Players Championship 2016 Payout: Breaking Down Prize-Money Purse Distribution

Golf’s fifth major championship has arrived. The Players Championship gets underway Thursday at TPC Sawgrass’ Stadium course, with a majority of the world’s top golfers descending to Ponte Vedra Beach.

Looking at the pre-tournament odds, though, you might notice something a little bit off. The tournament favorite is not world No. 1 Jason Day. It’s not world No. 2 Jordan Spieth. It’s world No. 3 Rory McIlroy, who hasn’t won on the PGA Tour in almost a full calendar year.

Odds Shark has McIlroy at +750 (bet $100 to in $750), and it’s not even as if McIlroy has a history of dominance at Sawgrass. He’s never won a Players Championship, though he has been in contention a few times. 

“I’ve gotten a lot more comfortable with Sawgrass,” McIlroy said, per Bob Harig of ESPN.com. “I finally accepted that I can’t hit driver as much as I would like there. I’ve always felt that it was a golf course that handcuffed me a little bit. The things that give me an advantage over some of the field, you know, they don’t really give me an advantage there. So the first few years I was quite stubborn and still trying to take on a lot of things instead of accepting the fact that I’m going to have to play the course the way everyone else plays it.”

McIlroy being the favorite is arguably more of a comment on how Spieth and Day have been …

continue reading in source www.bleacherreport.com