BMW Championship Golf Betting Tips 2022
On a week when the two favourites, Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, missed the cut, Will Zalatoris not only shed his bridesmaid tag in Memphis but soared to the top of the FedEx Cup standings as the race for the $18m jackpot heads to pastures new, the first PGA Tour visit to Delaware - America’s second-smallest State.
A field of 69 - cut from the 120 who did battle at St Jude - line up at Wilmington Country Club for the second leg of the competition and the 1960 Robert Trent Jones layout, a heavily bunkered 7534-yard par 71, will be a mystery to many, though not Justin Thomas who represented the USA in the Palmer Cup there in 2013.
Whether he will recognise it is another matter as the tornado which ripped through the area in 2020 felled 300 trees in five minutes and the course had to be reworked by Andrew Green the following year. The loss of one 250-year-old white oak has enabled him to move the tee back 60 yards on the 14th.
Thomas was debuting a new Titleist driver at Southwind which he says is kinder to his misses and JT must have every chance of improving on Sunday’s T13. He will need to if he is to repeat his FedEx Cup triumph of five years ago, the same year he won his first PGA Championship. And when did he win his second? Why, this year! Is it an omen?
Currently only tenth on the table, he needs a big push at Wilmington to get into the mix as the Cup-winner will almost certainly come from the FedEx top five come Sunday afternoon. The rest are simply playing for a fatter share of the $75m bonus pool.
The same goes for Jon Rahm, currently 14th but encouraged by a T5 in Memphis coming only nine days after becoming a dad for the second time.
The Spaniard went into last year’s finale at East Lake as No.4 and almost pulled it off despite conceding top dog Patrick Cantlay a whopping start in the Cup’s bizarre “handicap”. Under less pressure, I can see Rahm going very close this week and at a realistic price as he has been out of the spotlight for a while now.
European hopes rest on him, McIlroy (9th) and Matt Fitzpatrick (12th) but they need to do something special in Delaware as the way the race is trending, Zalatoris, Cameron Smith (3rd) and Tony Finau (5th) will take plenty of catching.
Smith was the bookies’ favourite going into the last round in Memphis until the PGA announced a retrospective two-shot penalty for an illegal drop early in round three. It was the Aussie’s fault and his caddie’s for not being up to speed on the rules.
The penalty dropped Cam from two behind to four and cost punters a pretty penny as he faded to 13th under the extra burden. The grapevine says the Open champion is next for the LIV gravy train and it is not often wrong. Smith would have been expected to run well this week but he has withdrawn, citing "hip discomfort."
But it is another Aussie who appeals as the best each-way value and that’s Adam Scott, a 66/1 shot despite Sunday’s T5. It will surprise those who have watched the debonair Scott miss short putt after short putt over the years to learn that he was No.1 in Strokes Gained on the greens at Southwind, and by nearly four strokes in his final-round 66.
That’s just the stat we need on Wilmington’s large, multi-tiered dance floors and if last week was no fluke the 42-year-old former Masters champion could spring an upset. Top 15s in the last two Majors indicate Adam’s all-round game is in good nick.
Another who looks fair value is 30/1 chance Cameron Young who has been knocking on the door every bit as loudly as Zalatoris. Second in the Open, third in the PGA, the big New Yorker is almost on home ground as Wilmington is just a two-hour drive from Manhattan. Runner-up yet again in Detroit (that made five times in the 21-22 season), he is sure to be spurred by Zalatoris and will be trying all the harder to emulate him.
Without question, the man with the best form credentials has to be Finau who added a T5 to back-to-back wins in Minnesota and Detroit. With his suspect putting firmly sorted, the gentle giant from Salt Lake City is a match for anyone these days. Also putting like a dream is Joohyung “Tom” Kim who moved up to 26th on the FedEx chart when adding a solid T13 to his Wyndham triumph.
Another good showing will take the 20-year-old to East Lake. Tom is on quite a roll and, having done us a 33/1 favour at Sedgefield, we’ll hitch another ride on the Kim Express.
Speaking of putting, don’t listen to those who crab the weird stroke employed by Zalatoris on the short ones. Yes, he misses the odd one but who doesn’t? And his nerve, as we saw on Sunday, is world class.
Now that the slimline Californian has hit the top of the FedEx pile, with the prospect of a ten-shot bonus for East Lake if he’s still there on Sunday evening, don’t expect him to give it up without a fight.
There’s no cut this week which means we get a four-day run for our money and the forecast is for a sunny start deteriorating into a showery Saturday and stormy Sunday. Temperatures around 30C.
BMW Championship Golf Betting Tips 2022
- 2pts each-way Cameron Young at 30/1
- 1pt each-way Adam Scott at 66/1
- 1pt each-way Jon Rahm at 14/1
- 1pt each-way Joohyung Kim at 33/1
- 1pt each-way Tony Finau at 16/1
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