The biggest tournament other than the majors starts on Thursday and as ever, The Players should be a brilliant event. The brilliant TPC at Sawgrass will host the “fifth major”, with fans sure to be excited by the iconic 17th hole with its island green and super-challenging 18th.
Rory McIlroy is the defending champion… or is he? Well, Rory most certainly won this event in 2025, setting himself up perfectly for the Masters he won a few weeks later to seal his career Grand Slam. However, at the time of writing, with The Players just hours away, his involvement in 2026 remains in doubt.
Last Saturday, ahead of his penultimate round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the current Players and Masters champion revealed he had felt a twinge in his back during his morning warmup. He withdrew from that event and was expected to be okay to defend his crown at Sawgrass. However, the issue has proved stubborn and we still aren’t certain he will play, especially with the Masters now less than a month away (it starts on the 9th of April).
If the five-time major winner does tee it up in Florida, he will be among the favourites and certainly the European most likely to triumph. However, if he decides not to take any chances with his back, what other Europeans are set to challenge?
European Golf in Great Place
European golf is in a very strong place right now, not least with Luke Donald recently revealing that he will captain the Ryder Cup team for a third competition in a row, having won the previous two. The world rankings also paint a very pleasant picture for fans of the game on this side of the Atlantic.
| Rank | Player | County |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | USA |
| 2 | Rory McIlroy | Northern Ireland |
| 3 | Tommy Fleetwood | England |
| 4 | Collin Morikawa | USA |
| 5 | Justin Rose | England |
| 6 | Russell Henley | USA |
| 7 | Chris Gotterup | USA |
| 8 | Robert MacIntyre | Scotland |
| 9 | Sepp Straka | Austria |
| 10 | Xander Schauffele | USA |
Rory is, as he has been for some time now, number two in the world, but in total, five of the top nine in the world hail from Europe. There is strength in depth too, though, with 11 of the world’s top 30 golfers also being eligible for Donald’s Ryder Cup team. Almost all of those will be bidding to claim The Players, and none of the Europeans can be easily ruled out.
That said, Europeans do not have a great record on this most American of American courses. Aside from Rory, who has won it twice, a European has not won it since Martin Kaymer in 2014 and before that, Henrik Stenson in 2009. Sergio Garcia won the year before that, with the only other golfer from this side of the Atlantic to have won the title being Sandy Lyle all the way back in 1987.
Should the defending champion not recover in time, Europe will not have a past winner among their contenders. Even so, they will have several players in with a great shout of taking the title and the massive $4.5m prize money that comes with it.
Ludvig Aberg
Even with his participation in doubt, McIlroy is the joint-second favourite at 12/1, behind Scottie Scheffler (4/1), the world number one and winner of this event in 2023 and 2024. It is Swede Ludvig Aberg who comes next though, available at 16/1.
Aberg was eighth here in 2024 and comes into the tournament in good form. The 26-year-old moved up to 21 in the world rankings after finishing T3 at the Arnold Palmer. He has two PGA wins to his name, and 2026 could be the season he lands his first really big victory.
Tommy Fleetwood
The Southport man has enjoyed a sustained run of brilliant form that saw him surge from 17th in the world after last year’s US Open up to his current ranking of third. That included breaking his PGA Tour duck in the most sensational fashion possible, by landing the Tour Championship, as well as a string of top 10s.
He was 49th last week, but we can forgive that, not least because he landed consecutive top 10s in the two events prior. Fleetwood will believe he can win a major this year, and landing The Players would give him the perfect springboard.
Matt Fitzpatrick
Sheffield native Fitzpatrick has played alongside Rory, Aberg and Fleetwood at the Ryder Cup, but he would love to get the better of them this week. The 2022 US Open champion is one of the lower-ranked Europeans, down in 24th, and finished tied 41st at the Arnold Palmer. However, it is not that long ago he was winning the DP World Tour Championship, whilst a ninth-place finish at the Phoenix Open and T14 at Pebble Beach show his game is not far away.
The reason many will fancy Fitzpatrick’s chances, however, is his course form. He said, “I like the golf course, it’s a great golf course” – as well he might, having two top 10s here to his name in the past five years.
Other European contenders include Viktor Hovland, Sepp Straka, Robert MacIntyre (ninth here 12 months ago), Shane Lowry, Justin Rose and Alex Noren. It should be a thrilling four days of golf.