The PLAYERS Championship 2024: SB Nation’s Playing Through staff predicts winners

The PGA Tour’s marquee event returns to TPC Sawgrass, home of The Players Championship.

Last year, Scottie Scheffler shot a 7-under 65 on Saturday and a 3-under 69 on Sunday, winning by five strokes over Tyrrell Hutton and running away with the title.

Scheffler, of course, won last week at Bay Hill. His victory at the Arnold Palmer Invitational was his first since The Players a season ago and his seventh on the PGA Tour.

However, no one has achieved the same results at TPC Sawgrass, which speaks to the unpredictable nature of the course. Almost every hole involves water, trouble lurks everywhere, and you need different shot shapes to win.

With that in mind, let’s take a look at our staff’s recommendations.

Kendall Capps – Senior Editor

I’m back to Justin Thomas train.

It might be childish to pick an opponent after what Scottie Scheffler did last week and last year at this course.

But I’m not completely convinced that his putting woes have subsided.

Thomas, on the other hand, has been quietly playing great golf since last year’s Ryder Cup. Aside from missing out on the Genesis Invitational, Thomas has finished third, sixth, 12th and tied for 12th so far in 2024.

This season, he’s hitting birdie or better 29% of the time, ranking fourth on the PGA Tour in that metric. If you can get into position at TPC Sawgrass, you’ll have a good chance at birdie. Fortunately for Thomas, he has done just that so far this season.

Thomas is eighth on tour in 2024 Strokes Gained: Tee to Green and might have put more pressure on Scheffler if not for a tough back nine at Bay Hill last week.

Sadly, Thomas never missed a spot at TPC Sawgrass. He previously won here in 2021 and will likely win again this week.

Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images

Jacques Mirko – Staff Writer

With the final round of The PLAYERS Championship coming up on Selection Sunday, I feel obligated to use NCAA Tournament terminology to make my selections.

I go all chalk.

Scotty Scheffler I can’t compete against him because he’s playing in his own league.

He leads the tour in scoring average, overall strokes gained and strokes gained off the tee. He hits 78 percent of regulation greens, which ranks first on the PGA Tour.

His recent play has resembled Tiger Woods in his prime, and Scheffler will accomplish something this week that even Woods hasn’t. It’s a reproduction at TPC Sawgrass.

Last year, Schaeffler posted a whopping 17.274 total strokes, but only 0.107 of those strokes hit the green. At the time, he was playing with a blade putter, but Scheffler now has a new mallet putter that he goes one-on-one with.

The 2022 Masters champion ranked fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week with a 4.347 stroke on the green.

With his excellent play from tee to green, it’s no wonder he won convincingly.

So I hope his hot putter continues to flex its muscles at TPC Sawgrass, where Scheffler becomes the first player to win back-to-back Players Championships.

Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Savannah Lee Richardson – Staff Writer

Just like Jack, here are my picks for this week: Scotty Scheffler.

I think Scheffler has entered his own league among PGA Tour legends with back-to-back appearances at TPC Sawgrass.

Now that he’s got a high-profile putter, things might get ugly for the rest of the field.

“I found a putter that lines up really well,” Scheffler explained Tuesday.

“I didn’t try to hit it perfectly every time, and I didn’t use it for any purpose other than to help line up.”

Scheffler also took the line off the ball prior to last week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, which also paid dividends.

“It’s much easier to say, ‘It doesn’t really matter if I miss or make, but at the end of the day, it’s very important to me whether that putt goes in or doesn’t go in,'” Scheffler added. .

“But it’s about sticking to your process and controlling what you can control. It’s about having a good attitude and hitting good putts, and not using the line helped a lot in that regard.”

Photo credit: Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour (Getty Images)

Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.