While the majority of the golfing eyes will be on Royal St Georges and The Open Championship this week, for those not lucky enough to be playing in the final major of the year there is the consolation prize of the Barbasol Championship, which will be staged for the first time in two years after the pandemic saw it cancelled last year.
That means that Jim Herman will be the man who finally gets to defend the title he won back in 2019. As ever with this event the field changes year on year but this time around it looks pretty competitive it has to be said.
Recent Winners
2019 – Jim Herman
2018 – Troy Merritt
2017 – Grayson Murray
2016 – Aaron Baddeley
2015 – Scott Piercy
The Course
We are back at the Keene Trace Golf Club in Kentucky for the third time this year. The track remains untouched as a par 72 which measures 7,328 yards and as we saw last time a fairly low score is going to be required to win this tournament even allowing for the exceptionally large greens. There is plenty of rain in the area throughout this event so the greens are going to be soft which allows for another low scoring PGA Tour event.
If we have a quick look back at the final result in 2019, those up towards the top of the leaderboard ranked high for greens in regulation or proximity to the hole for the week, so that is the angle we should be going in with here. The course is expected to be soft so this could be very more of a second shot course this week. Both the winners on this course have been decent putters with the winning scores deep into the 20s under par. That isn’t likely to change here.
The Field
This isn’t the tournament that anyone really wants to be in with The Open Championship going on elsewhere in the world but for the majority of those that are here this is a big week as after this event there are just four chances to secure playing rights moving forward. That immediately makes this a huge event for most in the field, the leader of which is probably the former Masters champion Charl Schwartzel who could do with a decent week.
The remainder of the field is largely made up of those currently outside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup standings which would provide a PGA Tour card for next season. There is a strong European challenge this week in the form of Russell Knox, Tom Lewis, Stephan Jaeger and Seamus Power while the likes of Luke List, Chesson Hadley, Patrick Rodgers and Richy Werenski will be eager to get the job done here and secure the exemptions that come with winning.
Market Leaders
We have joint favourites around the 20/1 mark this week in Seamus Power and Charl Schwartzel. Power finished in the top 10 last week to move closer to securing his playing rights for next season while Schwartzel is the highest ranked player in the field and that probably deserves some respect. He was third in the Byron Nelson which was low scoring so that is eye catching, as was his top 20 finish in the US Open last time out, although the fact he hasn’t teed it up for a month is enough to put me off taking him.
Luke List was a contender at the John Deere Classic last week where he ended up finishing fourth which represented a return to form after three successive missed cuts. There is something of a feast or famine about his displays and results this year but if he can bring the hot putter he had last week with him here then we know he has the length to set up some comfortable birdie chances. In terms of form his top 10s at Riviera and Quail Hollow probably represent the best in the field so he has to be respected at 22/1.
Russell Knox and Lee Hodges are next in the betting at 28/1. Knox is well known on the PGA Tour circuit but he has only had one top 20 finish since the Pebble Beach tournament back in February so whether he has the form to be dangerous here remains to be seen. This is very much a lower grade than he usually operates but form and confidence tend to go hand in hand and you need the latter to win at any level. Hodges has in the main looked good on the Korn Ferry Tour this season but still hasn’t recorded a better finish than fifth since February so he might be a little short. It is 30/1 bar.
Main Bets
I’ll go with a couple of main bets for this tournament with the first being a man I have taken a few times this season in Brice Garnett. You have to catch Garnett on a good week but when he goes well he does it very well. He is ninth in fairways hit this season and in the top 20 for strokes gained putting and a few weeks ago finished fifth at River Highlands in the Travelers. In the two lower tier events this season in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic he registered top 10s so he should be comfortable in this field. If that putter works he could be hard to beat here.
Cameron Percy ticks a lot of boxes here as well. He leads the tour in greens in regulation and is high up on the proximity ranking as well which should see that he gets lots of chances here. His iron play is in good touch as he comes in here after pacing the field in greens hit at the John Deere Classic last week where he finished just outside the top 10. He also has a top 10 on this course three years ago and he was also in the top 10 in Puerto Rico earlier in the year. In a field full of players low on confidence, Percy looks to be on the sort of upward trend that can have him deeply involved this week.
Outsiders
I’ll go with a pair of Asian players for my last two bets. The first of those is a player I’ve been backing for the last couple of weeks convinced there is a decent finish in him in Satoshi Kodaira. He has lured me in with a couple of decent first rounds in this tournaments before fading and missing the cut. If that is going to change at any point it will be this weekend at a lower level. Prior to the last three low key finishes the Japanese player posted three top 20s in better company which makes me think he is worth another chance here. His putting is of a high level so if he can post enough chances he can go very well here.
Another player who has a good putter is Anirban Lahiri and with the Olympics coming up he is sure to look for some decent form to head out to Japan with. Lahiri hits a lot of greens and when he is playing well he holes a lot of putts and that is the aim of the game this week. Although he hasn’t got much recent form to pick from he was fifth in Texas prior to The Masters while in the Sony Open at the beginning of the year he carded rounds of 63 and 64 so when it clicks he can deliver the goods. With his motivation high ahead of the big event in two weeks, I’ll take a chance that the Indian delivers something good here.
Tips
Back B.Garnett to win Barbasol Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 46.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back A.Lahiri to win Barbasol Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
Back C.Percy to win Barbasol Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 61.00 with Betfred (1/5 1-6)
Back S.Kodaira to win Barbasol Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Betfair (1/5 1-6)
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