The USPGA Championship is a matter of hours away from teeing off but before the first ball is hit at Southern Hills in Oklahoma there is still just enough time to take a look at the side markets for the second major of the year.
Although this is seen as the lesser of the four majors in the golfing calendar, we still have markets for a number of countries, regions, finishing positions and statistical records along with making or missing the cut and much more. There are three bets that catch the eye for us.
Top Scandinavian
There are four Scandinavian players teeing it up this week with Viktor Hovland very much the favourite to be the best of them. On world ranking that would be understandable but so much of the test this week is going to be scrambling and that is the one department of the Norwegian’s game which can’t be relied upon. With that in mind, I’m keen to take him on.
The other three players are Alex Noren, Nicolai Hojgaard and Henrik Stenson. There are a few issues with the latter two not least the fact that they have both been drawn late-early which is the wave which is going to cop the worst of the wind. Noren has an ideal draw in the morning on Thursday and he should be out in the easing of the conditions on Friday. He is probably the best of the four in the wind anyway and arrives here off a decent spin at the Byron Nelson last week. Noren has an excellent short game and isn’t too bad with the irons either. At 3/1 he looks the bet in what is a weak market if the short game of Hovland doesn’t stand up to the test.
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Top South American
There are four South American players in the field this week too with Joaquin Niemann the man heading the way in the betting. The Genesis Invitational winner is out in that late-early wave in the first two rounds and we saw at the Byron Nelson last week that when the wind gets lively he isn’t always the best so that draw he has is definitely not good.
That brings the other three, Sebastian Munoz, Jhonattan Vegas and Mito Pereira into the game. Vegas would have had a good chance around here but he is also drawn late so I’m taking him out of my list of potential winners here. That leaves Munoz and Pereira and while I like the Chilean, I wonder if this event comes a little too soon for him. Even if it doesn’t, Munoz comes here off the back of a brilliant ween at the Byron Nelson where he finished second after carding an opening round of 60. He showed there that he can handle the wind and that he is hitting the ball brilliantly. I think the standard of his long game recently combined with his draw makes him the one to be on here.
Top Spaniard
There are just four Spanish players in the field this week too with the former world number one and recent winner in Mexico, Jon Rahm, leading the betting at odds on. Ordinarily I would have no arguments with that but he is yet another who is in the late-early tee slot and that disadvantage could be a little too much.
That could account for Sergio Garcia, who is in no form anyway and who has a lot of negative press surrounding him at the minute which can’t help performance. That leaves two recent winners on the DP World Tour in Adri Arnaus and Pablo Larrazabal and it is the latter that I like here. He has a wonderful short game which we have seen come to the party in both of his wins over the last couple of months. If the breeze does blow we know Pablo can handle that situation and coming here with the confidence of two wins in his last five starts and two more top 15 finishes in that time he is clearly in form. If the wind accounts for Rahm, Larrazabal could quickly become a decent price in this market.
Tips
Back A.Noren Top Scandinavian Player for a 2/10 stake at 3.75 with Bet365
Back S.Munoz Top South American Player for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Coral
Back him here:
Back P.Larrazabal Top Spanish Player for a 1/10 stake at 10.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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