PGA Tour Picks: Dell Technologies Championship Odds and Betting Predictions
Not going to say much about last week's FedExCup playoff-opening victory by rising superstar Bryson DeChambeau at the Northern Trust. It was DeChambeau's third career win, and he was never much challenged on Sunday in winning by four over Tony Finau. The victory moved DeChambeau to No. 1 in the FedExCup points and just about assures that Jim Furyk will pick him as one of his captain's choices for the Ryder Cup.
DeChambeau barely missed automatic qualifying, finishing ninth in those points (Top 8 are automatic). I went with Finau as my winner last week at +5000, and he's making a Ryder Cup push as well. He finished 15th in the final Ryder Cup points table. Furyk will announce his first three wild-card picks after this week's Dell Technologies Championship. It's also the last tournament where the European guys earn Ryder Cup points.
There's a lot to get to in the golf world, and I'm not even going to address the Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods Thanksgiving weekend $9 million match play showdown. I would have watched it on free TV but won't be ordering it on pay-per-view.
This week is the second stop in the four-event FedExCup playoffs, the Dell Technologies Championship at TPC Boston. Only the Top 100 in points (down from 125) qualified to advance from last week. The Top 70 and ties after this week then move to the third stop, the BMW Championship. This is the final cut event on the PGA Tour's 2017-18 schedule and also the last staging of this actual tournament.
The PGA Tour is shaving the FedExCup playoffs to three tournaments next year, and this was a casualty, although TPC Boston will now host the first playoff event every other year. There are also reports that the PGA Tour is considering more drastic playoff changes for next year. The regular-season points champion would get $3 million and then the points leader at the Tour Championship would essentially get an under-par head start on the field at 10-under. The other 29 guys would all be staggered where they start under par, with No. 30 apparently at even par. The goal is to make it more likely that the Tour Championship winner also wins the FedExCup, which doesn't always happen (like last year). There are still some loose ends to tie up before the Tour announces this.
Don't go channel-surfing to watch the Dell Technologies on Thursday because this is a Friday-Monday tournament with the Labor Day holiday. I won't sit here and explain how points are accrued, but basically everyone in the Top 57 is all but guaranteed to advance regardless of what they do this weekend. Kevin Streelman is sitting at 70th and PGATour.com speculates he would need 33rd (or better) to move on. No. 71 Tyrrell Hatton a 31st. No. 100 Jason Dufner a finish of at least 11th. Probably the biggest name outside the Top 10 right now is Matt Kuchar at 74th; he likely needs to finish at least T28. Last year, three guys outside the Top 70 got in. The most has been 10, but under an old points system (2008).
Two players are sitting out: Rickie Fowler (injured) and Francesco Molinari (rest). Both have no concerns of advancing; Fowler, who won this tournament three years ago, also sat out last week. TPC Boston is a par 71 at about 7,400 yards. Three of the past five winners here then won the FedExCup.
Golf Odds: Dell Technologies Championship Favorites
Per usual, world No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the +800 Bovada favorite, although he's now No. 2 in the FedExCup points. DJ has four career playoff wins but not here. His best results in Boston are two T4s. DJ missed a Top 10 last week by a shot.
Justin Thomas (+1100) is both your defending tournament and playoff champion. He had just two bogeys all weekend in finishing at 17-under 267 to win by three over Jordan Spieth. Thomas had struggled his first two visits to this event. Brooks Koepka (+1200), who is closing on Johnson for the No. 1 ranking, is +1200. He was T8 last week but has yet to finish Top 10 in this tournament.
Rory McIlroy took last week off to clear his head/work on his game and is +1400 to win here a third time. He did in 2012 & '16 and was T4 in 2014 but missed the cut last year. Jason Day is +1600 with Tiger Woods and Spieth both +1800. Tiger won here in 2006 and has two runners-up as well.
Golf Odds: Dell Technologies Championship Picks
For a Top 10, I like McIlroy (+165), another former winner in Henrik Stenson (+300) and Louis Oosthuizen (+450). Head-to-head, go McIlroy (-115) over Day (-115), Koepka (+120) over Johnson (-165), Jon Rahm (+105) over Tiger (-135), and Stenson (-115) over Fleetwood (-115).
I'm going a bit off the radar with Oosthuizen at +6600 to win. He has been good but not great this year and has three Top 10s in this tournament, including a runner-up in 2012, with no finish worse than T30 (in 2017). Louis is 69th in the points so he is motivated to play well.
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