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Shriners Hospitals For Children Open 2020: Preview and Picks

By Josh Chandler

MAMARONECK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 19: Tony Finau of the United States plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the 120th U.S. Open Championship on September 19, 2020 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)
MAMARONECK, NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 19: Tony Finau of the United States plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the 120th U.S. Open Championship on September 19, 2020 at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images) /
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Note: this article was published before Tony Finau withdrew due to COVID-19

Shriners Hospitals For Children Open hosts the PGA tour this week as golf shifts to Las Vegas for the next two weeks. This article will give a brief preview of this week’s event and highlight some Outright selections I like for this week.

The 2020 Shriners Hospitals For Children Open will take place at the scenic TPC Summerlin this week. The course was designed by Bobby Weed and Fuzzy Zoeller and this week will play as a Par 71 measuring out at 7,255 yards.

The course may have some similarities to Pete Dye designed tracks and some comparable courses could include TPC River Highlands and TPC Scottsdale.  TPC Summerlin features three Par 5’s, four Par 3’s, and eleven Par 4’s including five that play at between 450-500 yards.  The greens are Bentgrass and historically Golfers that contend here produce excellent putting performances for the week.

This week’s event sees a much stronger field than that of the past two weeks and includes seven of the world’s top twenty ranked golfers including 2018 Champion Bryson DeChambeau, 2020 PGA Champion Colin Morikawa, Webb Simpson, Patrick Cantlay, and Tony Finau, amongst others.

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The event has typically played quite easy and has seen an average winning score of -18 to -22 with an average cut of E to 3 under par. More of the same can be expected this week with early forecasts showing pleasant weather for the weekend with light to moderate winds.

This week’s event should produce another high scoring tournament and as such the following are the key statistics that I will be looking for my golfers to excel in.

SG Ball Striking

SG Putting

Par 4 Scoring 450-500 yards

Birdie or Better %

Par 5 Scoring

Outright Selections

You can find all odds at popular online betting sites, check out Action Network for more Golf betting info and information on US sportsbooks.

U.S. Open Champion Bryson Dechambeau opens the event as a worthy favorite at +700, and coming off his first major victory will be hard to look past this week but at these odds, I will take a chance that he is not firing on all cylinders and begin my card further down the board.

Instead, I’ll begin the card with Tony Finau +2000, Tony comes into this event with two top-ten finishes in his previous three events including an 8th place finish in his last start in the U.S. Open.  In addition, Finau has three top twenty’s in his previous five starts at TPC Summerlin including his best finish at the Shriners last year when he finished 9th.

The golfer out of Utah has also produced some quality finishes at the similar TPC Scottsdale including when he came close to his first win earlier in the year when he finished runner up at the 2020 Phoenix Open.

Statistically Tony also ranks inside the top ten in four out of the five key stats this week including, SG Ball Striking, Par 4 Scoring 450-500 yards, Par 5 Scoring, and Birdie or Better %.  Should Finau find the putter this week he could very well claim his second PGA win.

Russell Henley +5000, will be the second selection to make the card.  Russell finished the official 2019-20 PGA season in fine form with two top 10’s in his past three starts.  Henley has also produced two top 25 finishes at this event over his last three starts.

Henley has gained on approach over his last three events and comes into this event ranked inside the top 25 in three of five key stats for the week.

Progressing further down the board my next selection will be Cameron Davis +7000, Cameron is another that comes into this event in fine form making the cut in his past six starts, this includes last week when he placed 6th at the Sanderson Farms.  The Aussie placed inside the top 30 at this event last year when he made his Shriners debut.

Davis also ranks inside the top 30 in each of the five key statistical categories over his past twelve rounds.

Finally, I’ll complete the card by taking a long shot with Justin Suh 225/1, the product out of USC has already produced a couple of fine performances on the PGA tour in 2020-21with two top 25 finishes.  This includes a 14th a couple of weeks ago at the Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship, an event he was in contention in until a Sunday one over par finish.

Since a 21st at the Barracuda Championship in late July the 23-year-old has produced three top tens and two top 25’s across all events.  Justin is well worth a shot at this price in an event that has seen longshots win before including the likes of Smylie Kaufman back in 2016.

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Best of luck this week to everyone playing at the Shriners!

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