“Close only counts in Horseshoes and Hand Grenades.” Close certainly doesn’t count against the books in Las Vegas. I was ever so close to taking down my second outright winner in a row. Brendon Todd was 75-1 and far and away the top golfer in my weighted statistical model for the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Unfortunately, Justin Rose pulled it together for his first Tour victory since 2019 to spoil our fun and ruin what would have been an immense payday.
All eight of the golfers I wagered on made the 54-hole cut. Four of them finished in the top 20, and that didn’t even include 36-hole leader Kurt Kitayama, whose poor showing in the final round doused any hopes of his 80-1 odds paying off. Alas, I only risked seven measly units for that crapshoot event. There are bigger fish to fry this season on the PGA Tour, especially this week in Arizona.
The WM Phoenix Open is an iconic venue famous for its fan-friendly atmosphere and massive, raucous crowds. The Super Bowl will share the Phoenix area on Sunday, adding to the madness at TPC Scottsdale. The course itself is a desert track at elevation that sports a par-71 that overwhelmingly favors skilled ball strikers. Bombers do well here, but only if they can keep their long drives in play and not in the cacti or litany of fairway bunkers.