ISCO Championship Picks: Who Could Win in Louisville?

There’s always something comically romantic about the field for the ISCO Championship, a co-sanctioned tournament on both the PGA Tour and DP World Tour which essentially transports dozens of European pros into the culture shock that is Louisville, Ky., which at the very least feels like a potential plot for Happy Gilmore 3.

Since this became a dual-tour event back in 2022, we’ve seen a Nathan Kimsey runner-up finish, but most of the contenders are those who regularly ply their craft on this side of the pond, so let’s not veer too far from that idea this week.

The favorite is Jackson Koivun (+1600), fresh off a missed cut in his professional debut after never even sniffing an MC in his last five PGA Tour starts as an amateur. We can try to extrapolate some belief that golf is a lot harder once it becomes a job, but I’d rather chalk up last week’s mediocrity to an outlier more than anything else. Even so, it doesn’t exactly leave me wanting to play him at a short number – even after a T-6 result here last year – in any platforms other than those where leverage could be a key factor.

Instead, I’d rather pivot to Max Homa (+2000), whom I thought might open as the fave after his runner-up finish at the John Deere Classic. This admittedly feels a bit chase-y, but the six-time winner is back to playing some high-level golf and knows how to close out events, unlike so many others in this field. He’s my favorite play in this outright market and it’s really not close.

There’s a major dropoff after the top-tier, so if you’d prefer to stick with options from the 30/1-or-shorter range, you might be barking up the right tree. It would be a helluva story if Ben Kohles (+2500) can bounce back after last week’s heartbreak and win this one, but there’s some obvious scar tissue which hasn’t quite healed yet. I do think he’s playing well enough to at least cruise to another top-20 result.

If we’re simply pricing players on talent alone, then Davis Thompson (+2500) should be about 10 points shorter, but it seems like something always gets in the way of him playing better golf – and yes, that something is very often the putter.

After two brutal iron performances, Stephan Jaeger (+2800) ranked seventh in approach last week, but he’s still fifth from the bottom in driving accuracy this season. He’s been a bit all-or-nothing, so if you’re playing him, just go for the outright wager and don’t try to catch a finishing position prop.

Alright, now we can start skimming down the board and the next player who intrigues me is Preston Stout (+4500), who’s now the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world after Koivun turned pro. He’s straight off a T-15 last week with some very good ball-striking numbers. If we’re going to see another amateur win at this level so soon after Nick Dunlap, chances are it’ll be at an alternate-field event such as this. He certainly owns the talent to succeed here.

The results haven’t been great for Adrien Dumont de Chassart (+5000) lately, with five straight outside the top-50, but the performance numbers aren’t as poor as that would make it seem, especially with the short game and putter, which might be enough this week to get him into contention.

PGA Tour rookie A.J. Ewart (+6600) owns five top-30 finishes in his last seven starts, which offers a bit of hope for this week, but makes me more interested in the top-20/40 markets than anything else.

I’m a believer in Jimmy Stanger (+8000), who has the look of a guy with some staying power on the big tour, even if the results don’t agree with my assessment. Of course, I said the same thing about Danny Walker last week, right before he opened with a Thursday-worst 81.

Tyler Duncan (+8000) has spent the season bouncing back and forth between the PGA Tour and KFT, but he’s finished top-20 in his last two starts – one on each circuit – and feels like a sneaky pick at this number.

A few years ago, there was some thought that more young American players would eschew the KFT and other developmental tours in the U.S. for a chance at playing the DP World Tour and perhaps getting one of 10 annual PGA Tour promotions over there.

It hasn’t quite happened like that, but there are a few and Davis Bryant (+9000) might be the best of the bunch. More of a precision player than power, his ball-striking has been solid recently and just as I’ve tipped a few U.S.-based Europeans at this week’s Genesis Scottish Open, I like the idea that the Colorado State product might return to home soil and receive an instant boost.

We’re admittedly throwing darts once we get to the triple-digit prices, but if you’re not firing from this range in an alternate event, do you even enjoy golf betting? The aforementioned Nick Dunlap (+10000) surely hasn’t cured all of his driving ills, but coming off a T-33 result, I’ll at least take a chance on a guy with a decent ceiling.

It’s been a long time coming, but Troy Merritt (+12500) followed a T-5 on the KFT with a T-21 at the John Deere last week. He won this event with a different name at a different venue in 2018, but at age 40, he still holds some value for this one.

If you were betting Jeremy Paul (+30000) on the Cactus Tour during COVID-19, you weren’t alone. Maybe he’ll pay us back this week.

After a lengthy absence to care for his mental health, Aaron Wise (+35000) is back to playing the PGA Tour and sounds like he’s in a good place right now. He just made his first cut last week in almost a full year, so baby steps, but as Wyndham Clark has reminded us lately, sometimes the proper frame of mind can unlock greater success.

I’d be surprised if it happened this quickly for Wise, however I’ll at least keep him on my radar, wherever he might be playing.