There are only around 20 golfers teeing things up at this weekend’s Hero World Challenge, but with six of the top 10 players in the world heading to Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas, this is still going to be a quality event.
Any golfer in the field could win this weekend, and it wouldn’t be a shocker, but with so many big names, it’s likely going to be somebody near the top that takes this event. Here are the 2022 Hero World Challenge favorites:
Jon Rahm +500
Jon Rahm checks off a lot of boxes as the Hero World Challenge betting favorite this weekend. He just wrapped up a win in the DP World Tour Championship two weeks ago and is a previous winner of this event in 2018 while finishing a stroke back from Henrik Stenson in 2019. He did not play last season, and the event was canceled in 2020.
Rahm’s win at the DP World Tour Championship was impressive because it featured six of the top 30 golfers in the world, and he also finished fourth at the CJ Cup, which has had the best field of any event on the PGA Fall Tour.
Scottie Scheffler +800
Scottie Scheffler battled the yips a bit this Fall when he let Rory McIlroy pass him to win the FedEx Cup, then had an atrocious Presidents Cup performance.
It looked like Scheffler was getting in his own head a bit with a 45th-place finish at the CJ Cup, but he bounced back for a third place at the World Wide Technology Championship and then ninth at the Cadence Bank Houston Open.
Scheffler played well last year on his first trip to Albany, leading the field with a 77.8% GIR while finishing a stroke back from winner Viktor Hovland.
Tony Finau +900
We’ve already seen Tiger Woods drop out of this event due to plantar fasciitis, so it will be interesting to see if Tony Finau makes it to the tee box on Thursday.
Finau has a PGA win on the Fall Tour with his victory at the Houston Open, but he couldn’t go back-to-back after withdrawing from the RSM Classic the next weekend.
Xander Schauffele +1100
Xander Schauffele might be a bit distracted this weekend as he’ll likely continue to face questions about him and his pal Patrick Cantlay leaving the PGA for the LIV.
Schauffelle has said he “hasn’t talked to anybody” about a move to the LIV and didn’t look too fazed in his 9th-place finish at the ZOZO Championship last month. Schauffele has placed in the top 12 in all three of his events at Albany Golf Club.
Justin Thomas +1100
Justin Thomas has kept a pretty low profile on the Fall leg of the Tour, playing only in the CJ Cup, where he finished 40th. Thomas has placed fifth in his last two trips to Albany, both in 2019 and 2021, and has never finished worse than 12th in four events here.
That’s quite a top five of favorites for this weekend, with each seemingly having value, especially in this shortened field.
