Golf picks: Barbasol Championship predictions & best bets from Diane Knox Balas

No off-week for those who didn’t make the trip across the pond to Scotland! There’s an alternate event happening on the PGA Tour this week, and it’s the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky. So we have double-golf, which means pretty much a full day of action from Thursday to Sunday – Genesis Scottish Open in the morning and Barbasol Championship into the evening!

This week, we have a great mix of players teeing it up in Kentucky. Alongside the familiar PGA Tour players, 50 guys from the DP World Tour will be making an appearance Stateside, which really opens up the field. 

It’s an important week for those looking to boost their FedExCup ranking, as the Playoffs begin next month and this year, only the top 70 will make it as opposed to the 125 that used to advance. Plus, the winner will earn a spot in next week’s Open Championship in St Andrews. 

Seamus Power won here in 2021, and last year it was Trey Mullinax who rose to the challenge, winning at -25. Safe to say it’s going to be another week of low scoring in Kentucky. 

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Keene Trace Golf Club: What you need to know

At 7,328 yards, this par 72 is hosting the Barbasol for the fifth time. The course really doesn’t pose many challenges – wide fairways, big greens and there isn’t a huge amount of rough. I’m really looking at guys who are playing well, are hitting it close to the hole and can score well with the putter.

Knox’s Knockout Barbasol Championship picks

Taylor Pendrith (+1600 at FanDuel)

Taylor is the bookies’ favorite this week, but I like the odds of 16/1. The Canadian has finished T11 and T13 respectively in his past two performances here, and is coming off a T14 in his last tournament, the Rocket Mortgage. Putting has been the weakest part of the Canadian’s game, and he’ll need to make birdies in abundance this week, but this could be the course to propel his confidence on the greens. Let’s add another winning Canadian to the 2023 roster!

Peter Kuest (+2800 at UniBet)

Will we have a fairytale ending to this Cinderella story? Peter, with no PGA Tour status, Monday Qualified for the Rocket Mortgage Classic a few weeks ago and finished T4. That finish got him into the field for the John Deere last week, where he posted a T17 and earned himself Special Temporary Membership for the rest of the year. He also finished T14 at the Valero Texas Open earlier this year, so Peter seems to be quickly learning how to play his game out here.

Grayson Murray (+4000 at BetMGM)

Current form and good confidence are going to be key this week, and Murray has both in boatloads. Fresh off a T6 finish at the John Deere, Grayson is returning to a tournament he won back in ’17, albeit on a different course (in a different state). Still, it’s always nice to play for a trophy you’ve already won. With limited status, Murray has been playing on the Korn Ferry Tour and already has a win and a T3 finish since the end of May. He’s been working hard on his game and attitude, now has an experienced caddie on his bag and got a taste of what it feels like to be in contention again last week. 

Justin Lower (+4000 at BetMGM)

With all the top-ranked players descending on Scotland this week, the Barbasol is an opportunity for someone to play well, move up and lock up their full PGA Tour card for next season, and that’s why momentum is so important. When tracking the trends, Justin Lower is close to putting it all together. He’s coming off a T25 at the Canadian Open a few weeks ago, and then an 8th place finish at the Rocket Mortgage where he gained almost two strokes on the field putting. In addition, he finished T8 here last year. I like Lower to move higher up that leaderboard on Sunday!

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Barbasol Championship Prop Bets

Josh Teater top-10 finish (+650 at Bet365)

I like to pick a local player to excel in an event like this, and Josh Teater is that guy this week. He plays on the Korn Ferry Tour and is in the field on a sponsor’s exemption. He finished T15 two years ago and T6 in 2019. He’ll know this course like the back of his hand and has showed some form recently, finishing runner-up in the BMW Charity Pro-Am on the Korn Ferry Tour last month.

Peter Kuest first round leader (+5500 at FanDuel)

I have Kuest as an outright pick, but I think he’s going to start strong and post an opening round score to take the early lead. His confidence is sky high after a successful two week run on the Tour, and I don’t see that dropping quickly.

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