The Players Championship

Outright plays (1 unit):

Vijay Singh to win 25/1 e.w. @ Victor Chandler
Good return to form last week after an opening 75 left him struggling to make the cut. He finished in the top-20 and will be greatly encouraged by his performance. He should have won this event two years ago until a triple-bogey on the 14th hole in the final round handed the title to Woods, but the final margin was still only one shot. That was the only time that Tiger has won here and he was lucky. This year Singh is returning from injury, but he has already won one event (Phoenix Open) and he is a member at Sawgrass so this is where he will have been preparing for last week's return from injury.

Jim Furyk to win 33/1 e.w. @ BetInternet
Not such a good course record, but in excellent form at the moment. He has finished in the top-5 in three of his last four strokeplay events and really should have won the Ford Championship when tipped! He has won in Florida (2000 Genuity Championship) and looks set for his best finish in this event.

Nick Price to finish in the top-five 10/1 @ SkyBet  [12.5/1 @ Centrebet for 4 places]
He may have won the MasterCard Colonial last year, but I would nearly always for place-only with Price. He has a great record in this event, winning the title 10 years ago and finishing in the top-10 in each of the last five years, including two top-3s. He has finished in the top-5 in two of four strokeplay events this year and is similarly consistent in the two Florida events that he plays every year. At Sawgrass and Doral he has finished in the top-10 in nine of his last ten starts. Very consistent and likely to be close to that top-5 finish this week.

Matchup plays (1 unit):

Jim Furyk to beat Brad Faxon -125 @ Easybets
Faxon does not have a particularly good record on this course and if he is as accurate this week as he was on Sunday then he will miss the cut. Putting cannot save your card around Sawgrass as too much damage will be done beforehand. Siding with the player who is 5-0-0 h2h this season and 4-0-1 h2h the last five seasons in this event.

Scott Verplank to beat Colin Montgomerie -115 @ Intertops
Opposing Monty who in his five starts this season has missed the cut three times, gone out in the 1st round of the WGC Match Play and finished 31st. No surprise, therefore, that he has yet to finish ahead of Verplank in any of their four joint events this season. Verplank has a similarly dominant h2h record against Monty on this Tour over the past few years and so will side with the player who makes more cuts than virtually anyone .... bar Tiger.

Adding (1 unit):

Davis Love to win 'Top U.S. Player Without Woods' 14/1 e.w. available generally
Did look at Love for the outright market, but will take him here as he is not one who can duel with Woods in the final round. That said, he has been in excellent form this season with one win (Pebble Beach Pro-Am) already and a runners-up spot in his last outing (Honda Classic). He has a good record of securing top-10 finishes here, including a win in 1992, and is playing without injury at the moment which is something he has been unable to do for a number of years.

Stephen Ames to win 'Top Rest of the World Player' 40/1 e.w. @ BetInternet
Thirty-three players in this category, so along with the 13 Europeans, this shows how international this event has become and the 'Rest of the World' players have a good record in this event. Not only did Perks win this event last year, but they won it four times in the 1990s. These are large odds for a player who finished 2nd last year - he was only denied by an amazing final three holes by Perks - and who, in six starts this year has recorded five top-30 finishes including two top-10s.

Darren Clarke to win 'Top European Player' 7/1 available generally
Clarke's form at Sawgrass is typical Clarke - good event, bad event, good event, etc. But there is plenty of evidence that his hard work over the winter with Butch Harmon is reaping its reward. He has finished no worse than 11th in seven of his last nine events and had been 12th at the cut in the Buick Invitational when he was disqualified over the weekend for signing an incorrect card. Only 13 players in this category and with the Europeans' generally poor record on this course, I'll take the win-only here.

No 1st round plays with thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon.

Adding (1 unit):

Nick Price to beat K.J. Choi -150 @ Pinnacle
Will side with Price again as he is ideally suited for matchups. Very consistent in the big events and in this event in particular, he beat Choi by 5 shots last year in the South Korean's only visit to Sawgrass and can boast a high percentage of top-10 finishes, whereas Choi has made just one in eight starts since the Mercedes Championships.

Bob Tway to beat Carlos Franco -120 @ Pinnacle
Two players who when they're good, they're good and when they're bad ... Both have a host of missed cuts this season and in this event alongside some very high finishes. But Franco cannot match the top-5 finishes that Tway has achieved in his last two starts and this course should be more punishing on Franco's more wayward game.

Stephen Leaney to beat Scott McCarron -108 @ Five Dimes
Just can't support McCarron who in his last four events has missed the cut three times and lost in the 1st round of the other. He has also missed the cut in four of seven visits to Sawgrass. This will be Leaney's first visit, but he has followed up his 2nd place finish in the Johnnie Walker Classic with only Woods putting him out of the WGC Match Play in the 3rd round and another good showing at Bay Hill last week. Should make the cut at least.

3rd round plays (1 unit):

Darren Clarke (+0.5) to beat Padraig Harrington -115 @ Sirbet
Adam Scott to beat Padraig Harrington -112 @ Five Dimes

Mid-point update:

Furyk/Faxon Leads by 1
Verplank/Montgomerie WON by 2
Price/Choi WON by 5
Tway/Franco Leads by 1
Leaney/McCarron LOST by 2

Singh mc
Furyk 18th
Price mc
Love 1st (U.S. w/o Woods)
Ames 8th (R.O.W.)
Clarke 2nd (European)

Encouraging situation at the cut, particularly with the category outrights and Furyk is still in the hunt for the title. Embarrassing loss with Leaney though. McCarron finished 4th last, but Leaney was even more impressive and finished 2nd last!

3rd round update: 1-1-0; -0.12 units

Clarke/Harrington WON by 3
Scott//Harrington LOST by 4

4th round play (3 units):

Dudley Hart to beat Notah Begay -115 @ Five Dimes

Adding 4th round play (2 units):

Niclas Fasth to beat John Daly -115 @ Intertops

Adding 4th round play (1 unit):

Davis Love to beat Padraig Harrington -130 @ Sirbet

4th round update: 2-1-0; -0.45 units

Hart/Begay LOST by 2
Fasth/Daly WON by 8
Love/Harrington WON by 8

Final update:

Matchups: 4-1-0; +2.92 units

Furyk/Faxon WON by 4
Tway/Franco WON by 7

18-holes: 3-2-0; -0.57 units

Outrights: 3-3; +13.88 units

Furyk 4th
Love 1st (U.S. w/o Woods)
Ames 2nd (R.O.W.)
Clarke 2nd (European)

Great final day. Love was simply awesome and a deserved winner, so very glad to have dipped into the category outrights this week! Got a place finish with Ames and Furyk, while Clarke was only denied by two shots to Harrington who tied for 2nd behind Love. Only disappointment on the day was Hart not trailing Begay all day until the very last hole, but Love more than made amends!