It is a brand-new season for the PGA Tour and we begin our handicapping with the Fortinet Championship. The tournament is held in Napa, California at the Silverado Resort and Spa. The PGA’s golden boy, Rory McIlroy, walked away as the winner of the FedEx Playoffs and will start this season away from this PGA event.
We have taken into account previous performances at the course, and key stats that should prove beneficial in the matchup plays that will follow. Overall, we had another successful golf season and had a ton of fun along the way.
The 2022-2023 season will bring some interesting storylines. The LIV Tour has yet to find a network suitor while the PGA continues to stay steadfast to the idea of LIV participants being ineligible to play in PGA events.
All that said, let’s take a look at some matchups we believe will provide us with some early profits this season. All lines for these plays are from DraftKings Sportsbook.
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Andrew Putnam OVER Trey Mullinax (-110)
Trey has 3 starts over the last 5 years here at the Fortinet Championship. 2022 was the 1st time since his back-to-back starts in 2018 and 2019. He finished the same way he did in the previous 2 starts, by missing the cut.
Andrew Putnam has also had 3 starts here in the last 5 years. Unlike Trey, Putnam made the cut all 3 years and finished 36th and 30th twice. We expect Trey’s struggles in Napa to continue here.
Alex Noren OVER Denny McCarthy (-110)
Alex Noren has not had a start here at the Silverado Resort and Spa in his 17-year career. And while we would prefer to be playing someone with experience at the course here, this play is really more of a fade on Denny McCarthy than anything.
McCarthy has had 4 starts over a 5-year stretch and he has not made the cut in any of those 4 starts. We will trust that Noren will play like the savvy veteran he is and cautiously make the cut. McCarthy’s Silverado struggles should rear their ugly head again.
Sahith Theegala OVER Brendan Steele & Alex Noren (+150)
Steele won this event in 2018 and finished 42nd last year and 29th in the year previous to that. In his other 2 starts, he finished outside the top 50.
We spoke about Noren’s lack of experience here and while we think he will compete on the weekend, we trust the surging youngster, Sahith Theegala here. He finished 47th last year but was 14th in 2021. He finished tied for 2nd at the Travelers, 3rd at the WM Open, and 5th at the Memorial.
Theegala has yet to pick up a win on the tour but we believe that will change this year. While we don’t think he wins outright here, we do believe the +150 is decent value and will ride him against Steele and Noren.
