Golf betting tips: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am preview & picks
Golf betting tips:
The stars are out for this week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am which sees the cream of golf rub shoulders with celebrities in the second of the PGA Tour’s signature events.
The tournament has undergone a radical revamp this year with the field cut from 156 to 80 and no cut which has also resulted in one of the three courses being dropped from the rota.
Monterey Peninsula has been axed, leaving Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill to take centre stage for the first two days and the former hosts both rounds at the weekend when only the pros will be in action.
With only LIV rebels Jon Rahm and the latest defector Tyrrell Hatton absent from the world’s top 20, it promises to be a spectacular renewal for which Justin Rose is the defending champion, and Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy are jostling for favouritism.
Could we have another surprising winner on the back of the successes of amateur Nick Dunlap and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon in the last couple of weeks? We’ve looked at a selection of golf betting sites to pick out some potential contenders.
Spieth looks a hit as leading Beach boy
Jordan Spieth loves links golf, so it’s no surprise that the three-time major winner has a spectacular record at this tournament.
The 30-year-old American stormed to a four-shot victory in 2017, one of six top-10 finishes in his last 10 appearances, so it’s clear he loves Pebble Beach which he described as a “bucket list place to win” after his success seven years ago.
Spieth has a wonderful iron game which he’ll need to find those tiny Pebble Beach greens - the smallest on the PGA Tour - but crucially his putter sparked into life in his last outing at The Sentry three weeks ago when he placed third, just a couple of shots behind winner Chris Kirk.
Ranked first for strokes gained putting in the first tournament of 2024, Spieth took the next three weeks off, so should be nice and fresh for this tough coastal challenge which has treated him so well over the last decade.
Spieth’s last victory came at The Heritage almost two years ago, but he went close to a successful defence last season when he lost a play-off to Matt Fitzpatrick at Harbour Town, another links course.
Having ended 2023 strongly with sixth place at the Hero World Challenge and started the new year well, Spieth should be a major threat against this stellar field and looks a decent play at a general 18/1 across UK betting sites, although he could start shorter.
Yu can do it
Scheffler was the top dog in strokes-gained-approach last season when he won twice: the Phoenix Open for a second time and The Players Championship.
However, he is making his tournament debut this week so the world number one is perhaps one to avoid, along with McIlroy, who missed the cut in his last appearance at this event in 2018, although he finished sixth at the US Open staged by Pebble Beach a year later.
With the world’s elite on display this week, there are plenty of candidates to win in California, but it could pay dividends to look further afield, starting with Kevin Yu who reached a career-high ranking of 114th with two excellent performances over the last fortnight.
The Taiwanese made amends for missing the cut at the Sony Open with third at The American Express and sixth at Torrey Pines.
Yu also has fond memories of this tournament, a closing 67 giving him a share of seventh place 12 months ago, having finished 24th on his debut in 2018.
Admittedly, the competition is much stiffer this time round, but the three-figure price on betting apps is a fair one with six places available on each-way bets with SpreadEx.
Hadwin California dreamin’
Adam Hadwin has been in decent form either side of the new year, concluding 2023 with a runner-up finish to Tom Kim at the Shriners Children’s Open in October and his performances in January have been encouraging.
The Canadian made nine birdies in a closing 64 for a top-15 finish at The Sentry and although he missed the cut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, he bounced back with four sub-70 rounds at The American Express to end up just four shots behind winner Dunlap in sixth.
Wins have been scarce for Hadwin on the PGA Tour, his one and only success coming at the Valspar Championship seven years ago, but he nearly ended his drought when losing a three-man play-off with Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa at the Rocket Mortgage Classic last July.
Beating a field this strong looks a tall order, but he has two top-20 finishes in his last three appearances at this tournament and scanning the odds on gambling sites leads us to pick Hadwin to crack the top 10 at 13/2.
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Warren Barner is an experienced sports journalist who has spent the last few years writing for Ladbrokes, Coral, Bwin and PokerStars/BetStars. He covers football, tennis and golf and is a lifelong York City fan.
