2021 Barbasol Championship Betting Preview: These 6 Have Value at Keene Trace

While everyone of note is at The Open Championship, there’s still a lot on the line at the Barbasol Championship.

This is a prime opportunity for players on the fringe of having full status to get a win that would lock up a PGA Tour Card for the next two years.

So the focus of the betting world will be on the major, there’s still value to be found on these lower events.

The must-have app for golf bettors

Custom scoreboard for your bets

Free picks from experts

Live odds for every golfer

Download Now

The Course

Keene Trace Golf Club will host the event for the third time. It’s a fairly simple course by Tour standards, measuring a little over 7,300 yards for a par 72.

Troy Merritt and Jim Herman have the two wins here at 23 and 26-under respectively. A total of 16 players have shot at least 20-under here in the first two years, so it’s safe to assume that unless weather gets involved, that will be the bare minimum to contend this time as well.

The course really has no danger for these guys. The fairways are wide, the greens are big and there isn’t much rough to speak of. This week will just be about dialing in the irons and catching a hot putter.

The Favorites

It’s safe to say this is the first time Seamus Power has been favored on the PGA Tour. Power and Charl Schwartzel open up at the top of this board at +1600. Power has finished inside the top 20 in five straight events, including eighth last week at the John Deere. Schwartzel has also done some damage in recent months when the bigger names were away, finishing third at the Byron Nelson and second at the Zurich.

That next tier is a mix of Korn Ferry players getting a rare start and some vets who have found recent form. Guys like Lee Hodges, Stephen Jaeger and Taylor Pendrith are looking to take the step up and win on the big tour to lock up a job. They’re joined by Luke List, Russell Knox and Patrick Rodgers in this range. Of that trio, Rodgers would be the lean since he’s the one I trust to make 30 birdie putts this week, but really it’s hard to back anyone in this type of field below +3000.

The Mid-Tier

My favorite player Davis Riley joins his Korn Ferry pals on the PGA Tour this week and sits atop this range at +3300, which is a terrible price. He should probably be double that after a 57th in Colorado last week. I’ll probably still bet him, because I always do, but you definitely shouldn’t at that price.

Instead the card will really open with Adam Schenk at +4000 on PointsBet. With five holes left, he was as likely as anyone to win the John Deere before a bad bounce of the cart path led to bogey on the drivable par 4. Schenk putts the ball really well and usually finds more than his fair share of greens. As we saw last week, the driver can cost him, but it’s less of a concern here.

Next up is Chesson Hadley at +6000 on bet365. Hadley was in contention at the Palmetto earlier in the summer. He’s also coming off his best approach week at the John Deere since July 2020 at the Workday. He’s been a guy to pop up in these alternate events before. His only career win came in Puerto Rico.

We’ll also go to Bo Hoag at +6600 on bet365. He’s a player who doesn’t have elite length, but hits a ton of greens. He’s gained on approach in 12 of the last 15 events, so even though the high end finishes haven’t been there for Hoag, he’s giving himself plenty of chances to make birdie.

I’ll drop down to Cameron Percy at +9000 on bet365, as well. Percy gains on approach basically every time he tees it up. He was 11th last week at the John Deere and finished seventh at another alternate field event in Puerto Rico. The putter is usually the concern here. Can he actually hole enough birdies to contend in this type of event? He seems to have figured out the greens a little lately, gaining ground in his last two events.

The Longshots

This event is wide open as Jim Herman showed when he won at 350/1 in 2019. The ease of the course and reliance on catching that hot putter this week really keeps a lot of guys in play, so this seems like a good event to toss a few darts.

I’ll start this range with Sean O’Hair at 100/1 on bet365. O’Hair is another guy who found his game a bit at the John Deere where he finished 11th. It was mostly with the putter, but he did gain strokes in all four categories.

I’ll close out here with Kiradech Aphibarnrat at 125/1 on DK. It’s been awhile since he’s popped up in the U.S., but he struck the ball well enough in Scotland last week to draw a live bet from me. It didn’t work out, but he’s also been a good putter, so if he can carry some of the ball striking form from last week over then he could sneak up the leaderboard.

The Barbasol Card

• Adam Schenk +4000 (.83 units)
• Chesson Hadley +6000 (.55 units)
• Bo Hoag +6600 (.5 units)
• Cameron Percy +9000 (.37 units)
• Sean O’Hair +10000 (.33 units)
• Kiradech Aphibarnrat +12500 (.26 units)

Total Stake: 2.84 units