After having not won a regular season PGA Tour event in a full calendar year, the world's No. 1 ranked golfer, Scottie Scheffler, dominated the field at last week's Arnold Palmer Invitational and took home a first place paycheck of $4 million. Now the circuit moves on to the unofficial fifth major, THE PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. This week's tournament is the signature event on the PGA Tour and brings with it a purse of $25 million to be pursued by the 144 players in the field. The winner will receive a $5 million payout, the largest for a PGA Tour sponsored event this season. TPC Sawgrass' The Players Stadium Course is a par-72, playing at nearly 7,300 yards and features water hazards on 17 holes. The first tee times begin at 7:40 a.m. ET on Thursday.

Scheffler looks to defend his title and opens as the heavy favorite at odds of +550, followed by 2019 champion, Rory McIlroy (+1100), Xander Schauffele (+1800), Patrick Cantlay (+2000), and Viktor Hovland, Will Zalatoris, and 2021 champion Justin Thomas at +2200.

With a competitive field at this week's PGA Tour Signature Event, who can you trust for your THE PLAYERS Championship Fantasy golf picks? Before you set your 2024 THE PLAYERS Championship golf lineups or make any PGA Tour bets, you NEED to see the Fantasy golf rankings from Fantasy expert Eric Cohen.

Cohen is an avid golf bettor who correctly predicted the pre-tournament outright winner of the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic (Rickie Fowler +1400), 2023 PGA Championship (Brooks Koepka +2000), 2023 Honda Classic (Chris Kirk +3500), 2022 Open Championship (Cameron Smith +2200), 2022 U.S. Open (Matt Fitzpatrick +2500), and 2022 Phoenix Open (Scottie Scheffler's first career victory at +2800). 

Eric is a contributor to SportsLine's YouTube shows including "Early Edge" and is the host of "The Early Wedge" golf show (live on Tuesday, 3/12 at 7:00 p.m. ET). Anyone who has followed Cohen's predictions has made positive gains on their golf picks.

Now, Cohen has studied the field set to play at the PGA Tour's home course and revealed his THE PLAYERS Championship Fantasy golf rankings. 

We can tell you he is backing the winner of February's Genesis Invitational, Hideki Matsuyama, to compete for the win again this week. "He has three top-10 finishes in eight appearances, including a solo fifth place finish last year. That doesn't include a course record-tying 63 in the opening round of 2020's tournament that was cancelled soon after due to the outbreak of COVID."

On the other hand, Cohen is fading the second betting choice at 2019 champion, Rory McIlroy, at +1100 odds. "Since his win here, McIlroy has gone MC-T33-MC, losing more than 12 strokes putting combined. Sure, he could absolutely win any given week with his talent but I'll be playing against him at The Players."

Cohen also is backing several underdogs in his 2024 THE PLAYERS Championship Fantasy golf picks, including a HUGE 175-1 longshot who has been excellent on the Florida Swing! If this player can pull off a stunning result, it would bring a HUGE payoff and be a valuable piece for The Players Championship Fantasy golf lineups. You ABSOLUTELY need to see who it is before locking in any fantasy golf picks.

Who wins the THE PLAYERS Championship, and which triple-digit longshot could bring a HUGE payout and be the difference for your Fantasy golf picks? Join SportsLine now to get Eric Cohen's Fantasy golf rankings and picks for THE PLAYERS Championship, all from the Fantasy expert who has delivered a positive ROI with his golf picks!