Tyrrell Hatton, 3 other direct bets

Another mediocre week in terms of betting at the Memorial.

Billy Horschel won quite comfortably on Sunday. Given his average form before the week, I wasn’t going to land on him. Max Homa’s name has been on the charts for a while, and he’s done enough to at least stay in the top 5.

Now we focus on the Canadian Open, which will be held for the first time since 2019.

The lesson

St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto will host this week. He’s ready to play like a par 70 at just over 7,000 yards.

This will be the seventh time it has hosted the tournament, but only one has taken place in the past 50 years. The 2010 version of the event was the last we saw of this course, when Carl Pettersson reunited with Dean Wilson that week to claim the title. It was a relatively weak field missed by most of the big names who had just played the Open Championship the previous week.

With a shorter run, that should open up the list of contenders. We also expect to see rough and challenging greens.

Favorites

We have three names at the top this week with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas all hovering at or just below the +1000 number depending on where you look.

Form is still pretty solid for all three, it’s just a matter of focusing with the US Open next week. Scheffler lost a playoff series at Colonial in his last start. Thomas followed up his PGA Championship victory with a missed cut, but it was an understandable place for a disappointment. McIlroy continues to hover on the fringes of contention, but he hasn’t really been able to put together four rounds together yet.

Sam Burns and Cameron Smith are next at +1400. Burns has come a long way this year with two wins and a second-place finish in his last six starts. Smith had the lead last week after 36 holes on a course he has really struggled on in the past at Muirfield Village.

Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tony Finau, Shane Lowry and Corey Conners make up the +2000 lineup. Of the group, Fitzpatrick played the best. The missed cut was all about last week’s putter and it’s a course where he’s struggled in the past.

Finau was on my radar for a bet this week if we approached the +4000 offered at Colonial, but that didn’t happen and I don’t support him in that range. Lowry and Conners have also been playing well for a long time.

The mid-range

We’ll start here with Tyrrell Hatton at +3300 on BetRivers. Outside of a bad week in Augusta, Hatton has earned shots at every event this year. The driver has caused him the most problems during the season, but he has earned blows there in back-to-back events for the first time since June last year. He’s not much of a bomber, but the tee ball has always been a strength, so if he gets it back on track, he could be set for a high finish.

I’m also going to Chris Kirk at +5000 on PointsBet. Kirk had a week off with the irons at Memorial, but I will come back to him on this course. He’s not the longest guy, so this will be a place where his ability to gain ground with precision could be an advantage.

The Longshots

We will go to Pat Perez here at 100-1 on PointsBet. Perez has been playing pretty well for a few weeks now. The tee ball is where he lost the most ground, but it’s all about distance. It finds an above-average number of fairways, but it is usually 15 to 20 meters shorter. With a much shorter run this week, Perez’s ability to keep the ball in play should be a bigger advantage this week.

I will also take Tyler Duncan at 180-1 on DraftKings. Duncan fits the same mold as Perez. We have a shorter course and he’s a guy who doesn’t have the length, but finds the fairways and is good enough with the irons to get the birdie airs needed to compete.

The Open Canadian Map

• Tyrell Hatton +3300 (1 unit)
• Chris Kirk +5000 (.66 units)
• Pat Perez +10000 (.33 units)
• Tyler Duncan +18000 (.17 units)

Total bet: 2.16 units