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Rory McIlroy Top 20 Finish (-162)
Golf’s unofficial 5th major of the year is this weekend and players could not be more excited. I would be lying if I said I was not excited as well. I will be in attendance placing bets on 17 with a drink in my hand. Calling this tournament The Player’s Championship is fitting; the players absolutely love playing in this tournament. With that being said, the top players in the world are salivating at the opportunity to win this weekend. I fully expect a lot of big names to be sitting atop the leaderboard come Sunday.
Let’s start with top 20 finishes and work our way up to a winner. The first top 20 finish I am betting is Rory McIlroy at -162. The dude is a top 10 finish machine. He has finished in the top 10 in 5 out of his last 6 tournaments. Last year he did not fare well in this tournament missing the cut, but the way he is playing it’s hard to stay away from this bet. It’s always safe to back up finishes with strong scoring statistics. Rory is 1st off the tee, 1st tee to green, and 9th overall in scoring average. If those numbers don’t drive the bet home for you, I will list some more. He is 4th in driving distance at 313.8 yards, 3rd in eagles average at 72, and is sitting 11th in the FedEx Cup.
Tommy Fleetwood Top 20 Finish (+162)
If you haven’t noticed, I bet Tommy Fleetwood a lot. His game is evolving he’s gaining in confidence while playing in America and he has something to play for with his wife having a child. Tommy Fleetwood’s top 20 finish value is sitting at +162. Fleetwood is coming off a solid top 3 finish at The Arnold Palmer Invitational. After a disappointing 76 on moving day he rallied behind a 68 to bring himself into a tie for 3rd. I love getting positive odds on golfers coming off a great tournament. Historically Fleetwood has been very consistent, and you can rely on him making the cut. This season he has played in 5 PGA tour events making the cut in all 5. 3 of which he finished in the top 25, 2 in the top 10 and 1 in the top 5. I like the odds with taking Fleetwood to finish in the Top 20 at +162.
Xander Schauffele Top 10 Finish (+275)
Top 10 finishes are a lot harder to predict than top 20. For bets like these I like to make sure my bet checks off a few very important boxes; how is the player playing this season, how did they play in the event last season, and is the value of the odds worth it. A top 10 finish for Xander Schauffele is valued at +275. Tremendous value for the current FedEx Cup leader. Schauffele has 2 wins this season and has 3 top 10 finishes. This season he has made 8 out of 8 cuts and is playing great golf coming into this tournament. He sat out last week to focus on doing his best this weekend. Xander is no stranger to high finishes at TPC, last year he finished tied for 2nd after posting a 67 in the final round. I will be placing a small wager on Schauffele to win outright at +2800.
If you look at the list below, here are a few other bets that I like. Since they are just slight leans, there will not be a write up attached.
Rickie Folwer to win +2000
Rafa Cabrera Bello Top 10 +500
Brooks Koepka Top 10 +250
Francesco Molinari Top 20 +120
Cameron Champ Top 20 +700
John Rham Top 20 +137
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