The force may just be back with us at Club 20 after a poor three-week stretch was broken last Sunday with two solid each-way hits providing hope for a turning of the tides heading into a big weekend of golf. 

With a WGC in Memphis and a stacked secondary PGA event being played at Lake Tahoe as well as a Euro event, there are plenty of options for us this afternoon.

WGC – St Jude Invitational

To the premier tournament first and the limited-field WGC St Jude’s Classic is likely, given the strength of field and the no-cut status, to see one or most likely multiple guns occupying the top five spots of the leaderboard come Sunday afternoon. 

Betting short-priced favourites is not usually how we like to donate our money, so there won’t be a huge card for this event. 

Having said that, there are a few I like.

This course at TPC Southwind has a shite load of water (the most waterballs on tour last five years) so avoiding the water and (more likely) being able to cop a waterball bogey or double and recover is key to success here. 

Despite this course being a longish par 70 with lots of water hazards, expect the winning score to be up around that -18 mark – par golf will not get it done here, we’re chasing a flash from a couple of veterans in Memphis. 

Outright (each-way T5)

Adam Scott @ 56.00

Scotty needs to do well in this event to guarantee his spot in the FedEx Cup finals in two weeks, he is currently 123rd so is right on the button. Going off early and will enjoy being there with his good mate Wade Ormsby who is teeing off one group in front, Scott has been in career best putting form, he just needs the driver to snap back into form and he can contend here. Worth the each-way punt.

Sergio Garcia @ 71.00

No one is hitting it better than Sergio right now, well maybe Collin Morikawa, but that’s about it. Gained 5 strokes at the US Open, over 6 at The Open and over 7 (!!) at the 3M Open two weeks ago. Of course, being Sergio, he gave every one of those seven strokes gained on approach straight back on the greens (lost 7.3!) to finish T25 but what is encouraging is the irons look absolutely dialed in. The putter was not that bad prior to the 3M so if he can just find a few and stay neutral whilst maintaining the ball striking, Sergio can contend here. 

Wade Ormsby @ 300.00

T40 at Torrey for the US Open and took that solid form over to the UK where he went T10 at the Scottish Open then followed it up with a T12 at the Wales Open. Obviously strength of field is much deeper here but he is in great form and will have been over there with Scotty practicing whilst half this field was flying back from Japan. 

First Round Leader (Each-Way T5)

Going to take our three guys above and add in Brooks Koepka who absolutely loves this course. Like the 19-1 price for FRL, but if he doesn’t start well watch for his outright price to drift out past 20-1 and then jump on because he can (and has) go 64/64 here no problems at all. 

• Brooks Koepka @ 19.00

• Adam Scott @ 56.00

• Sergio Garcia @ 61.00

• Wade Ormsby @ 126.00

Barracuda Championship 

This alternate PGA event is a little different than almost all events on tour, because it is a modified stableford scoring system that encourages aggressive play. 

Eagles are worth 5pts, birdies are worth 2pts and bogeys -1, and perhaps most importantly a triple bogey or quad (or worse) is the same as a double (-2).  

The winning score is likely to be around that 45pt mark so expect aggressive play from start to finish.

Really think the Old Greenwood Course at Tahoe Mountain Club, and the event in general, set up for accuracy guys – previous winners include Morikawa, Putnam, Chalmers, Piercy and Woodland which tells me that any kind of distance can win here. 

There looks to be a very clear advantage to the guys going out in the first half dozen groups in R1 as the wind is forecast to get up quickly and push that 25-30km/hour mark by 12pm, but for once I’m sticking with guys I like regardless of where they are on the tee sheet. 

Overall I just think these guys are all either way better than their odds would suggest and/or have a good tee time/skill set for this course and format – if there is an event that fearless kids should love it is this one. 

Outright (Each-Way T5)

• Aaron Eckroat @ 91.00

• Davis Thompson @ 126.00

• John Pak @ 226.00

First Round Leader (Each-Way T5)

• Nick Taylor @ 67.00

• Aaron Eckroat @ 81.00

• Davis Riley @ 91.00

• Davis Thompson @ 91.00

• John Pak @ 126.00

• Robbie Shelton @ 126.00

• MJ Daffue @ 151.00

Top 40 Multi 7-Legger @ 1362-1

Going to take the seven 6-Leggers as well!

• Pak @ 3.10

• Thompson @ 2.88

• Taylor @ 2.10

• Eckroat @ 2.10

• Perez @ 2.00

• Riley @ 2.80

• Shelton @ 5.00

Euro Tour – English Open (Hero)

The euro tour returns to the home of golf this week, to St Andrews to the Torrens course at Fairmont and it is going to be awesome to watch because the wind is forecast to blow hard, there will be rain, and well, the layout of the course is great in good conditions, but to see these guys try and survive when the win is blowing 40km off the north sea and up onto these cliffs, it is what we live for! 

Outright (Each-Way T5)

• Callum Hill @ 34.00

• Marcus Kinhult @ 67.00

• Jonathan Caldwell @ 81.00

• Chris Wood @ 100.00

First Round Leader (Each-Way T5)

• Callum Hill @ 41.00

• Marcus Kinhult @ 67.00

• Jonathan Caldwell @ 81.00

• Chris Wood @ 81.00

There we go, 25 bets with the each-ways and a Top 40 Multi equals 57 bets in total so remember, reduce your stakes and/or choose which bets you like and just bet them.

Alternatively you could just bet the FRL plays and see how they go then reinvest or shoulder arms, or just play the Outrights, or even just play the T40 multi so a little bit of hail-mary fun – it is all up to you just remember, don’t overextend yourself because we have Fed Ex Cup finals as well as footy finals coming up! 

Speaking of footy, if you want to check out who the Stats Insider model likes this week, head over to the NRL and AFL Match Pages right now and get some prep in ahead of all the footy this weekend. 

The SI Tournament Predictions likes the odds about Maxy Homa and Jason Kokrak for T20 finishes in Memphis too, amongst others!

Have a great weekend - enjoy!