GOLF PICK 'EM: THE PLAYERS MATCHUP BREAKDOWNS
BY WILL GRAY
Golf Pick 'Em is back for another season of picks and prizes in the NBC Sports Predictor app.
The free-to-play game has returned in 2021 and continues this week with the Players Championship. Each week participants will choose between a series of head-to-head matchups, plus select an overall tournament champion and winning score.
Participants can compete for weekly cash prizes, with a $50,000 jackpot available for any participants who earn a perfect score (increasing up to $100,000 during some of the biggest events of the year). There will also be at least $1,000 awarded each week in cash and prizes, even if there is no player with a perfect score.
Here's a look at some of the keys to this week's set of nine matchups at TPC Sawgrass, as the Tour conducts its flagship event:
Dustin Johnson vs. Rory McIlroy
Keys: The world No. 1 against the defending champ, two years after his win. Johnson still holds onto the top spot despite a jarring T-54 finish in Bradenton in his most recent start, and heads to a course where he has finished T-17 or better each of his last three trips and hasn't missed the weekend since a mid-tournament withdrawal in 2013. McIlroy won in the tournament's return to March and strung together three straight top-10 finishes from 2013-15 but stumbled a bit during the final round at Bay Hill.
Edge: Johnson
Collin Morikawa vs. Viktor Hovland
Keys: These Class of 2019 stars have hit the big time, winning seven Tour titles between them including Morikawa's ball-striking clinic two weeks ago at The Concession. Hovland's run of top-10 finishes finally came to a crashing halt over the weekend in Orlando, where he dropped to T-49 after weekend rounds of 77-78. They're among the top favorites this week despite a lack of Stadium Course experience: both player have played exactly one competitive round here, each shooting 4-under 68 last year before the tournament was called off.
Edge: Morikawa
Jon Rahm vs. Bryson DeChambeau
Keys: These two could easily square off in a singles' match at the Ryder Cup in a few months, but for now the Predictor app will have to suffice. Rahm came close to winning this event two years ago, ultimately fading down the stretch to a T-12 finish, and his T-32 finish in Bradenton snapped a streak of 12 straight top-25 results. DeChambeau held on for victory Sunday at Bay Hill, his third since the pandemic break, and has finished T-20 and T-37 in his two prior appearances.
Edge: Rahm
Patrick Reed vs. Tyrrell Hatton
Keys: These two have shared strong 2021 results along with some puzzling play last week at Bay Hill. Reed won at Torrey Pines and was one of the pre-tournament favorites in Orlando, only to miss the cut with rounds of 73-74. Hatton's ride was much wilder, with bookend rounds of 77 and scores of 67-66 in between. Reed has never finished better than T-22 in six appearances at TPC Sawgrass, while Hatton finished T-41 in his 2017 debut and missed the cut each of the next two years.
Edge: Hatton
Xander Schauffele vs. Patrick Cantlay
Keys: Two of the Tour's most consistent players have accounted for a combined eight top-15 finishes in nine total starts this year. Cantlay hasn't been worse than T-15 in four events, coming close at both Pebble Beach and Palm Springs, but he withdrew because of dehydration ahead of the WGC event two weeks ago. Schauffele finished T-2 in consecutive weeks at Torrey Pines and TPC Scottsdale. He was also a runner-up at The Players in 2018, while Cantlay has a pair of top-25 results and a missed cut among his three previous finishes.
Edge: Schauffele
Justin Thomas vs. Webb Simpson
Keys: Simpson won this event three years ago, the last time it was contested in May, and finished T-16 both the year before and the year after that win. He finished T-6 at Concession while Thomas bounced back from a missed cut at Riviera to tie for 15th. He has never missed a cut in five appearances at TPC Sawgrass, finishing T-3 in 2016 and T-11 in 2018.
Edge: Thomas
Keys: Two former champs looking to build some momentum. Fowler won on the Stadium Course in a memorable playoff in 2015 but at No. 70 in the world rankings still needs a big result in the next few weeks to make the Masters. He finished last among the 72 players to make the cut last week in Orlando, while Day ballooned to a final-round 79 and settled for a tie for 31st. The Aussie won here in 2016 as the world No. 1 and has added a pair of top-10 finishes since then.
Edge: Day
Tony Finau vs. Matthew Fitzpatrick
Keys: Two notables who have had a number of close calls in recent weeks, including both sporting top-5 finishes a few weeks ago at Riviera. Finau remains in search for that second career victory, having lost in a Genesis playoff last month, while Fitzpatrick has strung together three straight finishes of T-11 or better including a backdoor T-10 at Bay Hill. He has never finished better than T-41 in four trips to Sawgrass, while Finau has a T-22 in 2019 as his only notable result at this event.
Edge: Finau
Keys: The Spieth turnaround picked up some more momentum last week, even though he fell short of a watershed victory at Bay Hill. His Sawgrass record has been rough to say the least, with a T-4 in his 2014 debut but just one made cut since then. Scott won this event back in 2004 and has finished T-12 or better here in each of his four appearances. He finished T-54 at Concession in his most recent start and has just one top-20 finish in five starts this year.
Edge: Scott
