Yin wins in Malaysia for 2nd LPGA title this month

Scottie Scheffler might have earned top spot in the FedExCup standings heading into the TOUR Championship in Atlanta but fans of Max Homa and Cameron Smith have one big reason to suggest their men brought more joy in 2022. The cream of the 2022 PGA TOUR season descends on East Lake Golf Club this week chasing the prestigious FedExCup and the $18 million bonus that comes with it. All 30 players in the field will have dreams of hoisting the Cup even if they are starting various distances behind points leader Scottie Scheffler. If you had placed a $100 bet with BetMGM Sportsbook when the markets opened for every PGA TOUR event the top 30 played in this season it wouldn’t be Scheffler who profited you the most money. Even with his TOUR leading four wins from 24 starts Scheffler’s return for those bets would have profited $7,800, a mark that falls behind Smith and Homa. Of the 30 players in the field, 22 of them had at least one win this season. Scheffler started at +2800 for his first career win at WM Phoenix Open, +1600 for his Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard triumph and +1800 for his World Golf Championships – Dell Technologies Match Play dominance. He opened at +4000 for the Masters although by tournament week he’d tightened in to +1600. Had you waited till then your profit above would’ve dropped from $7,800 to $5,400. But if you jumped on the mullet toting Australian Smith you would’ve collected at +2000 for his Sentry Tournament of Champions win, +3300 for his PLAYERS Championship efforts and +5000 for his historic Open Championship win at St. Andrews. To be fair, much like Scheffler at the Masters, Smith’s odds had been slashed by tournament week to +2500 so profit for those bettors would drop from the $8,600 to $6,100. And then there is Homa. The very popular TOUR pro opened at a very juicy +6600 for his season opening win at the Fortinet Championship and then helped his fans out at +4000 for his Wells Fargo Championship. As such Homa’s wins would’ve turned a $8,300 profit from his 23 starts. For the record Scheffler starts at +250 at East Lake this week, mainly due to the fact he starts the tournament 10-under as the top seed so his return for a win won’t put him over the others. Smith is +2500 starting six shots back while Homa would bring a hefty +12500 payday but he is starting eight shots off the pace. Interestingly the next three best returns over the year come from players in Atlanta off the back of just one win this season. Sepp Straka’s win at The Honda Classic came at +10000 but his TOUR Championship leading 32 starts this season mean the profit drops to $6,800 for those Straka lovers out there. K.H. Lee was a very generous +8000 leading into his title defense at the AT&T Byron Nelson but his second straight win at the event means his profit line sits at $5,300. And Billy Horschel had an incredible ball-striking week to win the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday at +6600 leaving a profit this season of $4,500 for his fans. Three-time winner Sam Burns collects came at +1600, +2000 and +2500 leaving profit after his 23 starts at $3,800 while U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick opened at +5000 to bring a $3,100 profit if his fans backed him every week. Last week’s BMW Championship winner and current FedExCup reigning champion Patrick Cantlay would have represented a loss for his betting fans prior to the triumph at Wilmington Country Club. But his salute from +1600, combined with his +800 collect in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans brings a $500 profit for the Patty Ice crew. Cantlay’s teammate in New Orleans, Xander Schauffele, would have provided a $2,600 profit from his three wins. The +800 at the Zurich Classic, combined with wins at +2000 for the Travelers Championship and +2500 for the Scottish Open helped his followers. Despite sporting victories this season fans of Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland would still be facing a loss on their seasons. Rahm’s win at the Mexico Open came when he was a heavy favorite at +450 so his 18 starts means a loss at -$1350. Thomas was as high as +25000 during the final round of the PGA Championship but he opened at +1200 so unless you connected on live odds it’s a loss of -$800 over the season. And Hovland’s win at Mayakoba came at +1600 leaving a season loss of -$400. Of the eight players without wins, the biggest loss would be with rookie Sahith Theegala at -$3,100 from his 31 starts.

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FORT WORTH, Texas — Phil Mickelson kept hearing congratulatory words as he made his way around Colonial, and there was a huge roar from the crowd when the PGA Championship winner made a long putt to finish his round. Jordan Spieth kept making birdies in the same group. RELATED: Leaderboard | Jordan Spieth rolls to bogey-free 63 at Charles Schwab Challenge Spieth shot a 7-under 63 on a breezy Thursday and was tied for the first-round lead at the Charles Schwab Challenge with Sergio Garcia, who had a 15-foot birdie attempt on the 18th hole that circled the edge of the cup but didn’t go in. Both former Colonial champions had bogey-free rounds. The 50-year-old Mickelson, only four days after becoming the oldest winner of a golf major, was 10 strokes back after a 73 that ended with the 22-foot birdie while playing with local favorite Spieth and defending Colonial champion Daniel Berger (68). “Yeah, I didn’t play well,” Mickelson said. “But I won the PGA, so.” Garcia matched the closing 63 he had at Colonial when he got the first of his 11 PGA TOUR wins 20 years ago at age 21. He was 5 under on the four-hole stretch right in the middle of the round. He birdied holes No. 8-10 before an eagle at the 620-yard 11th, where he blasted out of a greenside bunker on the course’s longest hole. “It was quite breezy. It was gusty, so it wasn’t easy to pull some of the clubs,” Garcia said. “There were some tough holes out there, but I was able to hit really good shots on those holes, and a couple up-and-downs when I needed them.” Right after Mickelson’s final putt at the 387-yard ninth, Spieth had a tap-in for his third birdie in a row, and seventh overall — and right after a 71-foot chip-in from the rough at the par-3 eighth. The 2016 winner and two-time runner-up had his best score in 33 career rounds at Colonial, one of two local events for the Dallas native, after rolling in a 12-foot birdie putt to start the day. “It’s hard to go any lower,” Spieth said. “That’s what I talked about before the tournament. If I could get a couple to go in early in the first round, and the confidence, and the work I’ve been doing on my stroke the last few days … I thought that would exude just a little bit of confidence into the rest of the round on greens where I’ve been very successful on before.” Erik Compton, the two-time heart transplant recipient who got into the field on a sponsor exemption, and Jason Kokrak had 65s. The 41-year-old Compton played bogey-free after birdies on the first two holes of his second PGA TOUR start this year. He missed the cut at the Honda Classic. Mickelson, the 2000 and 2008 Colonial champion, missed nine of 14 fairways — some with irons off the tee — in a scrambling early-starting round that followed an emotionally draining few days. After winning Sunday at Kiawah Island in South Carolina, Mickelson flew home that night to California, then allowed himself a couple of days to relish his historic accomplishment. Lefty said he never considered skipping Hogan’s Alley, a tree-lined course he considers perfectly suited for his game because he doesn’t have to keep hitting drivers. But the rough is thick after a lot of rain recently, and there is a good chance of more Friday. Mickelson, playing his last tournament before the hometown U.S. Open at Torrey Pines next month, went into the rough on his first swing of the day. While saving par at the 407-yard 10th, he quickly had the first of his five bogeys at No. 11, where he hit two shots into the rough and another into a greenside bunker. He finally made a birdie at the par-3 16th from inside of 5 feet, then immediately gave that stroke back at No. 17 with the first two shots into the rough before a 44-foot shot into a bunker. “It was almost like I was trying a little too hard, and I wasn’t just calm and let it happen, and I was a little bit antsy,” Mickelson said, then adding the term unsettled. “Like I just couldn’t quite get calmed down in that same frame of mind.” Mickelson said the course was very playable, even with the 15-20 mph winds, because of receptive greens. But he couldn’t keep the ball in the fairway. “You can’t play this course out of the rough because then you have tree trouble, which I had repeatedly, and I didn’t putt well,” he said. “But I won the PGA, so I’ll see if I can get it turned around for tomorrow and get a little better focus, a little better energy.”

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