*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are accurate at time of publication but subject to change
The PGA Tour continues with the Sony Open this week, set to take place once more at the Wai’alae Country Club in Hawaii.
Paddy Power Golf Trader Iain McLaughlin has picked out four of his best value plays ahead of the tournament in a bid to make punters a pretty penny.
We’re paying eight places, so check out Iain’s chat with Paddy Power TV’s Justin Kenny in the video below for some selection hints.
Marc Leishman
The Sony Open was won by an Australian last year, in the form of Cameron Smith, and I think it could be won by another this year – Marc Leishman. He finished 24th last week at the Tournament of Champions, but I don’t think that result really reflects how he played in the main. He just had a really poor week on the greens. He lost almost five strokes to the field over the course of the event.
I tipped him up for that event last week, and I mentioned that his long game was coming nicely into form from the back end of last year, and that looked to be the case again last week. He gained 4.3 strokes on the field from tee to green, and that’s really good. It was a high-level field, and he’s probably dropping down a little bit in class into this field at the Sony.
His iron play was his best attribute of that tee-to-green game, and that’s usually a key attribute to contend at Wai’alae. Looking through his back catalogue of form here at the Sony open, it’s pretty strong. Most recently he finished third here in 2019 so that’s really encouraging too. I don’t think the market is caught up with his improvement at the minute, so I think he looks a value bet this week.
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Sebastian Munoz
Sebastian Munoz finished -16 at the Tournament of Champions last week, and looking a bit deeper into that he started off quite slowly with an opening round of 75. I think he was in last place after the first round then went on to finish -16, playing those last three rounds in a combined 18-under-par. Only the runner-up Joaquin Niemann went lower over that span of 54 holes. That just shows how well he played for those final three rounds.
Looking back a little bit deeper into his Thursday round, his approach play and his putting were just really off the boil. He lost six strokes on the field in round one but really warmed to the task and finished with positive totals in both those stats at the end of the week. His finishing position of 17th means we’re getting a bigger price on a player who is back in good form.
He’s had a top 10 finish here in 2019, so that’s a nice little bit of form and I think he’ll put up a really good show this week.
Keegan Bradley
If Keegan Bradley has any aspirations for making the Ryder Cup team, he will want to start off quickly here. He’s another player who looks be coming back into form a little bit, having finished the year with 15th at the RSM Classic and 32nd at the Mayakoba Classic.
His long game figures at the RSM really sparked my interest. He finished third in strokes gained off the tee, eight in approach and third in strokes gained to the green. This points to me that he’s ready for really big performance, just so long as his putter can behave on the greens. He can put up a really big show, and I think that could be this week.
His last three starts here have a nice upward trend. He was 39th in 2018, 29th in 2019 and 12th here last year. He’s around 66/1, which I think is a big price for a player who can who can really find his form.
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Branden Grace
Branden Grace has been very quiet over last year to 18 months but is beginning to find his game again and will relish the potentially windy conditions. He was eighth at the DP World Tour Championship, which is probably his best performance in the last 18 months. He ranked really highly from tee to green and with his approach figure that week. He will need that again this week to contend at Wai’alae.
Coastal courses are a setup which really suits Grace. Some of his best performances on the PGA Tour have come at coastal courses, so it’s surprising that he’s only had one appearance here – it’s the kind of a place that he should like – and that performance yielded a 13th-place finish in 2017. He’s a three-figure price for a player who can reach the top 10 in the world and is really high-class, so I think that is worth an each-way investment this week.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widget, while in-copy odds are accurate at time of publication but subject to change
Sony Open bet summary
Marc Leishman
Sebastian Munoz
Keegan Bradley
Branden Grace
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