The North Course at Olympia Fields in Chicago is the next stop on the PGA Tour and 50 players will tee it up in the penultimate leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Lucas Glover went back to back with victory in last week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoff. It was a great result for followers of this Blog as Glover was tipped at 80/1 and comes hot on the heels of Brian Harman landing at 125/1 in The Open Championship. Can we go in again this week? We are going to do our best.
THE COURSE
The Olympia Fields Country Club has hosted 4 Major Championships from 1928 to the most recently played US Open in 2003. It also hosted this Tournament in 2020 where Jon Rahm won in a play-off over Dustin Johnson with a winning score of -4.
The course plays to a par 70 and if 2020 is anything to go by it is going to be a very stern test of golf quite different to what players have become accustomed to on the PGA Tour. We don’t have a lot of stats to go on when searching for a winner, but it is safe to say while distance is an advantage accuracy is also important as there are some big numbers waiting for wayward shots.
Patrick Cantlay is looking for his 3rd consecutive BMW Championship having won in 2021 and 2022, but those were played on very different courses with his winning score in 2021 -27 and then -14 last year.
Cantlay is priced at 10/1 to get his hat trick and above him in the betting are Scheffler and Mcilroy at 15/2 and Jon Rahm at 17/2.
BETTING – Click here to bet
Scottie Scheffler 15/2
Rory Mcilroy 15/2
Jon Rahm 17/2
Patrick Cantlay 10/1
Viktor Hovland 16/1
20/1 and better the balance, all prices correct at the time of writing but are subject to change
This Tournament does tend to throw up a top player as a winner, but there are question marks about all 3 of the players priced in single figures. Scottie Scheffler is putting poorly, Rory Mcilroy is making a habit of playing poor Sundays and Jon Rahm hasn’t looked at his best for some time and I am going to look down the betting boards for my selections as 10/1 Cantlay is also a bit short for my eye.
SELECTIONS
Hideki Matsuyama each way at 33/1
Matsuyama finished strongly last week to sneak into this BMW Championship and if you couple that with his 3rd place finish here in 2020 he looks poised to go close this week.
Brian Harman each way at 40/1
Harman was slow out of the blocks last week, but he finished strongly in his first start since winning The Open Championship in July. Harman played this event in 2020 finishing 12th, but based on his form at The Open Championship he is a much better player these days. Also like the fact that the course is going to be tough something which I think will suit Harman.
Harris English each way at 100/1
English probably looks a strange pick at first glance as he was only 40th here in 2020 and his recent form hasn’t been great with a Top 40 and a Top 60 in his last two starts. What catches the eye though is his 8th place finish in the US Open earlier in the year and he has always struck me as one of those players who likes to grind things out. He also caught the eye in the 4th Round last week with a closing 67.
Lee Hodges each way at 125/1
Hodges won his penultimate start and had a solid 31st place finish last week where he put in 3 good rounds, but was let down by his Saturday 72. Hodges makes his debut at this course and didn’t play in the US Open so I am backing him largely on gut feeling here.
