Rory McIlroy
An obvious choice maybe, but it’s impossible to ignore the Holywood youngster following his unbelievable win at Quail Hollow last weekend. He looked like he was suffering from burnout during the Masters at Augusta and contemplated taking a break for the game for a couple of months. It’s a good job he didn’t. An eagle at the 16th hole of his second round saved him from missing the cut In Quail Hollow and from then on in North Carolina, McIlroy played dream golf.
He was -16 for Saturday and Sunday, which included his course record breaking 62 on the final day. McIlroy has been tipped for stardom for some time, but following his Quail Hollow victory, his first win in America, the golfing world are really starting to sit up and take notice. Players from the past and present have been lining up to shower the young man, who turned 21 this week, with praise. Tiger Woods has said that McIlroy is way ahead of the level he was at the same age and Phil Mickelson claimed his performance at Quail Hollow on Sunday was up there with the best rounds of golf he has ever seen. In this sort of form, he will be hard beat.
Odds: 16/1
Ian Poulter
Second to Henrik Stenson at Sawgrass last year and a contender at Augusta until the final day, Poulter seems to have overcome the inconsistency which blighted the earlier years of his career. He has shaken off a knee injury to take part in the Player’s Championship and will be partnered in the first two rounds by Tiger Woods, something that would intimidate many players but we think could bring out the best in the flamboyant Englishman, who will be hoping to become the third European in succession to triumph in Sawgrass following wins for Stenson last year and Sergio Garcia in 2008.
Odds: 22/1
Hunter Mahan
The Texan has saved some of his best form for the majors and given that ‘The Player’s Championship’ is commonly referred to as the ‘fifth major’ and has the biggest prize fund of any competition in golf, it could well suit Mahan, who already has a victory to his name this year, after winning the unfortunately titled Waste Management Phoenix open in February. Mahan tied for eighth at Augusta and was in the top ten at the Masters and the US Open last year. He has already created a little bit of history at the Florida course; in 2007 he became the only man to have ever scored on an albatross (-3) on the 11th hole.
Odds: 50/1
