Golf Tips: Hovland’s the man in our 22/1 shout for the Players Championship

Golf guru Martin Mathews has a few fancies for Thursday's tee off at the 'fifth major' at TPC Sawgrass.

Viktor Hovland Houston Open November 6, 2020

By / Golf / 2 years ago

Players Championship Golf Tips:

Viktor Hovland
Tyrrell Hatton
Jason Day
Francesco Molinari
Ben Martin

It’s been a fantastic start to the year on the PGA Tour with the new ‘designated event’ format giving us regular showdowns between the Tour’s biggest names. This week though things step up again as the tour heads to TPC Sawgrass for its flagship event, The Players Championship.

The market is headed up by Jon Rahm, who prior to a wobble at Bay Hill had been on a tremendous run of form posting three wins in his previous five starts. Add in a best effort of ninth place in five visits here and there is no doubt the Spaniard fits the profile. That said he is yet to win in Florida and that, along with his poor week at Bay Hill, is enough to put me off at the odds.

Behind Rahm in the market we find the two players who are vying with him week in week out for the world number one spot, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.

Despite his hot form, which saw him come close to defending his title at Bay Hill, Scheffler is easy for me to pass by due to his lack of any notable course experience or form, however McIlroy, a past Champion who arrives on the back of another close call in Orlando is far tougher to overlook and he would certainly be the pick of the ‘big three’ for me.

Ultimately though as we saw at Bay Hill with Kitayama, it only takes one player to beat the shorter odds fancies and therefore preferring to get some each way juice I will start our team with Viktor Hovland.

Hovland was hugely frustrating on Sunday at Bay Hill as a sloppy final day saw him slip back to tenth. What he mustn’t do though is let this blip cloud what has been a really strong run of form on the PGA Tour, a run which until Sunday had seen the Norwegian shoot par or better in every round on the tour in 22-23.

With all of Hovland’s five PGA Tour wins coming by the coast we know he is comfortable in the blustery conditions we can expect this week, while his ninth place here last year shows he has got to grips with Sawgrass.

Prior to the final round at Bay Hill, the 25-year-old’s trademark long game stats were superb and I expect a big run from him at a venue where strong ball strikers thrive.

TyrrellHattonJul21

Next up is another player who was in the hunt at Bay Hill, Tyrrell Hatton. Hatton has struggled at Sawgrass over the years, however, like many former champions he marked our card by finally getting to grips with the track last year on his fifth visit, finishing 13th.

With two top six finishes in his last three starts Hatton is trending really nicely and his superb iron play makes him a perfect fit to step up to the next level.

With strong form coming in here one player I cannot ignore is past champion Jason Day. Now finally healthy after battling major back issues, Day has been firing on all cylinders of late posting four straight top 10 finishes.

All that is missing now is a ‘comeback win’ and with this event known as one where bigger names often end long winless droughts the 35-year-old is a must for me this week.

Finally, in an event where Paddy are paying to 10 places each-way, I will take a couple of longer price selections in the shape of Francesco Molinari and Ben Martin.

Molinari, who quietly posted a solid 14th place at Bay Hill at the weekend, will be desperate for some big results this year in his quest to make his home Ryder Cup. A good bank of form here over the years including three top ten’s offers plenty of encouragement and he is exactly the type of experienced campaigner to go well.

Martin, meanwhile, a one time winner on the tour, is having his best season for a long time and having finished fifth last time out at the Honda he can thrive at huge odds at a venue where he was fourth at on debut back in 2015.

Players Championship Golf Tips:

Viktor Hovland
Tyrrell Hatton
Jason Day
Francesco Molinari
Ben Martin

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