Henrik! Henrik! In golf, not NHL
Most of the top players are going to skip the next two PGA events prior to the Masters. In fact, defending champion Brendon Todd is the only player in this week’s Bermuda Championship field who played last weekend at the Zozo Championship.
Todd is 14/1 at BetMGM to defend his Bermuda title, second choice to Will Zalatoris (11/1). Zalatoris was the favorite a few weeks ago in the Dominican Republic and finished T-8. Zalatoris is favored to win a PGA Tour event for the second time despite not being a member of said tour. He won earlier this summer on the Korn Ferry Tour and finished in the top 10 in eight of 11 events on the KFT since the restart this summer. Add a T-6 finish in his first major at the U.S. Open. Zalatoris has missed only one cut in 20 total events in 2020 and only needs a T-69 finish to lock up his Special Temporary Membership on the PGA Tour.
Harold Varner III is at 22/1, with Denny McCarthy at 25/1, Charley Hoffman and Doc Redman at 28/1 and Emiliano Grillo and Kristoffer Ventura at 33/1.
Here are some players with longer odds who are worth a wager at the Port Royal Golf Course:
Henrik Stenson (40/1): Has made only nine starts in 2020, but finds himself outside of the OWGR Top 50 for the first time in eight years. He is always one of the world’s best in terms of Driving Accuracy and Greens In Regulation and this track should be right up his alley. Stenson did beat many of the world’s best last December at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, so he still has some winning golf left in him.
Henrik Norlander (40/1): Was fourth at the Sanderson Farms Championship four weeks ago where he rated third in Putting Average. He is also one of the few players in this field who got a look at this course last year. While he only finished T-28, Norlander led last year’s field in Driving Accuracy and was fifth for Greens In Regulation. He seems to go along just fine on shorter, coastal courses including a fifth at the Sony Open (Waialae) and a ninth at the RSM Classic (Sea Island) last season.
Peter Malnati (40/1): This is solely a recent form play. Malnati finished second at the Sanderson Farms Championship four weeks ago, but that could have been dismissed as an outlier considering he’s a former champion at the event and was just a “horse for course.” However, he followed it up with a T-5 at the Shriners in Las Vegas. He is a shorter hitter but this track will not penalize his lack of length. If he just hits fairways and greens, he should do well considering he ranks No. 1 on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Putting on the young 2020-21 season.
Brian Stuard (80/1): Ranks second in this week’s field for Driving Accuracy and placed third several weeks ago at the Safeway Open. Stuard is another player who has taken a liking to the shorter, coastal courses.
Others to consider: Brice Garnett (100/1) is a shorter hitter who hits a lot of greens, and in a speculative and wide-open event like this one, he’s the type of player who will have a lot of birdie opportunities. Josh Teater (100/1) finished a respectable T-11 here in Bermuda last year. And D.J. Trahan (125/1) has made three straight cuts starting the 2020-21 PGA Tour season. His tee-to-green game is usually solid.