Fantasy Golf Preview: The Players Championship

The 2013 Today’s Golfer Fantasy Golf game stays on the PGA Tour this week at double points Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass.

The PGA Tour’s flagship event celebrates its 40th playing this week and with seven of the last eight champions having played at Sawgrass a minimum of seven times prior to their victories, you’d be best advised to go for experience over promise when picking your team this week.

After two years of averaging par or better, TPC Sawgrass scored 72.466 in 2012 and is probably best described as a ball-striker’s track.

Scoring on the par-3s and 4s is firm but fair, so the mindset upon arrival should be to take advantage of the par-5s, giving the tour’s bigger hitters a slight advantage around the 7,215-yard par-72 layout.

Here is the six-man Today’s Golfer team for The Players Championship:

Tiger Woods £5.5m

Tiger’s best finish since his 2001 win in The Players was an eighth in 2009, but he has won three times this season and leads the stats in strokes gained-putting, adjusted scoring, par-3 scoring and par-5 scoring.

Adam Scott £3.8m

In his first start since his Masters victory, Scott will be looking to add to his 2004 victory and three top-15s since. If he had logged enough rounds to qualify for official rankings, he’d sit second in adjusted scoring and fourth in scrambling for 2013.

Jim Furyk £2.2m

Local resident Furyk has missed just two of his last 16 cuts at TPC Sawgrass and posted eight top-25s. He ranks fifth in fairways hit and first in proximity to the hole in 2013, with 13 consecutive cuts and two top-10s in his last five starts.

Tim Clark £1.6m

Winner at TPC Sawgrass in 2010, Clark recently placed T11 at the Masters and T24 at the RBC Heritage. He is also second on Tour in fairways hit and 21st in bogey avoidance.

Kevin Streelman £0.8m

Streelman is in his prime, thriving in a career season. Since winning in Tampa, he’s added a T3 (RBC Heritage) and a T6 (Wells Fargo). This will be his fifth start at TPC Sawgrass; with a best finish of T19 in 2011.

Billy Horschel £0.7m

Horschel lives locally and ranks among the most in-form golfers in the world right now. He strung together three top-10s as a prelude to his breakthrough victory in New Orleans two weeks ago.

Others to consider…

Luke Donald £4.4m

With three top-six finishes among seven cuts made in his last eight appearances, he owns one of the better records at TPC Sawgrass without a victory.

Phil Mickelson £3.8m

He’s survived each of the last 11 cuts at TPC Sawgrass, a stretch that includes a title in 2007 and six top-25s. Held leads after 36 and 54 holes at Quail Hollow last week when he led the field in strokes gained-putting, but had to settle for third.

Lee Westwood £3.2m

Finding his form with a T10 (Houston), T8 (Masters) and T4 (Wells Fargo) in last three starts, the Englishman sits T10 in total driving, 13th in adjusted scoring and an impressive eighth in scrambling. He also has three top-sixes in 10 tries at TPC Sawgrass.

Sergio Garcia £3.0m

The 2008 champ grinded through a sore back to share 16th place at Quail Hollow, padding his total of 16 top-25s in his last 17 starts worldwide. Ranks 10th in strokes gained-putting, third in adjusted scoring and T7 in par-4 scoring.

K.J. Choi £1.6m

His win here in 2011 served as the cornerstone for a mammoth season. After an off-year in 2012, he’s had two top-10s in 2013 and ranks 31st in strokes gained-putting and T28 in adjusted scoring.

> The deadline to pick your team for the Players Championship is 12 BST on Thursday 9th May. See a full list of the field here.