Myrtle Beach Classic Picks: Favorites Plus Longshots

While the PGA Tour’s top players convene in Charlotte for this week’s Wells Fargo Championship, a PGA Tour signature event, the rest of ‘em are some 175 miles southeast for the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic.

This will serve as the third of four opposite-field events during the season, and the first two haven’t exactly been brain-teasers when it came to figuring out the eventual winners.

Brice Garnett parlayed years of strong play at these types of events, especially on seaside resort courses, into a win at the Puerto Rico Open, while Billy Horschel was always a logical option from the third-shortest price at the Corales Puntacana Championship.

This week’s favorites include Erik van Rooyen, Davis Thompson, Ben Griffin and Beau Hossler — and while Griffin is intriguing, it wouldn’t be unwise to start your card just a little further down the list.

Myrtle Beach Classic Picks

I’ll begin with Justin Lower (+3500), who might not quite be knocking on the door lately but is at least wiping his feet on the mat. Years ago, I wrote about Lower’s tragic backstory, as his father and brother were both killed in a single-car accident while on their way to pick him up from the golf course as a teenager.

I’ve always believed that Lower will win at the highest level, and his story will resonate with the masses. This week feels as good a time as any for it to happen, as he’s finished 28th or better in each of his last four starts, including a T-4 at the most recent opposite-field event.

Last week, I wrote up Taylor Pendrith as basically an auto-play at his number, which I felt was undervalued in the marketplace. I’ll say the same thing for Robert MacIntyre (+6000), who’s contended for majors and helped Europe to a Ryder Cup title but has struggled to find his footing in his first full season on the U.S.-based circuit. It won’t be long before his price is shorter than this in signature events, so it makes too much sense to play him at this number against an inferior field.

I’ve long believed that Greyson Sigg (+5000) is sort of a poor man’s Kevin Kisner – not the most physically gifted player and a guy who gets lost in the depth of the University of Georgia’s talent pool, but a player who can certainly win at the highest level. He finished in the top-10 at Puntacana, then did so again the next week in New Orleans alongside Chesson Hadley. I would’ve liked a bigger price for a guy who’s yet to seriously contend on the PGA Tour, but a pair of Korn Ferry wins leads me to believe he can close when he gets the opportunity.

Speaking of Chesson Hadley (+5500), the Raleigh, N.C., native represents one of my favorite plays this week. While he doesn’t have a great recent record – that top-10 with Sigg was preceded by four straight MCs and followed by another last week – he has a propensity to go low and can seemingly do it from nowhere, which makes him worth a play in what should be familiar surroundings this week.

The same can be said for Ben Martin (+6600), a South Carolina local who should similarly feel at home. While I’m not as sold on Martin as I am on a few others who populate this list, his iron play has been very solid lately, gaining strokes on approaches in six straight before falling just a small notch below the field average last week.

Patton Kizzire (+8000) opened the year with a T-13 at the Sony Open, then proceeded to MC in his next half-dozen starts. He’s turned that around lately, though, with three straight top-30 results. He’s another on whom I’d like to have a bigger number, but I’ll be kicking myself if this one is staring us in the face and we let it slide past.

In last week’s preview, I touted Wesley Bryan (+15000), who’d finished runner-up in his previous start. While that fizzled out to the tune of a missed cut, I’ll go back to the South Carolina native again here, considering his lone PGA Tour victory also came in the friendly confines of his home state.

Last week, 16-year-old Kris Kim became one of the youngest players to make a PGA Tour cut in the past two decades; a few weeks ago, 15-year-old Miles Russell finished top-25 on the Korn Ferry circuit. 

Let’s keep that trend going with the aptly-named Blades Brown (+75000), a Nashville-based teenager who currently ranks fourth on the AJGA points list. It’ll be too much to ask for a serious title contention this week, but if you’re looking for a fun top-20/40 play for which to root, Brown could certainly be emboldened by the recent play of those other youngsters.