Golf punters barely get time to draw breath and as soon as one tournament of note finishes at this time of year, we are straight back into another. It’s a testing time of the sport’s top players and they must spread the load wisely, but it’s a wonderful time to be a sports fan and punter. We’re never short of something to bet on in summer.
Last week’s action was enjoyable with Shane Lowry winning The Open Championship in Northern Ireland. The victor was popular in the betting, especially amongst those who waited to get their cash down in-play. Rory McIlory suffered a nightmare start and that saw those who backed the favourite without a live interest for the rest of the weekend. In-play betting can prove useful at major golf tournaments and it’s always something we advise you consider. Splitting your stake between a pre-competition bet and an in-play bet is often a shrewd approach.
Southwind Provides a Real Challenge
With The Open Championship results now in the book for another year we turn our attentions to the WGC – FedEx St Jude Invitational which takes place this weekend between Thursday and Sunday. Play gets started at 4.00pm GMT on Thursday and takes us through to the crowning of a champion on Sunday evening. Armchair fans can follow all four days of action live on Sky Sports and it’s sure to pull in a healthy audience.
TPC Southwind in Tennessee provides the backdrop and this is a course that will present a significant challenge to the players involved. If there are any signs of fatigue in the legs from last week’s outing, you can bet it will show up very quickly. The course isn’t short on challenges, with many trees and bunkers thrown into the mix recently, just to make things more interesting. The greens are smaller than average and there’s a few water hazards – no less than 10, in fact. To get around this course as champion takes patience, skill and a winning attitude.
Last year’s Fedex champion was Dustin Johnson who handed in a winning score of 19 under par to leave the chasing pack for dust. DJ’s efforts 12 months ago were sublime, and his card would’ve been enough to see him crowed champion in most recent renewals. He took the title from 2017 winner Hideki Matsuyama. Johnson came out on top in 2016, although he claimed the prize with a -6 tally that year. It’s a course he likes, will we see him come out on top again?
Do Your Homework
Bookmakers have had their say on how they expect things to go, as you would expect, and offer a number of exciting markets, each aimed at enticing punters into gambling their cash. Back the outright champion or have your say on one of the many specials. There’s each-way, top 10 finish, top five finish, top American player, top European, top UK and Irish, to make the cut, to be first round leader, match betting, and plenty more besides.
The outright betting is the most popular market of them all and here punters are challenged with predicting the eventual champion. You can get your cash down on your player of choice or take advantage of the each-way. Most bookies will give you place terms of 1/5 the odds 1-2-3-4-5. Some firms go as high as seven places but be careful who you trust as they often trade at shorter odds. Do your homework to ensure you’re getting the best deal, don’t just snap at more places because it looks good on paper and appears to give you more chance of landing a winner.
As you would expect, if following the form and trends of this tournament, bookmakers have thrown their cash on Dustin Johnson, pinning him to the head of the outright market and making DJ their favourite. That comes as no real surprise as he’s a man who has already won this trophy, brings decent recent form and is more than capable of doing the business again. If DJ plays his best golf he’ll win this tournament at a canter and the money men have the best player picked. There can be no arguments about that. Golf betting rarely goes to plan however, so that shouldn’t be taken as a guarantee Johnson will win the St Jude Invitational.
Kuchar Price Bigger than it Should Be
Dustin Johnson has Brooks Koepka for company at the head of the market with the latter in as second favourite, trading at 11/1 with Unibet, behind the 10/1 at the same firm for his rival. Third in line is Rory McIlory and fans will expect a big performance from him following last week’s battle. Rors got off to the worst possible start at The Open Championship but was professional enough and experienced enough to put it behind him and get on with his game. A win here would certainly help.
We certainly wouldn’t put anyone off backing Dustin Johnson for glory this weekend but we’re after one at a better price and will be having our stake down on Matt Kuchar who can be backed at a sensational 33/1 with 10Bet. We’ll need our fair share of luck to get that bet home and hosed but there’s no denying the price is bigger than it should be and traders have overlooked our selection a little too easily.
He’s better than his price suggests and, if playing to the best of his ability, there’s no doubt he will go close. Kuchar can be backed at the price to win or taken each-way. He’s also 5/2 with 888sport for a top 10 finish and that will do a job in accumulators, if you’re looking for less of a risk.
Our Tip: Matt Kuchar win at 33/1 with 10bBet