Steve Palmer's Players Championship matches preview, best bets & free golf tips

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for the Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass on the PGA Tour.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 11.45am Thursday

Best bet

Billy Horschel to beat Talor Gooch
2pts 5-6 bet365

First-round preview

Billy Horschel and Talor Gooch both contended in the Arnold Palmer Invitational last Sunday, with Horschel ending up two shots ahead of his compatriot, and the Floridian can be fancied to repeat the dose in the Players Championship.

Horschel is loving the Florida Swing - the in-form Jacksonville man able to show off his skills in his home state - and he was only one shot shy of a triumphant Scottie Scheffler at Bay Hill. The Arnold Palmer near-miss followed 16th place in the Honda Classic and Horschel is thrilled with the state of his game.

Form figures this year of 23-36-11-6-16-2 show how solid a campaign Horschel is having - and last year he won both the WGC-Match Play and the BMW PGA at Wentworth. His practice base is TPC Sawgrass, so he brings an enormous amount of course experience to the Players.

A share of 13th place is Horschel's best Players result to date, but the former FedEx Cup champion must have high hopes of registering a new PB on Sunday. Gooch, who found the heat of Bay Hill battle too much and quickly surrendered with a four-putt on the fifth hole, is less experienced at Sawgrass. He did superbly to finish fifth last year, but preference is for the local man in this match.

The Players seems set to be staged in difficult weather - and it could be a stop-start affair with thunderstorms in the forecast. Horschel, a grinder who steps up a gear in Florida, can be relied upon for 100 per cent concentration throughout.

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