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Bet Justin Rose to win (-120)
We will focus on picking a few winners in this tournament as we have made it to moving day! As much as I love Tiger Woods, 11 strokes back in his first tournament of the season is just too far of an obstacle to overcome. Especially on a course that is being torched this weekend. Let’s pick a safe play to put our money on and a few longshots who provide great value.
For our first bet, we will go with ole reliable. The number one golfer in the world who also happens to be coming into moving day with a 3-stroke lead, Justin Rose. His odds are very great at -120. Just pay a little juice, sit back, and collect your winnings (more likely than not). Last week I selected Justin Rose to do better than Cantlay in the opening round of the Desert Classic. Both golfers played great, but Cantly edged him out. That was my only loss of the tournament. Let’s see if Justin Rose will make up for losing us money last week and take home the cake this week. Rose will be looking to maintain his #1 world ranking and secure his 10th PGA Tour victory. He certainly would love a win here after failing to finish in the top 10 last week in the Desert Classic. He started the tournament by going low , posting a 63, followed by a 6 under 66. He has been scoring well this season sitting right around 69 per round. He finds himself top 10 in his around the green average, putting average and score average. -120 for the number 1 golfer to hold on to a 3-stroke lead for 2 more round? Sign me up!
Longshot Bets: Jon Rahm (+700) & Rory McIlroy (+2500)
Let’s look at a few longshots here. The first golfer to consider would be Jon Rahm at +700. He is a very streaky golfer, as you could tell by his 62 in his opening round. If he gets it going, he can go on an absolute tear. Plus, it seems as if Rahm is hitting every par 5 in two out here with easy. It makes life simple when you are putting for eagle on every par 5. The next longshot I would consider making a friendly wager on would be Rory McIlroy. He is 7 back and his odds are sitting at +2500. Not bad for another guy who bombs the ball and is known to get very streaky. Think about the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill last year. Everyone wanted Tiger to win. Tiger was close, and we really were hoping he could pull it out. But when the crowds started to roar, They weren’t roaring for Tiger. The crowds were roaring for Rory. He birdied 6,7, and 9 finishing the front 9 at -3. After parring the next 3 holes, he needed to make a serious charge to have a shot. He rattled off 4 straight birdies to cement himself as the 2018 API winner. He finished the day with a 64 at a very tough course. Should Rory be able to post 2 sub 65 rounds, he could find himself holding the trophy on Sunday.
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