While the stars of the PGA Tour are competing at the RBC Heritage, the supposed lesser lights get their own chance to compete when they head to the Dominican Republic for the Corales Puntacana Championship.
There are some big rewards on offer for the winner here besides the trophy, benefits which Billy Horschel is currently enjoying after he landed this title a year ago. That means he isn’t here to attempt to defend the title so someone else will win here.
Recent Winners
2024 – Billy Horschel
2023 – Matt Wallace
2022 – Chad Ramey
2021 – Joel Dahmen
2020 – Hudson Swafford
2019 – Graeme McDowell
2018 – Brice Garnett
The Course
We remain at the Corales Golf Club in Punta Cana this week. To say this course is a monster would be an understatement. It is a par 72 which stretches to 7,670 yards. Wind is always a guaranteed on this coastal setup and although it isn’t expected to be too bad over the course of the four days there will always be a coastal breeze so it is still worth factoring into the equation. I definitely wouldn’t want to be on someone who hasn’t shown comfort in the wind.
There is little challenge off the tee than you might think here but the greens on the larger side so there is every reason to believe this is going to come down to a putting contest. The best putter in the field won both the first two runnings of this event as a PGA Tour tournament at this time of year and I don’t think that is a coincidence. We are basically looking for players who set up a gamut of birdie chances and who takes more than their fair share.
The Field
We know that for these Additional Events the fields aren’t going to be fantastic because they are there for those who can’t get into the Signature Events but when you look at those who are teeing it up there are plenty of players who have been competitive on the PGA Tour recently looking to take advantage of the drop in grade to come out on top this week. Matt Wallace did that in 2023 while Chad Ramey and Joel Dahmen did it in the two years prior to that. All three are in the field here.
Keith Mitchell has been on a number of leaderboards recently while the likes of Alex Smalley and Ryan Fox have been competitive at times as well. Seamus Power is another who has the quality to win at this level. Power heads up the European charge where he is supported by Wallace, Harry Hall, Henrik Norlander and Matti Schmid among others while the International challenge includes the South African trio of Aldrich Potgieter, Erik van Rooyen and Garrick Higgo.
Market Leaders
Keith Mitchell is a 14/1 favourite to win the tournament this week. He was second here back in 2018 and has only missed one cut this season with his long game very strong. He isn’t actually a bad putter but the issue I have with him is he seems to wilt when in contention far too often. I’ve been burned a couple of times and I’m reluctant to get involved again but I’m certainly not interested at this price, although logic would suggest if he does last home from the front it would be at this level. Even so I’m once burnt twice shy.
Alex Smalley started the year well but he has gone a little quiet since then although recent events have been much higher level ones than the one he is teeing it up in this week. He has a good record here too with a runner-up finish in 2022 and then a T6 a year ago. Smalley is 16/1 on the best prices which is probably fair given how well he has played overall this season but this isn’t really a tournament I want to be on at skinny prices really.
Harry Hall is the only other player in the field shorter than 28/1 this week. He can be backed at 20/1 and when you consider that he won at this level at the ISCO Championship last year you would have to take him seriously. Hall has only been here once which was back in 2023 and he ran into a T13 finish and has been known to go well where the wind blows. There is a lot to like about him if you are happy to take a 20/1 shot in a wide open tournament like this.
Main Bets
Ryan Fox has proven himself as a winner away from the PGA Tour and when you look at this event I wouldn’t say it is as big as the BMW PGA Championship or the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and he has won both of those. The latter is particularly significant because you rarely get to play that tournament without breeze being in play. He has the length to get at this course and although he hasn’t caught fire on the PGA Tour this season, he had three top 11 finishes in his last 14 starts in 2024. Down in grade I see no reason why Fox can’t compete here.
For a long time it looked like Aldrich Potgieter was going to win the Mexico Open earlier in the season but he ended up losing in a playoff however down a level I expect the South African to feature on a course which has the exactly same grass as the one he played well on in Mexico. Potgieter is the longest hitter on the PGA Tour this season so he has got the length covered and South Africans are generally decent in the wind so there is a lot to like about him at a perfectly acceptable price.
Outsiders
It has been a while since he competed at the top end of a PGA Tour leaderboard but Taylor Montgomery is one of the best putters on this side of the pond and with no real difficulties off the tee on this course this might be the time to give him a try at a monster price. His form would dictate that he has to be a huge price but he was in the top 25 at PGA National recently which is a decent form line for this event. It is only two seasons ago that he had 12 top 20 finishes in the one season. Injuries have impacted him since then but if the drop in grade can level that out he could go well here. I’ll pay to find out.
Dylan Frittelli is another I like backing in these sorts of events. Frittelli is a PGA Tour event winner prior to Covid but he has lost his card now and has been competing on the DP World Tour where he won in Bahrain last year and Mauritius prior to that. That latter win could be interesting here because there are similarities to the climate in that country and this one. Frittelli has always gone ok in the breeze, he is long enough to cope on most courses and when he gets dialled in with the short stick he can hole plenty of putts, as we saw when he won the John Deere Classic back in 2019. He is another I wouldn’t want to be on at a short price but with playing rights on the PGA Tour on the line for him here I’ll pay to see how well he goes.
Tips
Back R.Fox to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back A.Potgieter to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 31.00 with Boylesports (1/5 1-8)
Back them here:
Back T.Montgomery to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 151.00 with Unibet (1/5 1-6)
Back D.Frittelli to win Corales Puntacana Championship (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 176.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
