2024 Players Championship: Top 10 power rankings at TPC Sawgrass

Patrick Cantlay is too good of a player to not have a top-10 at the Players Championship. I envision that changing after this year.

He debuted with back-to-back top-25s in his first two trips to TPC Sawgrass in 2017 and 2018. Three straight missed cuts preceded a resurgence last year. Cantlay carded four rounds of par or better with 72-70-68-72 to take T-19th.

“It's definitely a course that favors precision, so if you can hit your driver in the fairway, you can have lots of scoring opportunities,” Cantlay was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2021. “You can take advantage of the par-5s if you play from the fairway. Even some of the harder holes are gettable if you drive the ball well. A Pete Dye golf course, I feel like it will show you one side with trouble and you almost have to ignore the big flashy trouble and hug the trouble, because the worst side will be the bailout side and once you bail out into the wrong, into the fat side, then the troubles start mounting.”

Cantlay has finished in the top 12 in half his events this year playing a tough schedule filled with Signature Events. He peaked with T-4th a couple starts ago at the Genesis Invitational.

Last week resulted in T-36th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

Cantlay was the 54-hole leader at Riviera but battled illness and fell off the pace during a cool final round Sunday.

I can’t quite pick this as the week where he breaks through for his first win of the season, but I like Cantlay to get back into contention.