This article is for the 2017 Dean & Deluca Invitational. To find out which golfers I'm picking to win the 2018 Fort Worth Invitational, click here.
Look, predicting a pre-tournament Sportsbook in golf isn’t easy. While it’s true sports bettors can find fantastic value, it’s incredibly frustrating when one of your picks doesn’t even make the cut. That’s why I’m here to help.
Every week I’ll highlight three golfers who have a good chance to win the hardware for the upcoming weekend. This week it’s the Dean & Deluca Invitational.
For a full breakdown of the tournament, click here.
Odds courtesy of Sportsbook.
Matt Kuchar (+2200)
Kuchar is one of the most reliable players on the PGA Tour who never seems to get much of the spotlight. That’s just fine for Kuch, though, and it’s good enough for me. When it comes to professional golfers, he’s your prototypical Steady Eddie.
The American was the runner-up at Colonial in 2013, tied for sixth last year and is coming off a top-10 at the AT&T Byron Nelson Championship last weekend. He clearly likes his surroundings here and is in solid form, so a pre-tournament wager on him to go all the way is a great idea in my eyes.
Paul Casey (+2200)
I’m picking Casey here for one reason alone: he’s an absolute beast at hitting fairways and greens, and his scrambling ability ranks among the top tier of the tour. Colonial is littered with tight fairways and doglegs, so accuracy off the tee will be imperative for success.
Seven of the last eight Dean & Deluca champions have ranked inside the top 10 for greens in regulation and scrambling, while Boo Weekley – the 2013 Sportsbook – remains the only man to triumph since 1997 who ranked worse than 18th for scrambling.
Nick Taylor (+7500)
This one is a bit of a long shot, but stranger things have happened in the golfing world (see: Si Woo Kim winning THE PLAYERS Championship a few weeks ago). Taylor isn’t on the oddsmakers’ radar yet, but he will be soon.
Taylor is on fire with four straight top-25s, including back-to-back top-10s. The Canadian isn’t a long hitter but the Dean & Deluca is all about accuracy, and he has that in spades. The par 4s at Colonial are largely cruel, but Taylor has been one of the best par-4 scorers on the tour over the last few months.
