfBet universe had a piece of Burns in either betting or DFS. You know how this story ends. Burns, who has never won a PGA TOUR event, struggled right out of the gates at Bay Hill and unceremoniously missed the cut at 5-over par. Something tells me bettors won't be lining up to bet Burns at Sawgrass.

The same can be said of Francesco Molinari. The Italian was not nearly as chalky as Burns, but he got some play at the API at +3500. Like Burns, Molinari was an unmade bed at Bay Hill and missed the cut. He is currently listed at +9000 to win THE PLAYERS.

Other Notables

• Corey Conners (+9000): After coming up just short at Bay Hill the Canadian has opened at 90/1 for THE PLAYERS. Conners is known as one of the best ball-strikers on TOUR and is always popular when he's priced this deep. You can safely assume that his third-place finish will only add to his popularity.
• Cameron Smith (+6600): It feels like Cam Smith is always lurking. The Aussie is coming off back-to-back strong performances at the Genesis and WGC-Workday, so he's certainly worth keeping an eye on.
• Gary Woodland (+17500): The 2019 U.S. Open champion is coming off an injury and his form is almost unbettable, but this number certainly stops you in your tracks.
• Matthew NeSmith (+17500): NeSmith's name was bandied about as a potential sleeper last week but he never got going at Bay Hill and missed the cut. That said, NeSmith continued his strong iron play and gained 1.25 strokes on the field with his approach. The rest of the game was a mess but punters will be putting a premium on SG:APP this week, so don't forget about NeSmith.

2021 PLAYERS Championship Odds

Odds via DraftKings and current as 12 a.m. ET on Monday.