2022 PLAYERS Championship Longshot Picks: Sergio Garcia, Brian Harman Among 4 Available For Right Price

2022 PLAYERS Championship Longshot Picks: Sergio Garcia, Brian Harman Among 4 Available For Right Price article feature image
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Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images. Pictured: Sergio Garcia.

  • THE PLAYERS Championship has the world's best golfers, which means there are bigger outright numbers available than usual.
  • Shane McNichol did a deep dive into the odds board and identified four players he sees value in.
  • Check out his picks and breakdowns below.
Click arrow to expand 2022 PLAYERS Championship odds via PointsBet

2022 PLAYERS Championship Odds

GolferOdds
Jon Rahm+1200
Justin Thomas+1400
Collin Morikawa+1800
Patrick Cantlay+2000
Rory McIlroy+2000
Viktor Hovland+2000
Daniel Berger+2500
Scottie Scheffler+2800
Hideki Matsuyama+3000
Cameron Smith+3300
Matthew Fitzpatrick+3300
Xander Schauffele+3300
Dustin Johnson+3500
Im Sung-jae+4000
Shane Lowry+4000
Brooks Koepka+4500
Adam Scott+5000
Billy Horschel+5000
Corey Conners+5000
Joaquin Niemann+5000
Jordan Spieth+5000
Louis Oosthuizen+5000
Sam Burns+5000
Tyrrell Hatton+5000
Will Zalatoris+5000
Russell Henley+6000
Si Woo Kim+6000
Talor Gooch+6000
Abraham Ancer+6600
Gary Woodland+6600
Sergio Garcia+6600
Tony Finau+6600
Webb Simpson+6600
Chris Kirk+7000
Max Homa+7000
Paul Casey+7000
Jason Day+8000
Keegan Bradley+8000
Marc Leishman+8000
Tom Hoge+8000
Tommy Fleetwood+8000
Cameron Young+9000
Jason Kokrak+9000
Alexander Noren+10000
Brian Harman+10000
Bubba Watson+10000
Cameron Tringale+10000
Justin Rose+10000
Sebastian Munoz+10000
Thomas Pieters+10000
Aaron Wise+12500
Harold Varner III+12500
Ian Poulter+12500
Keith Mitchell+12500
Kevin Kisner+12500
Kyoung-Hoon Lee+12500
Lee Westwood+12500
Luke List+12500
Maverick McNealy+12500
Patrick Reed+12500
Russell Knox+12500
Seamus Power+12500
Cheng-Tsung Pan+15000
Denny McCarthy+15000
Erik Van Rooyen+15000
Jhonattan Vegas+15000
Lanto Griffin+15000
Lucas Herbert+15000
Mackenzie Hughes+15000
Martin Laird+15000
Matt Jones+15000
Matthew Wolff+15000
Mito Guillermo Pereira+15000
Patton Kizzire+15000
Ryan Palmer+15000
Taylor Moore+17500
Adam Hadwin+20000
Andrew D. Putnam+20000
Beau Hossler+20000
Brendan Steele+20000
Brendon Todd+20000
Cameron Champ+20000
Cameron Davis+20000
Charley Hoffman+20000
Doug Ghim+20000
Dylan Frittelli+20000
Emiliano Grillo+20000
Francesco Molinari+20000
Joel Dahmen+20000
Matt Kuchar+20000
Sahith Theegala+20000
Sepp Straka+20000
Taylor Pendrith+20000
Branden Grace+25000
Carlos Ortiz+25000
Chez Reavie+25000
Garrick Higgo+25000
Henrik Stenson+25000
J. J. Spaun+25000
JT Poston+25000
Lucas Glover+25000
Matt Wallace+25000
Matthew NeSmith+25000
Pat Perez+25000
Ryan Brehm+25000
Troy Merritt+25000
Wyndham Clark+25000
Zach Johnson+25000
Adam Long+30000
Henrik Norlander+30000
Kevin Streelman+30000
Kramer Hickok+30000
Lee Hodges+30000
Nick Watney+30000
Stewart Cink+30000
Adam Schenk+35000
Brandt Snedeker+35000
Brian Stuard+35000
Charl Schwartzel+35000
Doc Redman+35000
Harry Higgs+35000
Hudson Swafford+35000
Kevin Tway+35000
Kyle Stanley+35000
Sam Ryder+35000
Hayden Buckley+40000
James Hahn+40000
Roger Sloan+40000
Scott Piercy+40000
Scott Stallings+40000
Anirban Lahiri+50000
Brandon Hagy+50000
Brian Gay+50000
Brice Garnett+50000
Chesson Hadley+50000
Danny Lee+50000
Hank Lebioda+50000
Jimmy Walker+50000
Joseph Bramlett+50000
Peter Malnati+50000
Richy Werenski+50000
Robert Streb+50000
Stephan Jaeger+50000
Tyler McCumber+50000

After months of slowly building momentum in the 2022 FedEx Cup season, the PGA TOUR finally crests to new heights with THE PLAYERS Championship at legendary TPC Sawgrass.

Nearly all of golf's biggest names will be in the field, save for an injured Bryson DeChambeau. Many of the world's best will be vying for the biggest regular season payout on Tour, but that doesn't mean we can't see a longshot sneak into contention. This century has seen a fair share of dark horse winners at this event, including Si Woo Kim, Tim Clark, Stephen Ames and Craig Perks.

This week, there is a healthy group of players with long odds but a realistic chance to be in the mix on Sunday afternoon.

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Sergio Garcia +9000

By most definitions and at most sportsbooks, Sergio Garcia is not a long shot this weekend. Based on his current odds to win at FanDuel though, I simply couldn't miss including him here. DraftKings has Garcia listed at odds more than half as high as these (+4000).

Garcia has excelled at TPC Sawgrass, year after year. Since 2004, he has played in the event 17 times, collecting a win (in '08) along with four finishes in the top three and seven trips to the top 10. In almost two decades playing this event at this venue, Garcia has yet to miss the cut.

This season, Garcia has made six straight cuts, finishing in the top 40 and gaining strokes on the field in all six of those events. Over the last three months, he's been one of the 10 best drivers of the ball in the world, per Strokes Gained numbers from DataGolf.

Even if Garcia isn't going to find a way to win this week, his odds at FanDuel are juicy across the board. A top-40 finish for Garcia is available at a plus-number (+135) and his odds to make the top 30 are nearly 2-1 (now listed at +195).

Bet Sergio at FanDuel and get a $1,000 risk-free bet.

Brian Harman +15000

Harman is a decent pick at TPC Sawgrass thanks to his past success on the course. He has earned three top 10s at THE PLAYERS since 2015, including in each of the last two completed events.

The lefty's odds have crept up this high due to some shoddy play to start the 2022 season. Harman stumbled out of the gates in the wraparound schedule, though it seems like he's starting to catch his stride.

Since returning from Hawaii at the Sony Open, Harman has made four starts, collecting two top 15s. His putter has been cold over the last month, causing him to lose strokes on the greens in all three of his February starts. If he can straighten that out, on a course where he's shown he can play well, he'll find his way onto the leaderboard.

Harman is available at 100-1 at most books, but DraftKings has the biggest number on him as of Monday afternoon.

Maverick McNealy +21000

This is just too much value for a player who has been scoring as well as McNealy has over the last half year. He's 125-1 at every other major sportsbook, but FanDuel especially has a lack of faith in him at 210-1.

I can understand the hesitation in backing a player with a missed cut in his only start at this event. Soon after McNealy missed the cut at last year's PLAYERS, though, he evolved into a new player.

From the start of the 2021 season to last May's PGA Championship, McNealy played 17 events and missed nine cuts, earning only two top 10s in that stretch.

Since then, McNealy has played 19 events and made all but two cuts. He has only converted that newfound consistency into three top 10s (and a T11) in that period, yet he is clearly playing a different caliber of golf. Over the last six months, McNealy ranks 28th in the world in True Strokes Gained per Data Golf.

We're speculating a bit here, but that's how many longshot winners are found. If McNealy continues to play as well as we've seen in recent months, he's deserving of much shorter odds than these and has every chance to be in the mix this weekend.

Jhonattan Vegas +28000

As far as lottery tickets go, and I'll need you to excuse this terrible pun, but you can do a lot worse than rolling the dice on Vegas. Hey, I warned you!

Vegas has shown some ability to turn on his game for this event. He has more top tens at the Players (two) than missed cuts (one). He has not been stellar on US soil so far this season, but his top ten at the star-studded Saudi event last month showed his game has some life right now.

Compared to the players way down the board this week, none has shown more of a fight against the teeth of TPC Sawgrass. Among players in this week's field with more than 20 rounds at the course, only recent winners Justin Thomas and Si Woo Kim have gained more strokes versus their baseline expectation at this event than Vegas.

With odds of 7-1 just to find the top 20, I like Vegas as a longshot. And as you could guess by now, the number listed above is available at FanDuel.

About the Author
Shane McNichol covers college basketball for The Action Network. He also blogs about basketball at PalestraBack.com and has contributed to ESPN.com, Rush The Court, Rotoballer, and Larry Brown Sports. He spends most of his time angrily tweeting about the Sixers, Eagles, and Boston College.

Follow Shane McNichol @OnTheShaneTrain on Twitter/X.

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