The PGA Tour heads to Lake Tahoe on Thursday, July 19 for the 2023 Barracuda Championship. Stephan Jaeger is currently the favorite to win the tournament, as his odds are at +1400.
While most of the golf world is focused on The Open, we found a ton of value on this week's other event. Here are 10 Best Bets for 2023 Barracuda Championship.
Mark Hubbard OVER Vincent Norrman (-105)
Hubbard’s last event was the John Deere where he finished tied for 6th after shooting 16 under. That was his 4th Top 10 finish on the season. Norrman had a better finish in his last start. He was able to take home the Barbasol Championship last week.
Both men played in one major this season. Hubbard participated in the PGA and made the cut despite finishing 75th overall. Norrman qualified for the US Open where he struggled and failed to make the cut.
Hubbard is the only one of the two to participate here at the Barracuda. He finished 43rd in 2021 but followed that with a 4th place finish last season. Norrman may be flying high off his Barbasol win but we believe Hubbard will edge him out here at the Barracuda.
Patrick Rodgers OVER J.J. Spaun (-120)
Rodgers has had success at the Barracuda over recent years. He has finished inside the Top 20 in back-to-back starts.
Spaun, on the other hand, had success in 2018 when he finished 3rd but has progressively gone downhill since. He was 46th in 2019, 48th in 2020, and failed to make the cut in 2021.
While Rodgers has missed 3 straight cuts on the season, oddsmakers still have him as a favorite in this matchup. We believe his track record here at this event will prove to be the difference.
Chesson Hadley OVER Adam Long (-125)
Adam Long snapped his missed cut streak that was sitting at 3 events last week. He played very well at the Barbasol and finished tied for 16th while shooting 15 under.
Hadley had the opposite at the John Deere. He missed the cut there, snapping a 3-event made cut streak. Here, at the Barracuda, Hadley has made the cut in all 3 starts he has had here. His best finish was 17th in 2020 and last year he finished 31st.
This will be Long’s 1st time playing in the Barracuda. Hadley has the experience edge and will be hungry to play on the weekend again after what happened at the John Deere.
Joel Dahmen OVER Scott Piercy (+120)
Piercy has been a bit of a mess recently. He had to withdraw in both the Travelers and John Deere. Last week, at the Barbasol, he shot just 3 under through Friday and failed to make the cut.
Dahmen has not been much better. Joel has missed the cut in 5 straight starts. Where the difference lies between the two is their recent play here at the Barracuda.
Piercy grabbed a 3rd place finish in 2021 but finished 65th in 2022. Dahmen finished a mediocre 54th in 2018 but came back in 2021 to finish 7th. We are backing Dahmen’s recent strong play at the Barracuda here.
Top 20 Finish: Chez Reavie +170
Chez is the defending champion here and to get him at 2 to 1 to finish inside the Top 20 is a nice deal. He is currently inside the Top 50 on Tour in strokes gained on approaches to the green and inside the Top 100 in strokes gained putting.
He will need to be even stronger than he has in recent events in order to make this Top 20, but he is certainly capable.
Top 20 Finish: Kevin Tway +550
Tway has been knocking on the Top 20 door of the Barracuda for 4 years now. In 2018 he finished 23rd, then 35th in 2020, then 30th in 2021, and finally 22nd last season.
He has been relying on his flat stick more than anything recently as he ranks 77th on Tour in putting. After coming so close to the Top 20 so many times here, we believe he could finally make the leap this year and with an incredible number of 4.5 to 1.
Top 20 Finish: Taylor Pendrith +110
Pendrith has participated in the Barracuda both in 2021 and 2022. Both starts, he finished inside the Top 20. In 2021, he finished 13th and followed that with an even more impressive 11th place finish last season.
He is coming off a strong 6th place finish at the Barbasol after finished 14th at the RMC. Pendrith is our favorite play of all our props for this event. He may even be worth a sprinkle on winning outright.
Top 20 Finish: Martin Laird +400
Laird finished 3rd last year, 7th in 2019, and 15th in 2018. He has yet to finish outside the Top 20 here at the Barracuda.
While his play on Tour this season has not been great. Getting the value we are afforded here makes sense to make a small play at worst on him.
Top 20 Finish: Troy Merritt +335
Prior to missing the cut last week at the Scottish Open, Merritt had been playing strong golf. He finished tied for 17th in back-to-back events.
His history here at the Barracuda has been impressive as well. While he did finish just 51st in 2021, he was previously the runner-up in both 2019 and 2020. This price is too good to pass up on a guy that has been so close to winning on numerous occasions.
