In some respects, the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational is an easier tournament to handicap. The invitational status just about cuts the field to half of what a normal event would have, so there are 70 or so fewer players to handicap. The other part of the equation is that just about all of the superstars show up for these events with more playoff points and a higher prize pool.
Your challenge this week will be to sift through 45 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking plus a lot of other competent golfers to see who you want to bet on. There is a lot of course form data for TPC Southwind, but most of the stars bypassed this event because of when it fell on the calendar. Now that it has WGC status, those players are on hand for what is technically just the second year of the FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Memorial winner Jon Rahm is the +850 favorite this week at DraftKings Sportsbook, where there have been a ton of great promotions and offers as we look at the returns of the NHL and NBA and also the ongoing MLB season. While you’re over there to bet those more popular leagues, there are a lot of excellent opportunities to make some money betting golf as well.
Taking Rahm probably isn’t the course of action this week, but there are a lot of other short prices on great players. Justin Thomas, who came up just short in the playoff against Collin Morikawa in the Workday Charity Open, is the second favorite at +1000. Rory McIlroy is +1150 and Bryson DeChambeau is +1200 in his return after sitting out last week. DeChambeau was third, eighth, sixth, and first in his first four events after the return. He missed the cut at the Memorial, but given the importance of driving distance on this par 70 course and the emphasis on strokes gained putted, DeChambeau is probably the best bet of the favorites.
You don’t have to take DeChambeau at just 12/1 to win the tournament, which is one of the beauties of betting golf at DraftKings Sportsbook. You can take him at +138 for a top-10 finish or take him as the top finisher in Group A at +350 over Rahm, JT, Rory, and Patrick Cantlay. In other words, there are lots of ways to win.
The players in the +2000s are all excellent. Xander Schauffele is really popular this week at +2000. We’ve seen a recent trend of guys playing well on the weekend of one tournament and then following it up with a big showing in the next one. Schauffele was a favorite to miss the cut after his first-round 78 at the Memorial, but not only did he make the cut, but he nearly finished in the top 10. He is +450 for a top-five finish and +225 for a top-10 finish.
Schauffele at +1200 to be the highest American finisher isn’t a bad bet, given that he just has to beat Thomas, DeChambeau, and Cantlay, but if he does that, then he’s in the running at +2000 to win the whole thing. If you want a really good nationality prop, Marc Leishman at +200 as the top Australian finisher is a good one over Jason Day, Matt Jones, Cameron Smith, and Lucas Herbert. Leishman was third here last year.
Tyrrell Hatton, Webb Simpson, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Morikawa are the others in the 20s. The 30s group included two-time TPC Southwind winner Daniel Berger, reigning champ Brooks Koepka, Hideki Matsuyama, Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau, two-time TPC Southwind winner Dustin Johnson, Patrick Reed, and Tommy Fleetwood.
So, yeah, this is a LOADED field. Any one of those guys could go off and win this tournament and you’re getting 20/1 or better on each and every one of them. If that doesn’t illustrate the strength of this field, what does?
Our recommendation is that you saddle up with a couple of these guys. You can look at course history and recent form until you are blue in the face, but these star-studded fields typically go to a star player. It is hard to find somebody off the pace that plays well enough to beat all of them. Schauffele and Koepka are the two that we would pick of the 20 and 30 crowd, but DeChambeau at 12/1 also looks pretty good given the setup of this course.
There are lots of angles and important approach shots because of two-tiered greens with slopes and shelves and DeChambeau’s analytical approach should serve him well here.
That doesn’t mean we will deprive our readers of long shots. Matthew Wolff is probably the most interesting one at +9000. Wolff hits the ball a country mile and has putted well lately. Wolff was 24th in this event last year, despite not doing anything overly well. He was on the plus side in all of the strokes gained categories, but didn’t excel in any one of them. He was just outside the top 15 in SG: Putting last week and sixth in SG: OTT at the Memorial.
Mackenzie Hughes may not win at +17500, but he’s +2800 for a top-five finish or +1100 for a top-10 finish. He’s also +400 for a top-20 finish. Hughes was sixth at the Memorial and third at the Travelers Championship. He’s put really well and actually led the field in SG: Putting on the tough course at Memorial. Hughes is +350 to be the top Canadian finisher over Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners, and Nick Taylor.
See what we mean? There are tons of ways to bet on golf at DraftKings Sportsbook. Don’t limit yourself by just handicapping the outright winner. Take a look at all of the props available to you as well!