It’s been a mixed bag betting on the PGA so far through two events in the new season. Max Homa cashed in at 10/1 in the first tournament of the year to defend his Fortinet Championship crown, but Mackenzie Hughes snapped a six year winless drought at the Sanderson Farms Championship last Sunday, cashing in a big 150/1 ticket.
Now the Tour heads to TPC Summerlin for the Shriners Childrens Open. This looks like Patrick Cantlay’s (+650) event to take, as he’s never finished outside the top 10 in four tries here. Sungjae Im (+1000) is right up there too as last year’s defending champion but don’t count out some of these underdog candidates:
Tom Kim (+2500)
If you had just got your news from Twitter, you would have thought the International Team won the Presidents Cup two weeks ago the way everybody was raving about Tom KIm. Sure the 20-year-old brought some youthful exuberance to the Saturday play, but Kim was still just 2-3 on the weekend, and the U.S. team rolled to a 17.5-12.5 victory.
That doesn’t mean Kim isn’t a budding superstar, and his popularity will lead to a lot of tickets being laid this weekend in Shriners Childrens Open betting. Kim won the Wyndham Championship last season and finished third in the Scottish Open – all in his rookie campaign so he’s ready for his star to shine even brighter this year.
Taylor Montgomery (+2800)
Taylor Montgomery is just a rookie, but at this point, it seems a matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’ he’s going to notch a victory this season. Montgomery came in third at the Fortinet Championship and followed that up with a T9 last week in Jackson, Mississippi. Now the Las Vegas native and UNLV graduate heads to Summerlin, Nevada, which would be a storybook maiden victory.
Rickie Fowler (+4000)
Fowler’s odds would need to be about +2500000 to break even for all the money he’s cost bettors over the years in underwhelming performances, but there are reasons to still go to the well with the 33-year-old. First, he’s got a new caddie, ditching 13-year bag man Joe Skovron for Ricky Romano, and it’s already paying dividends with a sixth place finish at the Fortinet Championship.
Fowler has also had some success at TPC Summerlin, finishing fourth here in 2018, albeit before MCs in each of the last two years.
Garrick Higgo (+8000)
There are a lot of angles to play on Garrick Higgo this week, the first being that he is in solid form with a third-place finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship last weekend. Do we see that Higgo, or the one that missed the cut at the Fortinet Championship?
Odds are that Higgo has another solid tournament, as he’s a graduate of nearby UNLV playing on his new home course. That didn’t lead to success last year with an MC, but he’s got a Shriners Children Open under his belt and some pretty good ROI if he does have a solid weekend.
