Xander Schauffele was fantastic in China on the weekend, taking out the WGC-HSBC Champions event in a playoff over countryman Tony Finau. Our best bet, Justin Rose, finished in third place in an admirable effort while our value play, Alex Noren, collected a top 20 finish.
The season rolls on this weekend as the PGA Tour returns stateside for the 2019 Shriners Hospital for Children Open in Las Vegas, Nevada. There will be a slightly thinner field back in the USA than we have seen in some of the tournaments throughout the Asian stint of the PGA Tour. Hopefully this makes it easier to find a winner.
Catch our preview and tips for the weekend’s action below.
2019 Shriners Hospital for Children Open Betting Tips
The Course
TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas is a 7,255-yard par 71. The course was once owend by renowned American businessman Howard Hughes. Due to Nevada’s desert elements, the course is set through vast arroyos and canyons. The course plays pretty standard until the final four holes, where you can make or break your entire round on a stretch of high risk/reward holes.
The Shriners Hospital for Children Open, although at times known by a different name, has been held at TPC Summerlin since 2008.
The Field
As we mentioned above, it will be one of the lighter fields in a PGA sanctioned event so far this season. Just 10 of the top 50 players in the current world rankings will take part in the event while just two of the top 10 will feature. Bryson DeChambeau leads the field along with other top 20 ranked players in Rickie Fowler, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau and Webb Simpson while reigning champion Patrick Cantlay will be back to defend his title.
Picks
Our best bet this weekend comes in the form of American Tony Finau. While he was unable to pick up a win in the PGA Tour last season, he was arguably one of the most consisntet players on tour all season, racking up 11 top ten finishes and finishing as the bridesmaid on three different occasions.
He had a decent outing in Las Vegas last November, finishing tied for 16th including three consectuvie scores of 69 over the first three rounds. He finished in the top ten of three of the final four Fed Ex Cup playoff events to round out the PGA Tour season and got his 2019 season off to a good start last weekend at the WGC-HSBC Championship with a second-place finish.
An extremely dark horse this weekend is US Ryder Cup captain Jim Furyk. It will be the first tourametn that the 48-year-old has suited up for since his fourth-place finish in the Wyndham Championship back in August but what he lacks in recent form, he makes up for in pedigree at the event.
Furyk is the only man to win the event twice, and coincidingly the only man to win it on three occasions! He took out the tournament in 1995 for the first time before winning back-to-back events in 1998-99. Is an extremely long shot to win this weekend but given he was competitive at the Wyndham in his last tournament and has plenty of experience at this event, he’s a great chance for a top five here.
