Winner’s Bag: Justin Rose, 2019 Farmers Insurance Open

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is eager to break his lengthy major championship drought and hopes to also add another PLAYERS Championship and FedExCup title to his bulging resume – and oddsmakers like his chances. Despite not winning a major since 2014, McIlroy enters 2023 as the listed favorite in all four major championships at BetMGM Sportsbook, and also tops the list for the PLAYERS Championship and the season long FedExCup. In other words, oddsmakers believe 2023 shapes as a banner year for the highly decorated PGA TOUR star. In perhaps good signs for the European Ryder Cup team the Northern Irishman has Spanish superstar Jon Rahm breathing down in his neck in the same markets, as the two look to take over supremacy at the top of the golf world. While American Scottie Scheffler held the top ranking in 2022 for a total of 29 weeks, it was McIlroy’s finish to the year, including overcoming a six-shot deficit to Scheffler in the TOUR Championship to win his record third FedExCup, and a win at THE CJ CUP in South Carolina, that saw him retake the top spot in October. He now has been on top for 116 weeks during his career. But while McIlroy boasts 23 PGA TOUR wins, including two PGA Championships, an Open Championship and a U.S. Open Championship plus his three FedExCups and a PLAYERS Championship, the 33-year-old’s last win at a major was in the 2014 PGA Championship, a drought now over eight years and counting. McIlroy is listed at +900 to claim a second PLAYERS title (2019) with the tournament to be held at TPC Sawgrass on March 9-12 in what traditionally now kicks off the season of championships. He holds the same odds (+900) to win The Masters at Augusta National on April 6-9, the one major eluding him in his quest for a career Grand Slam. A final-round 64 last year catapulted McIlroy into a runner-up finish, his seventh top 10 at Augusta National in 14 attempts. McIlroy sits at +1000 in the remaining three majors of 2023. The PGA Championship will be held at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York on May 18-21. The U.S. Open is set for June 15-18 at The Los Angeles Country Club North Course. And then, importantly, The Open Championship heads to Royal Liverpool at Hoylake in England on July 20-23, the venue for McIlroy’s 2014 triumph in the oldest major. McIlroy’s odds sit at +700 to win a fourth FedExCup, which would need McIlroy to become the first player ever to go back-to-back since its inception in 2007. He already is the only three-time winner. His fans can also entertain numerous specials when it comes to the majors. McIlroy is +250 to win any of the major championships, +1800 to win two or more of them this season, +5000 to be the first player since Tiger Woods in 2000 to win three or more in a year and +75000 to win all four. Those believing his drought will continue can get -300 odds on zero major wins. If fans fancy McIlroy winning either the Claret Jug at The Open or Green Jacket at the Masters the odds are +400. Other markets include: To lead after Rd 1 in a major: +275 Two or more top fives in majors: +110 Three or more top fives in majors: +140 As an addition you can bet on McIlroy to win a PGA TOUR or DP World Tour event prior to the Masters (-120), or to win three or more times combined across the two Tours (+125) this year. One can also wager on McIlroy to win the FedExCup/ DP World Tour season title double at +2000. McIlroy’s expected main rival in Rahm was the man who gave up top spot in the world to Scheffler at the World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play in March of last year. Rahm slipped as far as sixth in the rankings before rebounding to fifth thanks in part to recent wins on the DP World Tour at the Open De Espana and the DP World Tour Championship. BetMGM has Rahm at +900 for the FedExCup title and +1100 for the PLAYERS and Masters titles. The 28-year-old is +1200 for the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and Open Championship. He has only previously won the U.S. Open, doing so at Torrey Pines in 2021. He does however have top five results in all other majors and a top 10 at the PLAYERS in the past. Rahm has three top fives in the FedExCup on his resume as well. The former Arizona State star is +275 to win any major and +2000 to win two or more this season. Both McIlroy (+5000) and Rahm (+6600) also head the markets for finishing in the top five in all four majors. You can get +1600 for McIlroy and +2000 for Rahm to finish in the top 10 in all four majors and +500 for McIlroy and +600 for Rahm to be inside the top 20 in all four majors. McIlroy is -175 and Rahm -150 to make the cut in all four majors while McIlroy sits +550 and Rahm +700 to be the player with the low aggregate to par in the majors (must make cut in all four). Fans who believe they can both win a major can get +1400 for that to occur. While McIlroy is +100 and Rahm +110 to win two or more PGA TOUR events in the 2023 calendar year.

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TOKYO – Justin Thomas never questioned whether he wanted to play in the Olympics’ golf competition. The Games were a goal “as soon as they announced it was in the Olympics,” he said Wednesday in his pre-tournament press conference from Kasumigaseki Country Club. Thomas has embraced the Olympic experience, or as much as one can in these COVID-19 times. He went to the Olympic Village for a workout and spent time with the U.S. basketball team. He’s proud to be associated with the best athletes in a wide variety of sports. Walking into his hotel room and seeing all the red, white and blue apparel emblazoned brought a smile to his face. “It might be the coolest thing I’ve ever been a part of,” he said. “There’s not very often where you get so excited about just being part of a tournament.” Wearing his new clothes doesn’t just bring a sense of pride, however. It serves another purpose. “If I walk around in my normal clothes, they probably wouldn’t think I’m an athlete playing in the Olympics, just because of my stature,” Thomas said. He joked on Twitter that no one in the Olympic Village was fighting him for the 20-pound dumbbells. No one will confuse him for a shot putter, but he’s one of the favorites to medal in this week’s men’s competition. The same can be said for the rest of his fellow Americans this week. The U.S. is the only country that qualified four players for this week’s field. Three of the Americans are in the top five of the Official World Golf Ranking. Calling them the Dream Team may be a bit of a stretch, especially when they’re competing in what is still an individual, and highly unpredictable, sport, but the Americans are the clear favorites this week. Jon Rahm’s WD after a positive COVID-19 test left the United States with the three highest-ranked players in the field. Collin Morikawa, making his first start since winning his second major, is the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 3. The fourth-ranked Thomas is trying to add a gold medal to the gold statue he won at THE PLAYERS in March. And, while Xander Schauffele has not won on TOUR since 2019, his incredible consistency has him ranked fifth in the world. Since 2019, Thomas and Schauffele both have 13 top-three finishes in individual stroke-play events on TOUR. That’s three more than anyone else in that span. This week, that would earn them a place on the podium. The U.S. squad could be even stronger but sixth-ranked Bryson DeChambeau also had to withdraw because of COVID-19. His replacement, Patrick Reed, is one of just a handful of players in the field making a second Olympics appearance. He gladly made the 11th-hour trip from Minnesota, where he played the 3M Open (T34), to Tokyo, saying it was a “duty of mine to go out and play for our country … whenever I get the call.” Morikawa and Schauffele both have ties to Japan. Schauffele’s mother grew up in Japan and Xander’s grandparents live in Tokyo. His pro debut came on the Japan Tour. Morikawa is half-Japanese. This week’s venue, Kasumigaseki Country Club’s East Course, reminds the Americans of home, as well. While many courses on this densely-populated island nation are shorter and narrower than American courses, Kasumigaseki is what’s often referred to as a “big ballpark.” The course is more than 7,400 yards long. Combine it with Japan’s emphasis on immaculate conditioning, and players praised this week’s venue. “You’ll see some low scores, for sure, but you could kind of see a big disparity depending upon how the golf course is set up,” Thomas said. There is a lot of the room off the tee, with no water coming into play and ample space between the tree lines. The main trouble is fairway bunkers that Morikawa called “perfectly placed, at least for me to them right in it.” Thomas said the ball sits down a bit in the sand, making it difficult to make clean contact. The Zoysia rough and fairways reminds Thomas of East Lake, the annual site of the TOUR Championship, and other courses in the southeastern United States. That grass gives players clean lies in the fairway while providing difficult rough. The bentgrass greens are large, but divided into smaller sections. Slopes can feed good shots closer to the hole or leave players with difficult two-putts if their approach shot is off-line. That plays to Team USA’s strengths. Morikawa and Thomas are two of the best iron players on TOUR. Morikawa is gaining 1.5 strokes per round with his approach play, on pace to have the best single-season performance in that statistic, which began in 2004, by a player not named Tiger Woods. Thomas led the TOUR in that statistic last year (with Morikawa finishing second). In other words, their irons could be worth gold this week.

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