After several weather delays, sunset rounds, and balls in the water on 17, we have our Players Champion in Cam Smith, who takes home a cool $3.6 million after his victory at TPC Sawgrass outlasting the ultimate underdog story Anirban Lahiri, Paul Casey, and a slew of others who had a chance down the stretch. Cam Smith opened the week at 35/1 to win the players, and his odds got longer as the week went on, closing at +3600 on Thursday when the tournament teed off. That likely was due to the top of the field taking in a whole lot of money. Bettors had faith in Smith to have a good week, however. His Top-20 odds opened at +160 but closed down at +130. His Top-10 odds opened at +360 but closed at +270. Finally, his Top-5 odds opened at +700 and closed at +550.
Other Notables:
- The obvious starting point is Anirban Lahiri. He made a run nobody really saw coming this week, and if you did then you probably made some money on The Players. Lahiri teed off in Round 1 Thursday with +65100 odds to win The Players (if you had that I sincerely hope you cashed out at some point). Lahiri was +1300 to finish Top 20, +2300 to finish Top 20, and +5000 to finish Top 5.
- It was a tough week for favorites. Three of the top-8 favorites to take home The Players Championship missed the cut. Only one of those eight finished inside the Top 10, and two finished inside the Top 20. Jon Rahm closed at +1100 as the favorite to win, he finished T55 while the second favorite in Collin Morikawa missed the cut.