PGA Tour Picks – Odds to Win Workday Charity Open 2020

The PGA Tour stops in Dublin, Ohio, and will be stationed there for two weeks with Muirfield Village Golf Club hosting back-to-back tournaments. It’s the first time since the 1950s that one venue will host consecutive Tour competitions. The opening event begins Thursday with first-round play in the one-off Workday Charity Open, a fill-in for the cancelled John Deere Classic that led to this unique situation.  Bookmaker.eu offers a generous welcome bonus with a $1000 maximum.

While this is the debut and likely only playing of this event, many in the field of 156 golfers have navigated Muirfield as part of the Memorial Tournament in the past, so it’s not entirely new. And don’t think playing this week will give golfers an advantage ahead of the more prestigious competition. Organizers have promised a different look for both events. A stellar field is assembled with seven of the top 15 players in the OWGR, including No. 2 Jon Rahm, who has emerged as the betting favorite at online sportsbooks. For a complete list of updated odds and matchups visit BookMaker.eu.

Workday Charity Open
Dates: Thursday, July 9 - Sunday, July 12, 2020
Location: Muirfield Village Golf Club, Dublin, OH
Opening PGA Tour Odds: Jon Rahm +1080
Workday Charity Open TV Coverage: Golf Channel, CBS

Odds Analysis

Last week’s Rocket Mortgage Classic winner Bryson DeChambeau was only the fourth favorite to win a tournament this season. The Kraken isn’t in the lineup this week leaving Rahm, the No. 2 ranked player in the world, leading the pack. It’s not unusual to see the Spaniard top the list, however, his play since the reboot has been sketchy.

Rahm missed the cut at the Schwab and was never in contention with a T33 at RBC Heritage and T37 at the Travelers. He took last week off to regroup with the hope of finding his game. It’s hard to look past Rahm and I expect him to be just as dangerous as he was before the shutdown, but I’m not sure when. With such a closely-packed field at the top of the odds list I’m not ready to back Rahm for an outright win.

So, who is worth backing? There are four former winners at Muirfield in the lineup, the most recent being Patrick Cantlay, who won the Memorial last year. Also Hideki Matsuyama, Matt Kuchar and Justin Rose have all hoisted the trophy. Marc Leishman has a pair of fifth-place finishes among his four top-15s in his last five starts at Muirfield.

Muirfield Village is a stock par-72 that can stretch to 7,456 yards this week. Hosting back-to-backs isn’t ideal, but organizers will do their best to change the layout. It would be easier to transition to a more difficult setup and that appears to be the case. The primary rough will be shorter and the greens slower. There’s only so much that can be done, however. Tee to green the layout is essentially the same. Most pros agree that Muirfield is a second-shot layout that yields favorable scores with proper positioning off the tee.

Odds to Win Rocket Mortgage Classic at BookMaker.eu

Jon Rahm +1080
Justin Thomas +1159
Patrick Cantlay +1364
Hideki Matsuyama +1553
Brooks Koepka +1554
Xander Schauffele +1959
Justin Rose +2461
Viktor Hovland +2551
Collin Morikawa +2962
Rickie Fowler +3121
Gary Woodland +3395
Patrick Reed +3465
Marc Leishman +4050
Sung-Jae Im +4350
Matt Kuchar +4550
Joaquin Niemann +4750
Bubba Watson +4947

Workday Charity Open Preview

Will we see the favorite topple the field for a second straight week? Rahm certainly can do it, but the game has been off since the reboot and I don’t want to throw down until I see a return to form. That’s not always the case, though. Webb Simpson won the Heritage after missing the cut the previous week, so this one may come back to bite me.

There are other stars at the top of the odds list. Justin Thomas has been a hit or miss proposition since the restart and at Muirfield. He placed among the top 10 at Colonial and Harbour Town before missing the cut at the Travelers. He sat out last week. JT finished fourth at the Memorial in 2017 and T8 the following year, but missed the cut last year. That’s too shaky for me.

Among the favorites I think Cantlay is a nice fit. He won at Muirfield last year and enters with six straight finishes among the top-17, including a T11 at the Travelers in his only start since the lockdown ended. Viktor Hovland is another player on my radar. He’s played in every event since the reboot – you can do that when you’re 23 – placing inside the top 23 in all four. And Muirfield is a course that better fits his game with length and approach play being key.

Workday Charity Classic Pick: Patrick Cantlay
Top-5 Lock: Jon Rahm
Top-10 Lock: Viktor Hovland

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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com