NW Arkansas Championship betting tips: Ko with the flow
Odds and preview for this week’s LPGA event
The Northwest Arkansas LPGA Championship takes place at the Pinnacle CC in Rogers, Arkansas, this week and we look at the odds to find some NW Arkansas Championship betting tips.
Most of the golf world will be focused on the Ryder Cup but with a purse of $2.3million, 144 of the world’s top female golfers battle for the $300,000 winner’s cheque this weekend, including five of the top 10 in the world.
Austin Ernst took the trophy last year with a two-stroke win over Anna Nordqvistand, and she will head a strong field looking to defend her title. Previous winners include Sung Hyun Park (2019), Nasa Hataoka (2018), So Yeon Ryu (2017) and Lydia Ko (2016).
This tournament is a three-day, 54-hole stroke play competition with a cut to 65 players after Saturday’s round.
Market leaders
Jin Young Ko heads the market at 8/1. She is ranked second in the Rolex rankings after blitzing the field in the Cambia Portland Classic, earning a four-stroke win and a ninth LGPA Tour victory.
The Korean had room to spare over Jeongeun Lee and Su Oh, who both earned the best finishes in their LPGA careers, tying for second.
She had held the number one ranking for nearly two years until Nelly Korda supplanted her by winning the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in July, but the Dallas native immediately bounced back with victory in the Volunteers of America Classic.
She has been in good form since, underlined by her latest success, and is a worthy favourite.
Korean-born New Zealander Lydia Ko (pictured above) spent a staggering 85 weeks ranked first in the world between February 2015 and June 2017.
She then suffered a dip in form and was ranked out of the top 50 in July 2020 but she has been helped by swing coach Sean Foley. Her ultra-smooth swing is back, along with a resurgence of form, which started in April when she took the PGA Lotte Championship in Honolulu.
Ko has finished with either a share of second or outright second on three other occasions this year, has recorded top-10 finishes in eight of the 16 LPGA tournaments she’s played this year and also took bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. She is 12/1 to win this weekend in the NW Arkansas Championship betting tips.
Minjee Lee overturned a seven-shot deficit to defeat Jeong Eun6 Lee in a play-off to take her first major in the Evian Championship in July.
It was the Australian’s sixth LPGA Tour victory and she has had three other top-five finishes this season and is a 14/1 shot this weekend.
Larger odds
Lexi Thompson (pictured above) was T2 at both the Gainbridge LPGA and Kia Classic, and then a fine third at the US Women’s Open. Though looking for her first win of the season, the 26-year-old American has four top-10s this season (74 overall), and is as consistent as they come. She is a 25/1 chance this week.
A winner here three years ago, US Women’s Open runner-up Nasa Hataoka gained her first win of the year last month at the Marathon LPGA Classic and has performed well at this course, so has obvious claims at 25/1.
AIG Women’s Open winner Anna Nordqvist has nine career victories under her belt and her sole win this term came on the back of a decent T12 showing at the Scottish Open. She may well hold her form and is 28/1.
Elsewhere
In Gee Chun has been a little boom or bust in recent weeks, missing the cut at both the Pure Silk Championship and the AIG Women’s Open, but she has also posted a couple of top-six finishes at the Meijer LPGA Classic and the Evian Championship. She is not to be overlooked readily at 30/1.
Last year’s winner Austin Ernst (40/1) and home-town favourite Stacy Lewis (90/1), a winner here in 2007 and 2014, are also expected to contend in the NW Arkansas betting tips.
All odds and markets correct at the time of publication
