Welcome to a brand-new betting series in which we’ll be taking a weekly look at the 2018 PGA Tour. After some strong betting performances in the Masters and US Open, our confidence is up leading into the new series, which kicks off this week as we take a look at the 2018 Greenbrier Classic from West Virginia.
2018 Greenbrier Classic Betting Tips
The Course & History
The Greenbrier Classic has been held at the ‘Old White TPC’ in Greenbrier for it’s seven previous events, the first of which was held in 2010. The course was designed by Charles Blair McDonald and opened for play in 1914. It is 7,292 yards in length, making it a fairly long course compared to the 7,000 yard average of the PGA tour in 2018. The course will suit clean ball strikers that are accurate off the tee and in their approach, while I think strong putting will not hold a great advantage this weekend.
The event has produced some pretty strange winners in the past. Aussie Stuart Appleby won the inaugural event back in 2010 while some other winners include Scott Stallings, Ted Potter Jr, Angel Cabrera and Danny Lee. One of our favourites for this years tournament, Xander Schauffele will return to defend his 2017 title, after finishing 14 under and winning by 1 stroke.
The Field
In one of the weakest PGA Tour fields of the season so far, the event features just 7 of the top 50 ranked players in the world, headlined by the likes of Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson. World No. 31 ranked player Tony Finau will start as the tournament favourite after a great performance recently at the U.S Open. He finished 5th in the event, and already has six other top 20 finishes in 2018 already.
Picks
Finau is obviously a massive chance for the title after a strong performance at the US Open and is our best bet to finish close to the top of the leaderboard. At $13 for the win and $3.25 for a top five finish, we love him each way here.
Tony Finau each way
$13/$3.25
Another who we really like this weekend is American J.B Holmes. Holmes missed the U.S Open and was disappointing in his last tournament, the Quicken Loans National where he missed the cut. However, his two prior events resulted in a 3rd at the FedEx St. Jude Classic and a T2 at the Travelers Championship. He has been one of the longest off the tee so far this season with a 304.6 driving distance and should go close this weekend.
Xander Schauffele has been in some inconsistent form of late, finishing in the top ten of three of his last six tournaments and missing the cut in the other three. A T6 perforamnce at the US Open was backed up by an unlucky T2 showing at the CVS Health Charity Clash a few weeks ago and the youngster should be keen to defend one of his two only titles this weekend.
Xander Schauffele top five
$4.50
