There’s good news and bad news when it comes to this week’s PGA Tour off-field event, the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in the Dominican Republic on Sunday, March 28.
First, the good news: Just about everyone in the field will be betting a longshot due to the fact that the event is going up against the WGC-Dell match play event in Texas where the top 64 players in the world are teeing up.
Second, the bad news: Bettors might have a better chance of picking a winner if they put up the names of everyone in the field on a wall and threw a couple of darts at the names.
This event is that wide open.
Odds To Win The Corales Puntacana Championship From FanDuel
- Charley Hoffman +1800
- Emiliano Grillo +1800
- Thomas Pieters +1800
- Brandon Wu +2600
- Jhonattan Vegas +2600
- Thomas Detry +2600
- Brandon Hagy +2900
- Justin Suh +3100
- Luke List +3100
New bettors at FanDuel can claim up to $1000 in a risk free bet in some states.
Past Winners Show It’s Anyone’s Week
Need proof that it’s going to be a wide-open affair? Take last year’s winner for example. Hudson Swafford won for the second time on the PGA Tour ending a three-year drought.
Or there’s Graeme McDowell, the 2019 winner. He hadn’t won in the prior three years. Then, there’s 2018 winner Brice Garnett. Not only hadn’t he won prior to the 2018 event, but he also hasn’t won since.
So if you’re looking for trends in this event, the answer might be to grab those darts, toss them toward the wall, and hope for the best.
It’s All In The Numbers (No. 64 To Be Exact)
First, we’re going to go down the list of the official world golf rankings. Now, granted, we have to go way down the list as the top 64 qualified to tee it up in Texas. Or, in this case, the top 65. Ian Poulter, who was No. 65, now will get to tee it up as Tiger Woods (No. 56) is sidelined.
We’re looking for the player who is playing well enough to contend but not well enough to be ranked in the top 100 in the world rankings. At least not yet.
Time For CH And CHIII To Contend
We’re looking at two guys, Charley Hoffman at +1800 and Charles Howell III at +3400 on FanDuel, to be in the picture come Sunday.
A win earns the champ 300 FedEx Cup points and that will certainly move the winner up the world golf rankings as well.
Hoffman, ranked No. 111 in the world rankings, saw his woes start last fall in Las Vegas. He missed the cut at the Shriners event and over the next 10 events he had three MCs, two WDs, and just one top 10 (a T-7 at Pebble Beach).
But that Pebble Beach finish righted the ship as he was T-10 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T-17 at The Players. He was off last week at the Honda Classic so he should be rested and ready to go.
As for Howell, ranked No. 116, it’s a similar story. He missed three straight cuts starting out the 2021 portion of the wraparound season before getting his game back on track with a T-36 at Arnie’s event and a T-9 at The Players.
We figure both of these players, with the reduced star-power in the field this week, have the greatest potential (and value) to win.
One More Big-Money Choice
Hoffman and Howell aren’t the only players on the outside of the top-64 looking to make a big move. That’s why we’re also going to look at Tyler McCumber at +5500. He was runner-up last year to Hudson Swafford, and McCumber’s final round 66 came up one shot short.
He’s way down the list at No. 266 in the world rankings, but like with Hoffman and Howell, a victory will start him moving up the rankings one rung at a time.
If these guys want to get into WGC events, this is an ideal week for them to make a bold statement.
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