Johnson and McIlroy proving popular with Sawgrass punters

The top two players in the world were catching the attention of high-street punters yesterday, with Coral and Ladbrokes cutting Dustin Johnson from 7-1 to 6-1 for the Players Championship, and Rory McIlroy from 12-1 to 10-1.

Johnson fired a pair of weekend 67s at the Wells Fargo Champion­ship and has magnificent US Tour form figures of 3-1-1-1-2, while McIlroy can boast rock-solid four-year Sawgrass form of 8-6-8-12. Johnson is a best-price 15-2, while McIlroy can be backed at 11-1.

The tee-times for the first two rounds of the Florida funfair have put defending champion Jason Day alongside former Sawgrass champions Rickie Fowler and Henrik Stenson in an all-star morning match, swiftly followed by Jordan Spieth, Phil Mickelson and Hideki Matsuyama.

Masters champion Sergio Garcia is out in the afternoon in another set of former Players victors, with Adam Scott and Matt Kuchar his playing partners. The marquee group of the day comes shortly after, with Johnson, McIlroy and Justin Thomas teeing off together at 1.52pm local time (6.52pm UK and Ireland).