The Players Championship 2026 will commence on Thursday, March 12 at the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The unofficial ‘fifth major’ event will will see a 123-player field teeing up to compete for the $25 million purse.
It is pertinent to note that the event, owing to its elevated status on the PGA Tour schedule, features 47 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR). World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and No.2 Rory McIlroy headlines the stacked field. However, the top-rated golfers don’t top the American circuit’s power rankings list. World No.4 Collin Morikawa currently leads the list.
Morikawa won the 2026 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last month, securing his first PGA Tour victory in 847 days and his seventh career title on the tour. Having ended the winning drought, the 29-year-old is among the favorites to clinch another victory this weekend. It is pertinent to note that the 2023 Zozo Championship winner has two top 15 finishes at TPC Sawgrass since 2023.
Ludvig Aberg led the field in proximity to the hole and par-3 scoring while confirming a T3 finish at Bay Hill last weekend. The Swede currently sits second on the PGA power rankings list for The Players. The 26-year-old will be looking to improve on his eighth place finish here in 2024, while Si Woo Kim attempts to improve on his career-best T13 finish at Bay Hill last weekend.
Arnold Palmer Invitational winning Akshay Bhatia and T6 finisher Sahith Theegela round off the top-five power rankings. Interestingly, McIlroy’s mid-tournament withdrawal at Bay Hill due to an injury forces him down the top players list. The Northern Irishman sits seventh on the list for the competeition at TPC Sawgrass. Scheffler sits further behind at ninth after struggling at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. The two-time Players champ will be eyeing a strong comeback this weekend.
Listed below is the top-15 power rankings picks for The Players Championship 2026:
- Collin Morikawa
- Ludvig Aberg
- Si Woo Kim
- Akshay Bhatia
- Sahith Theegala
- Hideki Matsuyama
- Rory McIlroy
- Min Woo Lee
- Scottie Scheffler
- Tommy Fleetwood
- Sepp Straka
- Russell Henley
- Jake Knapp
- Daniel Berger
- Jacob Bridgeman
The Players Championship 2026 Field: Who Is Playing in the Unofficial Fifth Major?
The Players Championship 2026 odds
Unlike the PGA Tour power rankings, Scottie Scheffler is the outright favorite to win The Players Championship 2026. The reigning PGA Championship winner enters the TPC Sawgrass contest with +480 odds, according to FanDuel Sportsbook. He is trailed by the event’s reigning champion Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman starts with +1600 odds, sharing the position with power rankings topper Collin Morikawa.
Si Woo Kim and Ludvig Aberg complete the top-five with +2200 odds while Russell Henley trails them with +2500. Tommy Fleetwood (+2700), Xander Schauffele (+3000), Matt Fitzpatrick (+3300), Min Woo Lee, Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland (+3500) and Cameron Young are the other big names to watch this weekend.
Listed below are the top odds for The Players at TPC Sawgrass (as per FanDuel Sportsbook):
- Scottie Scheffler +480
- Rory McIlroy +1600
- Collin Morikawa +1600
- Si Woo Kim +2200
- Ludvig Åberg +2200
- Russell Henley +2500
- Tommy Fleetwood +2700
- Xander Schauffele +3000
- Matt Fitzpatrick +3300
- Min Woo Lee +3300
- Hideki Matsuyama +3300
- Viktor Hovland +3500
- Cameron Young +3500
- Sepp Straka +4000
- Akshay Bhatia +4000
- Jake Knapp +4500
- Chris Gotterup +5000
- Rickie Fowler +5000
- Robert MacIntyre +5000
- Maverick McNealy +5500
- Shane Lowry +5500
- Harris English +5500
- Jacob Bridgeman +5500
- Daniel Berger +5500
- Kurt Kitayama +6000
- Brooks Koepka +6500
- Corey Conners +6500
- Ryan Gerard +6500
- Patrick Cantlay +6500
- Alex Noren +7000
- Nicolai Højgaard +7000
- Jordan Spieth +7000
- Adam Scott +7000
- Ben Griffin +7000
- Sahith Theegala +7000
- J.J. Spaun +7000
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