PGA Golf Preview & Tips: Fortinet Championship

The PGA Tour, for its opening event of the 2021-22 season, makes the first of several stop-offs in California for the Fortinet Championship.

Now many of you will remember this event from a couple of years back, when 150/1 Cameron Champ landed the odds for us… a repeat this week would be nice!

Fortinet Championship

The event was first held in 2007 (and ran as the Frys.com Open until 2015, then the Safeway Open) and although it isn’t one of the higher profile events on the schedule, it will deliver some very competitive golf as players look to start the new season in good form. The usual mix of semi-well-known names, journeyman pros and the new intake of players from the Korn Ferry Tour make up the field.

Fortinet Championship: The Course

We’re at the Silverado Country Club (north course) in wine country – Napa, California. The land was converted to golfing use in the 1950s under the direction of famous course designer Robert Trent Jones Jr. After a few subsequent modifications it’s now a 7,166 yard par-72, and this is now the 7th year in a row that the PGA event has been held here. Despite it’s tree-lined fairways and relatively small greens, scoring is generally good with recent winning scores averaging around 14-under to 18-under-par.

72-Hole Record 262: Troy Matteson, Rickie Fowler & Jamie Lovemark (all 2009)

18-Hole Record 62: Scott Piercy (2016)

Fortinet Championship: Past Winners

2020: Stewart Cink
2019: Cameron Champ
2018: Kevin Tway
2017: Brendan Steele
2016: Brendan Steele

Fortinet Championship: The Field

A normal PGA Tour field of 156 line-up in California this week, with Ryder Cup player Jon Rahm the $4.70 favourite with TopSport.

Fortinet Championship: The Weather

A good looking week with a daily precipitation forecast of 10% – 10% – 10% – 20% over the course of the tournament. Temperatures will be in the high 70s, with minimal cloud cover. Wind speeds will be low, with 8-10mph the maximum expected during the four days.

Whilst our Golf Model likes the favourite Jon Rahm it has also found value with a couple at massive odds in the Fortinet Championship.

The Dutch Open market is a bit wider but lots of value to be found with two at double figure prices.https://t.co/2CGP2eeCKS

— Betfair Australia (@Betfair_Aus) September 16, 2021

BMW Championship: Outright value bets

Adam Hadwin $71 with TopSport

Hadwin, like several other of this week’s bets, is a previous PGA Tour winner (2017 Valspar Championship) who should enjoy the calmer waters of this week’s relatively modest pre-Ryder Cup line-up. But he’s another who has patchy, good form in 2021, posting four Top 10’s among a number of MCs. But as shown by his second-place finish here last year, when conditions are in his favour the Canadian is a solid performer, and a player more than capable of challenging. Hadwin is reliable tee-to-green, and a better than average putter, and with a long history of good showings in California I see no reason why he can’t go well again this week.

Taylor Pendrith $65 with TopSport

The Canadian Pendrith is a monster off the tee, hitting it 320+ yards and consistently ranking No.1 for Driving Distance. But he backs this up with excellent Greens-In-Regulation stats as well. So why hasn’t he won more on the Korn Ferry Tour, from which he is now graduating? Well, that’s probably down to a lack of prowess with the flatsick. This really does seem the only weak area of this game. But so far in a fledgling PGA Tour career he’s made 5/6 cuts and posted a couple of Top 20 finishes in similarly weak events to this week’s offering in California. What this means is that if he can get the putter warm, then Penrdith clearly has enough “game” to give himself plenty of chances.

The Golf Insider is a GUN. Look at these winners, all since the start of 2020...

Martin Laird $201, Rasmus Hojgaard $151, Mark Hubbard $126, Marc Warren $101, Sam Burns $67, Tyrell Hatton $51, Peter Malnati $46, John Catlin $46, Talor Gooch $41, Harold Varner $36, Harris English $34, Robert Macintyre $31, Adri Arnaus $26, Connor Syme $26, Scott Jamieson $24, JB Holmes $21, Seamus Power $21, Dustin Johnson $21

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