Shriners Open betting tips: Vegas may turn Louis’ luck
Odds and preview for this week’s PGA Tour event
The Shriners Hospital for Children Open takes place at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas this week and we look at the odds to find some Shriners Open betting tips.
There are 144 players in the third event of the 2021-22 PGA Tour regular season, playing for a $7million purse, with 27 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Rankings among the field.
Previous winners include Rod Pampling (2017), Patrick Cantlay (2018), Bryson DeChambeau (2019), Kevin Na (2011 and 2020) and Martin Laird (2009 and 2021).
Designed by Bobby Weed, TPC Summerlin measures 7,255 yards and is over 2,000 feet above sea level. It has many dog legs, water features, bunkers and mature trees, and it is a thinking player’s golf course.
Market leaders
Viktor Hovland makes his debut at the Shriners and described by Jon Rahm (favourite for this week’s Open De Espana) as “an absolute ball-striking machine”, the Norwegian is the 16/1 favourite.
A player with an analytical mind, this course should suit him perfectly – and he will get plenty of advice from his current instructor, Jeff Smith, a former professional poker player who was based in Las Vegas.
Hovland, a two-time Tour winner and a recent fifth in the FedExCup, is one of the few who can hit the ball 300-plus yards off the tee and hit 60 per cent of the fairways. That accuracy will see him gain plenty of strokes per round. It will be interesting to see if, as he usually does, he hits a driver on every hole the first time he plays a course before dialling it back.
Brooks Koepka has alternated good finishes with missed cuts. He was T4 in 2015 and runner-up in 2017, but also had missed cuts in 2014, 2016 and 2020. The victorious Ryder Cup player is 18/1 this week.
Webb Simpson (pictured below) loves the challenge of this course. He won here in 2014 and has made nine straight Shriners cuts, a run that has included the win, three other top-10s and three additional top-20s. He is 20/1 this week.
Larger odds
World number eight Louis Oosthuizen is the top-rated golfer in the field. Last season’s nearly-man, his CV was peppered with runner-up placings, including the PGA Championship, US Open and Open Championship. He shot 16-under at this tournament last season and is a live player at 22/1.
Beware the angry golfer with Kevin Na having a point to prove after being omitted from the USA Ryder Cup team. A dual winner and a runner-up here, he also enjoyed two second places and a third place in the season that recently finished. He is expected to challenge again at odds of 25/1.
Cameron Triangle played some solid shots at the Sanderson Farms Championship last week – a tournament won by Sam Burns – and finished T11, four shots behind.
Triangle, runner-up in 2016 and 16 under last year, is a 40/1 option for Shriners Open betting tips.
Elsewhere
Jason Kokrak was a little boom or bust last season. For example, he missed the cut at the Shriners and promptly won at Shadow Creek the following week.
He finished in the top 10 five times and made 21 cuts in 27 starts, and his recent T15 and T11 finishes at the BMW Championship and Tour Championship respectively mean he should not be overlooked at 40/1.
Patton Kizzire has had some decent runs at Shriners before, with T2 and T4 finishes in the locker, and was 15 under here last season. He had been playing well until missing the cut in Mississippi last week, but invariably bounces back with a strong showing after a missed cut so his odds of 80/1 are not to be sniffed at.
Rickie Fowler has been struggling. Last season he failed to record multiple top-10s for the first time since joining the PGA Tour in 2011. His T8 at the PGA Championship was a first top 10 on the Tour since 2020’s The American Express.
Yet he is simply too talented to be among the also-rans for much longer and his T4 here in 2018 suggests he may find some comfort level and regain some confidence. He is an 80/1 shot this week.
All odds and markets correct at the time of publication
