The Players Championship (TPC) is an annual golf tournament on the PGA Tour, held at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States. TPC Sawgrass is known for its famous 17th hole, which features an island green and is considered one of the most challenging holes in golf.
Why I trade TPC
The tournament was first played in 1974 and is often referred to as the “fifth major” due to its high prestige and a strong field of players. It typically takes place in March and attracts the best golfers in the world.
Over the years, I’ve monitored the markets at Sawgrass, and they generally matched about 25% of a US Masters market. So they are much smaller, but not a bad warm-up for Augusta.
I use it to remind me about all my good and bad habits ahead of the biggest major of the year, the US Masters.
By biggest, I Mean the biggest in turnover terms on Betfair.
Some background
The Players Championship uses a stroke play format with 144 players. The first two rounds are played on Thursday and Friday, with the field being cut to the top 70 players and ties for the weekend rounds.
In addition to the famous 17th hole, TPC Sawgrass features a challenging course layout with a mix of long and short holes, narrow fairways, and strategically placed hazards. The course has undergone several renovations over the years to improve its playability and maintain its status as one of the top courses in the world.
Key trading points
It’s worth noting that the 17th hole at TPC Sawgrass is notoriously tricky, and even professional golfers can struggle to hit the green consistently. The hole measures 137 yards from the championship tee, and the green is surrounded by water and guarded by bunkers, making it very challenging to land the ball safely on the green.
For this reason, this is one of my favourite holes on the course.
I’m always looking for opportunities to back or lay players around harder holes, but it turns out that the 17th isn’t the hardest hole at Sawgrass. That honour goes to the 18th which averaged 4.255 for a par four. For comparison, the 17th, a par three, played to 2.88.
But if we look a previous stats, we can see that, on average, players drop 0.75 of a shot between holes 3 to 8 making this the hardest part of the course.
In contrast, players pick up just over a shot on holes 16 & 17, but face a stern test awaits on the 18th.
Summary
Sawgrass, nicknamed the fifth major, is a good tournament but much smaller than others and just 25% of Augusta.
But its varied profile and feature hole make for an entertaining tournament, and a good warm-up for some of the action to come over the year.
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