Photo Credit: Golf Digest/ US PGA Tour
The return of “Golf’s fifth major” feels a little different this time around. Normally, The Players is the first time we see all the best guys in the world tee it up together. With the introduction of the Designated Events on the 2023 PGA Tour schedule, this is no longer the case. Personally, that does not taper my anticipation for this years event, as the test that The Players offers because of TPC Sawgrass is unlike any other we have. No other golf course that is a staple on The PGA Tour allows more variety in style of play to be successful than TPC Sawgrass does. That is because it really decreases the value of being long off the tee by introducing crossing hazards on their golf holes. Holes 3, 11, and 15 are good examples of this. By taking away players ability to hit it as far as they can, we find players laying up into similar spots as one another more often and testing all the elements of a players game rather than just distance off the tee. It is also has very narrow fairways for a golf course and punishes you instantly the moment you leave it. Any player can succeed here and take home the winners share of the richest regular season purse in the history of the sport (25 million is the purse). With that being said, lets dive right in to our picks for the week! Our regular format of top, middle, and the bottom of the odds board will be our guide for the week
Tom Kim
While winning in his Players debut would be an immaculate feat, Tom Kim has a very real chance to do it. TPC Sawgrass is largely considered a target golf course. It is a very defined shot makers set up. What Tom lacks in distance off the tee, he more than makes up for with his incredible accuracy from there. He is two standard deviations better in Driving Accuracy than your average PGA Tour player according to datagolf. Tom is also a world class iron player. He has not competed in a tournament yet this year in which he has negative strokes gained as a whole over the course of a tournament. Now some people may think that with his lack of experience in general but more specifically at this course, he is likely to struggle this week. I disagree with that sentiment. He has shown over and over again that the pressure of big stages is not a problem for him. He is someone who tends to rise to the occasion. While he is yet to post an impressive finish in a designated event so far, I think that this golf course will be the great equalizer for him. He lacks the distance that all the true top tier players in the game have, and this golf course brings him back level with those guys. He is an absolute stud with his long to mid irons and we expect that to be on full display this week. Give me Tom Kim to win The 2023 Players Championship.
Adam Hadwin
Adam Hadwin’s last two starts in The Players have been kind to him with T9 and T29 finishes respectively. He also already has a top 10 finish this year at a designated event when he grabbed a T10 at Waste Management. He also has been in good form this year. He has only missed one cut, which unfortunately was last week at API. However, last week his putter was dramatically worse for him than it had been all season which makes it feel like an outlier of a result for Hadwin. His game mirrors a lot of what we said about Tom Kim above. He is elite in driving accuracy, an above average approach player, and is below average in distance. He is another guy who this course is a great equalizer for him. This duo of picks reminds us a lot of the Denny McCarthy and Eric Cole double we had a few weeks back and we found success then, so we are going back to that same model of thought. You can find Hadwin around guys on the odds board like Francesco Molinari and Taylor Montgomery. We think Hadwin is in for a much better week than those guys and we feel comfortable giving him a top 20 finish this week.
Adam Svensson
Yes another Canadian golfer named Adam in our picks this week. The thing we like most about him this week is his value in regards to his form. He has recorded a T9, T24, and T49, with the T9 and T24 coming in designated events! He has already grabbed a win this year at The RSM as well. He feels like an appreciably different and better golfer than he was last PGA Tour season. He is another player who is below average in distance but above average in accuracy. It feels strange to see his name on the odds board where it is. He is surrounded by guys who are fine tour players, but have not done much in designated events this year. With Svensson being a good course fit and showing us already that he can hang in these loaded fields, we absolutely love Adam Svensson for a top 20 finish this week.
