5 picks our professional loves

Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour gambling-tips column, that includes picks from GOLF.com’s professional prognosticator Brady Kannon. A seasoned golf bettor and commentator, Kannon is a daily visitor on SportsGrid, a syndicated audio community dedicated to sports activities and sport betting. You’ll be able to comply with on Twitter at @LasVegasGolfer, and you may learn his picks beneath for the FedEx St. Jude Championship, which will get underway Thursday in Memphis, Tenn.. Together with Kannon’s really useful performs, you’ll additionally see knowledge from Chirp Golf, a cellular app that options each Free-To-Play and Each day Fantasy golf contests the place you may win money and prizes with every spherical and event.

After which there have been 70.

The postseason has begun on the PGA Tour, with the highest 70 gamers in FedEx Cup factors making their technique to TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., to kick-off Spherical 1 on the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

When this occasion concludes and the FedEx Cup factors have been recalculated, the sphere will get trimmed to the highest 50 gamers in factors and it’s these gamers who will transfer on to Spherical 2 for the BMW Championship in Colorado subsequent week. After which lastly, the highest 30 gamers after that event will transfer on to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Membership in Atlanta to finally compete for the FedEx Cup and its $25 million purse.

TPC Southwind has been a daily cease on Tour for over 30 years. This may mark the third straight yr that it has been the host course for Spherical 1 of the FedEx Cup playoffs. It’s a good-sized par 70, simply shy of seven,250 yards. It has at all times been a very reasonable take a look at, with many gamers voicing their robust assist of TPC Southwind over time. The typical profitable rating over the past 9 years right here has been simply barely higher than 14 underneath par.

Ron Pritchard designed the golf course with assist from Fuzzy Zoeller and Hubert Inexperienced. The course options slim, tree-lined, zoysia-grass fairways bordered by thick, Bermudagrass tough, and really small Bermudagrass greens. Water comes into play on 11 holes. Accuracy off the tee trumps distance, as enjoying from the green right here is essential. Hitting these small greens in regulation is a big piece in attempting to tame this monitor — and when these greens are missed, one must be a really sharp scrambler.

Along with Strokes Gained: Method, Greens in Regulation, SG: Ball Placing, and Good Drives Gained, I additionally honed in on Par 4 Scoring, because it has confirmed to be an important space for fulfillment at this golf course, and particularly regarded on the Par 4s measuring 450-500 yards. Nearly all of the strategy pictures at TPC Southwind will come from 150-175 yards.

As for the correlated programs this week, there are a couple of tracks within the close by southeast that I imagine arrange equally: Sea Island in St. Simons Island, Ga., residence to the RSM Basic, Innisbrook, the place they maintain the Valspar Championship, and The Concession Golf Membership the place they held the WGC Workday Championship in 2021.

I additionally checked out two current hosts of the RBC Canadian Open, St. George’s and Hamilton Golf & Nation Membership, as they match up fairly properly with the areas of emphasis this week.

You will need to observe that this week, there is no such thing as a lower, so all 70 gamers are in for all 72 holes.

Collin Morikawa (14-1)

Morikawa’s sport was red-hot from April by early June however for the final month or so, whereas he’s had strong finishes, it doesn’t really feel like he’s as near profitable as he was earlier this season. However I nonetheless can’t stop him. When Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Rory McIlroy are all going off at single-digit costs, I discover myself looking for somebody that may beat them at a juicier quantity. Scheffler particularly, has confirmed this to be a idiot’s errand and no, I might not be shocked if he received right here once more this week, however the reality is, his historical past at this course has not been spectacular. In his final 4 journeys to TPC Southwind, Scheffler’s common end place has been twenty sixth.

Morikawa’s common end place has been sixteenth, along with his final two journeys ending in a thirteenth and a fifth. Over the past 24 rounds, he ranks high 5 on this discipline on strategy, SG: Ball Placing, Good Drives Gained, and on the 450-500 yard Par 4s. With the best way he’s performed this season, it could truly be just a little bizarre if he went winless in 2024. He did win in 2021 at The Concession, one in every of our correlated programs. Right here’s to Morikawa getting that elusive victory this week.

Hideki Matsuyama (28-1)

I’ve seen this quantity bump larger to above 30 however I’ve additionally seen it as little as 25-1. Odds of 30-1 or higher may be very strong for my part. Sadly, I took just a little worse. Like they are saying, “Simply win, child.”

Matsuyama returns to motion for the primary time since carrying a bronze medal on the rostrum at Le Golf Nationwide in France two weeks in the past. And I don’t thoughts the truth that it took accuracy off the tee to keep away from each the tough and the a number of water hazards at that golf course, because it does right here stateside. Matsuyama can also be one of many most interesting scramblers within the sport, rating second on this discipline over the past 24 rounds. He additionally ranks high 20 on this discipline for SG: Ball Placing, Method, and on the lengthy Par 4s. He has three top-10 finishes in his final six begins and completed runner-up right here at TPC Southwind in 2021.

Russell Henley (35-1)

Like Morikawa, Henley is one other participant who’s lethal correct off the tee, particularly sharp with the irons, and ranks top-10 on this discipline on the Par 4s measuring 450-500 yards. He has two top-10 finishes in his final two begins and has two extra right here up to now at TPC Southwind. Henley has additionally racked up finishes of 6-4-10-13 on the RSM Basic. The Georgia Bulldog appears to flourish on Bermudagrass and within the humidity, each of which may be discovered right here in Memphis.

Billy Horschel (48-1)

A Florida Gator, Horschel is one other participant who’s lots comfy on Bermudagrass and within the humidity — as evidenced by his play final week on the Wyndham Championship, which was his fifth top-10 end there in eight years. He has an analogous consolation stage right here at Southwind, with 5 top-10 finishes and two top-25s going again to 2013. Horschel additionally has runner-up finishes on the RSM Basic and at The Concession. Along with the present kind and the course match, I additionally actually like the truth that Horschel ranks No. 1 on this discipline over the past 24 rounds in Scrambling. That may be a key issue this week. He additionally occurs to rank sixth in SG: Placing on Bermudagrass. It appears to be lining up nicely in 2024 for the 2014 FedExCup champion.

Ben Griffin (130-1)

We needed to save room for one lengthy bomb and with that we’ve landed on a ball striker with a severe placing contact. Griffin was runner-up at one in every of our correlated programs, Hamilton Golf & Nation Membership on the RBC Canadian Open again in June. He took fifth on the John Deere Basic in July, and was seventh final week on the Wyndham Championship. Over the past 24 rounds, he ranks fourth on this discipline for SG: Method, sixth for Gap Proximity from 150-175 yards, and is No. 1 in SG: Placing (Bermudagrass). Griffin can also be twenty fourth on Tour in Scrambling. Final season was his first time enjoying this event and he completed high 25. He’s additionally completed high 10 on the RSM Basic. Some might argue that that 130-1 isn’t lengthy sufficient and sure, that is in opposition to a loaded discipline, however I really feel his talent set is an excellent match for this golf course.

Who Chirp Golf gamers are choosing this week

This info can be up to date as quickly as its accessible.