After a long, two-day offseason, the 2020/21 PGA TOUR campaign is set to begin with the Safeway Open at Silverado Country Club in Napa, Calif.
This field looks very different from the ones we've seen over the past month at the PGA Championship and during the FedEx Cup Playoffs. It isn't every week that you see Phil Mickelson (+2200), Si Woo Kim (+2200) and Brendan Steele (+2200) top the odds as co-favorites.
While some casual fans may lament the lack of starpower at the Safeway, bettors embrace this kind of tournament. It truly could be anybody's week at Silverado.
Here are our favorite outright bets for the 2020 Safeway Open:
Jason Sobel
Joel Dahmen +2800 ($10 bet wins $280)
At some point – maybe during a week when we don’t have two days in between seasons – I’m going to sit down and pen a column on the current best players on the PGA TOUR who have yet to post a victory. I’ll have to pore over some research to figure out just where Dahmen’s name will be on such a list, but I don’t imagine it’ll be too far down.
That is, unless he disqualifies himself from consideration by winning one before then. Dahmen has proven to be an above-average ball-striker, ranking 32nd in strokes gained tee-to-green last season. He’s also a guy who tends to make birdies in bunches, which also seems like a nice thing to have in the arsenal.
He doesn’t own a great record in Napa, but top-20s in three of his last four starts – including a major, a WGC and a playoff event – should give him some nice momentum going into this one.
[Bet Joel Dahmen at DraftKings and get a $1,000 sign-up bonus.]
Josh Perry
Mark Hubbard +5000
Hubbard has been the model of consistency since the restart, making eight of nine cuts.
He’s a good all around player with a strong putter and should be comfortable with Poa greens. He’s also got some local ties as well, having played his college golf at nearby San Jose State.
This number was at +7000 earlier in the week, so I wouldn't dip below 50-1 on Hubbard.
[Bet Mark Hubbard DraftKings and get a $1,000 sign-up bonus.]
Matt Vincenzi
Harold Varner III +3000
HV3 fits the profile of past winners at Silverado perfectly. He is a great ball-striker who is excellent tee to green. Varner has been a poor putter throughout his career, but that deficiency hasn’t prevented other golfers with a similar skill set from winning on this track (Champ, Tway, Steele, Grillo).
He has solid course history, finishing in the top 20 in 3 of his 4 starts at Silverado including a 17th place finish last year. In his past 24 rounds, Varner ranks 4th in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green, 9th in Strokes Gained: Ball Striking, and 10th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee.
If he can maintain his good form and find a way to putt slightly above field average, HV3 has a good chance to finally get his first victory on the PGA TOUR.
[Bet Harold Varner III at DraftKings and get a $1,000 sign-up bonus.]
