The 51st edition of The Players Championship has arrived. And as it has since 1982, the famed Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass will take center stage as the host of the PGA Tour's flagship event.
Two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who became the first to win this event in back-to back years a season ago, headlines one of the strongest fields on the schedule and will look to make even more history by becoming just the second to win this tourney three times, joining Jack Nicklaus.
Scheffler will be joined by recent Players champs Justin Thomas (2021), Rory McIlroy (2019), Si Woo Kim (2017), Jason Day, and Rickie Fowler (2015), who will all look to join an elite list of just seven who have won The Players Championship multiple times.
Meanwhile, a host of others, such as 2025 Sentry winner Hideki Matsuyama, 2025 Genesis Invitational champ Ludvig Åberg, and last week's winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Russell Henley, will hope to add another big win to their respective resumes.
Understandably, Scheffler is a heavy favorite to claim this 2025 edition of The Players, with McIlroy, Collin Morikawa, Åberg, and Thomas rounding out the top five at an event that hasn't produced a triple-digit longshot winner since Webb Simpson in 2018.
While TPC Sawgrass has favored some of the best players on the planet since it moved from May to March in 2019, that doesn't mean it's impossible for a dark horse to emerge. It's unlikely, yes, but it's not impossible.
With that in mind, let's take a look at a few of these dark horses who could surprise this week at The Players and follow in the footsteps of some of the unexpected winners we've seen thus far this season, a list that includes Brian Campbell (Mexico Open) and Joe Highsmith (Cognizant Classic).
5. Nick Taylor (+11000)
Nick Taylor has teed it up in seven events in 2025 and has finished T33 or better six times, the outlier being a T48 finish at The Sentry. He went on to win the following week at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Taylor, whose two best finishes in eight starts at Sawgrass were a T16 in 2019 and a T26 last year, leads the PGA Tour in strokes gained approach over the last 20 rounds coming into this year's Players Championship.
And with three wins in the last three years, don't be surprised if he finds himself in contention down the stretch.
4. Robert MacIntyre (+6000)
Robert MacIntyre has struggled in his only two appearances at The Players, missing the cut in 2021 and 2024, but is clearly a much better player now after two big wins last year at the RBC Canadian Open and the Genesis Scottish Open.
MacIntyre, whose best finish this season was a T6 in Phoenix, enters The Players coming off a tie for 11th at Bay Hill. He ranks sixth over the last 20 rounds in strokes gained off the tee, which is great news at a locale where keeping the ball in play off the tee is crucial.
3. Justin Rose (+11000)
Justin Rose fired a final-round 69 at Bay Hill this past Sunday to finish tied for eighth, giving the 2013 U.S. Open champ a second top-10 this season to go along with his tie for third last month at Pebble Beach.
Rose has a pair of top-eight finishes in his last four starts at The Players Championship, and with his strong approach play and putting at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, it wouldn't be shocking to see the 44-year-old put himself in contention at Sawgrass on Sunday afternoon.
2. Michael Kim (+6500)
Michael Kim is playing far too well to ignore, having recorded five consecutive finishes of 13th or better top-13 finishes coming into this year's Players Championship.
That includes an impressive fourth-place finish at Bay Hill this past week, where the 31-year-old overcame a sluggish start to close three consecutive rounds in the 60s.
Kim doesn't have a great history at Sawgrass, missing the cut in three of four appearances, but he's playing some of the best golf of his career, ranking third in strokes gained tee to green and 14th in approach over the last 20 rounds.
1. Aaron Rai (+7000)
Aaron Rai returns to The Players Championship for the third time following finishes of T19 and T35 in his only two previous starts at TPC Sawgrass.
The 24th-ranked player in the world has gained strokes ball striking in four consecutive starts entering the week and finished T4 and T11, respectively, in his last two starts at the Mexico Open at Vidantaworld and the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
A winner at the Wyndham Championship last season, Rai could be a sneaky pick to challenge this week.
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