PGA Tour Picks: OHL Classic at Mayakoba Odds and Expert Betting Predictions
Not too often will you see a three-man playoff on the PGA Tour where a bogey is good enough to advance, but that's what happened Sunday at a windy TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. Patrick Cantlay, Alex Cejka and Whee Kim all finished regulation tied at 9-under and all bogeyed the first playoff hole. The trio then returned to the 18th hole and Cantlay won with a par for his first career PGA Tour title - but it won't be the last as he has long been touted as a potential star alongside contemporaries like Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas.
If you follow golf devoutly, you likely know of the 25-year-old Cantlay. At one point, he spent a record 55 weeks at the top of the world amateur golf rankings. As a freshman at UCLA, he won the Haskins and Nicklaus awards as the best college player in the country. In 2011, he played well at the U.S. Open and shot a 60 at the Travelers Championship, the lowest ever score by an amateur on the PGA Tour. Alas, Cantlay hit some roadblocks after turning pro in 2012 - mainly a recurring back injury. As Tiger Woods can tell you, you can't contend in golf with a bad back.Cantlay also watched his best friend and caddie, Chris Roth, get killed in a hit-and-run accident in 2016. After beginning the year unranked, Cantlay is up to No. 42 in the world.
Cantlay's winning score of 9-under 275 in Las Vegas was the highest by seven shots (2015) since the Shriners became a single-course event in 2008.It was just the third time the winning total has been higher than 20-under-par.
Cejka made a brilliant run Sunday as he started the day eight shots out of the lead by fired an 8-under 63. He actually was preparing to leave the course because he was more than two hours ahead of Cantlay and Kim and figured no chance at a playoff. Cejka had a 15-footer that just missed on the first playoff hole to win. Kim blew his shot on the second playoff hole when he sailed his tee into the desert. He started Sunday five back but had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on his back-nine. On the second playoff hole, Cantlay flared his drive into the right rough and behind a tree but was able to two-putt from the fringe for the par and win. Conditions were quite tough. I didn't pick Cantlay last week but UNLV alum Ryan Moore. He shot an opening 69 but then struggled to finish T51. About all I got correct was a few head-to-head props, so we move on.
It's back out of the USA this week for the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, which was the first-ever official Tour event staged in Mexico. It has been around since 2007 and at one point was played in the winter opposite the WGC-Match Play. In 2013, it was moved to its current fall spot as part of the new wraparound season.
El Camaelon Golf Club is a par 71 measuring only 6,987 yards and designed by Greg Norman. It's a unique layout with jungle, mangroves and sand-line oceanfront. The defending champion was one of the most unlikely winners of last season, American Pat Perez. He shot 62-67 on the weekend to finish at 21-under 263, beating out third-round leader Gary Woodland by two shots. It was Perez's first win since 2009 and only third start at the time since a long layoff due to shoulder surgery.
Golf Odds: OHL Classic at Mayakoba Favorites
At Bovada , Rickie Fowler, the highest-ranked player in the field, is the +900 favorite. He was last seen at the Presidents Cup. Fowler makes his debut in Mexico.
Perez is +1200 to repeat. No player has won this tournament twice yet, but Perez did just win the CIMB Classic in Malaysia a couple of weeks to earn a spot in the 2018 Masters. Before his 2016 win here, Perez had missed the cut and finished T69 the previous two years.
Chesson Hadley, Woodland and Patrick Reed (all +2000) round out the favorites. Hadley missed the cut in his only visit in 2013 but already has three Top 5s on the Tour this season - he was fourth in Vegas. Woodland had that runner-up last year and was T16 the year before. He finished T18 last week. Reed makes his debut here and was 50th last time out in China.
Golf Odds: OHL Classic at Mayakoba Picks
I suppose I should pick an American as one has taken all of these tournaments but in 2015 when Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell did. Eight of the winners have been at least 30 years old. Four of the last six winners at Mayakoba had never played the event before.
For a Top 10, I like Perez (+120), Hadley (+165) and Charles Howell III (+250). Go Russell Knox at +350 as top European as he was third here last year and second in 2015. I'd probably take him to win if he was playing better currently. Head-to-head, go Howell III (-115) over Byeong-Hun An (-115), Charley Hoffman (-125) over Zach Johnson (-105), Hadley (-110) over Woodland (-120), Perez (+120) over Fowler (-155), and Kevin Chappell (-130) over Chez Reavie (even). That there will be a playoff at +300 is solid value considering there have been four.
My winner is Howell III as he's American and over 30. He has back-to-back Top 20s on the PGA Tour this season and has played this event every year since 2009. Chucky Three Sticks was seventh last year and sixth in 2013 at Mayakoba.
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