When it comes to golf betting, this week is a unique one on the PGA Tour.
The Zurich Classic at TPC Louisiana is the lone team event on the official schedule, with the pairings playing a best-ball format Thursday/Saturday and alternate shot Friday/Sunday. After Friday’s second round, the field will be cut to the top 33 pairs and ties.
Since it’s a team event with different formats being played, it is hard to find criteria to use when deciding which players to bet on. Instead, a good method is finding players who are comfortable with each other and have past experience playing in these types of events.
Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele may have the most experience of any pairing in the field, and therefore it’s no surprise they are not only the betting favorites at the BetMGM online sportsbook at +300 but also the most popular pick.
As of Wednesday, the Cantlay/Schauffele team is pulling in 13% of the tickets and a massive 27.2% of the handle to lead the field in both categories.
Not only are the two very close off the golf course, but they’ve had quite a bit of success as a team.
They have been paired for five matches in Ryder Cups and Presidents Cups and have won all five. In addition, they won this event last year, when they set the tournament scoring record, finishing at 29-under.
Both players are also playing extremely well of late. Cantlay has six straight top-20 finishes, while Schauffele has three straight top-10s.
Another marquee team in the field is Max Homa/Collin Morikawa.
At +750, they are pulling in 12.3% of the tickets and 12.3% of the handle, both good for the second-most of any team.
Both have played in the event before, but this is the first time they will be partners.
Current Handle & Tickets
Handle
- Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele – 27.2%
- Max Homa/Collin Morikawa – 12.3%
- Davis Thompson/Will Gordon – 9.4%
- Billy Horschel/Sam Burns – 9.3%
- Sahith Theegala/Justin Suh – 7.6%
Tickets
- Patrick Cantlay/Xander Schauffele – 13%
- Max Homa/Collin Morikawa – 12.3%
- Billy Horschel/Sam Burns – 10.2%
- Sahith Theegala/Justin Suh – 10.2%
- Si Woo Kim/Tom Kim – 7%
Sungjae Im/Keith Mitchell have the third-best odds at +1100 but are only drawing 4.7% of tickets and 2.5% of handle.
Bettors also like the Theegala/Suh team, who have +2200 odds to win. Theegala comes into the event playing well of late and won another team event last December at the QBE Shootout with Tom Hoge.
Kim/Kim also have experience playing together in a team event, as they were partners at last fall’s Presidents Cup.
