There are two PGA Tour events this week and while the stars are heading to Pennsylvania for the Truist Championship, the rest of the players are off to South Carolina for the backup tournament, the Myrtle Beach Classic.
Christopher Gotterup won this tournament a year ago and he is back in the field looking to make a successful defence of the crown but there are a host of household names who are teeing up here looking to put a stop to his reign.
Recent Winners
2024 – Christopher Gotterup
The Course
We are at the Dunes Golf and Beach Club this week. The Robert Trent Jones design will make its second appearance on the PGA Tour this week. It is a par 71 which measures 7,347 yards which is on the lengthy side it has to be said, especially with rain in the forecast throughout the week, which is likely to make the track play to somewhere near a full yardage. Even with that in mind, I think accuracy is more important around here than length.
There is no real rough around here so that gives freedom to the bigger hitters off the tee and if the course is softened up the fairways will be wider anyway, so this could very easily turn into a second shot shootout. You would imagine the better putters who played here last year will have a bit more of an advantage than they did last year but not massively. I’d be keeping long players who are good with the irons on side here.
The Field
The field for this tournament will never be a particularly strong one while it has Additional Event status but there are a few players who are recognisable in it. The one thing the field does have is the defending champion Christopher Gotterup who will be looking to lead a home contingent into battle which also includes the likes of Taylor Moore, Pierceson Coody, Patrick Fishburn, Doug Ghim, Davis Riley and Joel Dahmen among others.
There is a decent international offering on this tournament this week. Mackenzie Hughes and Tom Kim will both be eyeing up a major championship next week and will warm up for Quail Hollow with a spin in the Myrtle Beach Classic. Kevin Yu, Ryan Fox and Ryo Hisatsune add to the international flavour in the field while the European charge comes from the likes of Thorbjorn Olesen, Sami Valimaki, Seamus Power, Henrik Norlander and Harry Hall among others.
Market Leaders
Mackenzie Hughes is very much one of the better players in the tournament and he is no bigger than 20/1 to win it. The Canadian had a decent hit out at the RBC Heritage a couple of weeks ago and will be looking for another strong challenge to maximise his confidence going to the PGA Championship next week. He probably wouldn’t want too much rain here because a soft course could suit those longer than him. If the course can play anything other than soft then his iron play and putting could take him close here.
Tom Kim comes second in the betting this week at 25/1. You would have to say that he is having a bang average season and he’ll be looking for a lift in confidence ahead of competing in the PGA Championship next week. The Korean only has one top 10 on the season, which now that we are in May had to be seen to be believed but although he missed the cut last week, he did card a 66 in the second round which suggests he might be starting to hit the ball a little better.
Kevin Yu is the only other player in the field who is shorter than 33/1 on the best prices. He is 30/1 if you shop around and has enough going for him here. The first thing is that he was T4 here a year ago so we know that he can tame this course and prosper on it. He is an elite ball striker and ranks very high up on the PGA Tour in that category which should also bode well for him. The one thing he isn’t blessed with is length and this week that might go against him.
Main Bets
I talked up the merits of backing Alejandro Tosti in a much better field than this last week and although he didn’t deliver the goods in terms of a pay out, it wasn’t the worst week I’ve ever seen put together and so massively down in grade from that effort you would imagine he can go close here. Prior to last week, the Argentine had gone T5-T12-T2 in some decent enough events so he has the form and the profile to go well this week. This looks wide open so at the prices I’ll keep the faith one more week.
Mark Hubbard arrives here off the back of a top five finish in Texas last week and generally when the scoring is low he can live up to the task in hand. That was his only top 10 on the season so far but he was T12 at The American Express where he put a -17 score together and T12 at the Corales Puntacana Championship so he is scoring nicely at the minute and with the field here certainly no better than the ones he achieved those finishes in that bodes well. Hubbard makes his debut here this week but he was third in Bermuda towards the end of last season so this is the sort of tournament and conditions that he flourishes in.
Outsiders
I do think form might have a bit of an influence this week so Adam Schenk is back on my team. He was T5 in Texas last week which was a return to form after a dry spell, although his second child arrived recently so maybe the impending birth was on his mind during that quiet run. He wouldn’t be the first player to find form after such a life event took place and certainly won’t be the last. Schenk showed a couple of seasons ago that he can do some damage in better fields and in bigger events than this and at an outsider price I’ll pay to see how he goes here.
The other player I like this week is Chad Ramey who has some good form figures on arrival. He has three top 20s ahead of this tournament with a T5 then a T18 and a T8 and there aren’t many who are teeing it up here who have those sorts of numbers in recent times let alone any at this price. Ramey won the second string event in Dominican Republic three years ago so he knows how to get the job done below the better levels of PGA Tour tournaments and with the form that he has shown recently he looks like a solid play here.
Tips
Back A.Tosti to win Myrtle Beach Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with William Hill (1/5 1-6)
Back him here:
Back M.Hubbard to win Myrtle Beach Classic (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 56.00 with Spreadex (1/5 1-6)
Back A.Schenk to win Myrtle Beach Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Unibet (1/5 1-6)
Back C.Ramey to win Myrtle Beach Classic (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 91.00 with Sky Bet (1/5 1-6)
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