2022 RBC Canadian Open Odds & Sleeper Picks: Cameron Champ Among 3 Dark Horses to Target

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Picking a group of longshots every week makes for an interesting exercise.

First off, there’s plenty of semantics about what even qualifies as a longshot. How high or low do a players’ odds need to be for consideration in this weekly endeavor?

On top of that, there’s the sense of futility. Each week, we’re dipping our toes into the world of the unlikely, recommending wagers with about a 100-1 chance of happening.

Plenty of these picks would be smarter as recommendations for a top-five or top-20 finish. But a few times a year, we catch a big one, making these outrights seem worth the squeeze.

Last week, we flirted with that first issue — recommending Billy Horschel, a top-20 player in the world offered at +6600 — but he erased any doubts about his inclusion in this exercise by running away with a win at Muirfield Village.

This week, the PGA TOUR heads north of the border to the RBC Canadian Open. The TOUR is eager for an exciting tournament, with a major on the horizon the following week and the first sniffs of worldwide competition cropping up across the pond.

I’ve done my best to catch lightning a second time in a row, with zero doubts about whether these darkhorses are big enough underdogs. These three would make quite the payout for anyone looking at the depths of the board this week.

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Cameron Champ +13000

The long-hitting 26-year old Champ has not had his best season on TOUR, yet his ceiling is too high to ignore at a price like this.

He has two top-10s in his last five starts (including the Masters), yet he has missed 7-of-13 cuts this season and has gained strokes around the green just twice in that span.

His combination of low-floor, high-ceiling can be a roller coaster for bettors. Champ's off weeks end on Friday afternoons, but his best weeks often end with happy DFS players and bettors.

With a weaker field in play at the RBC Canadian Open, Champ's length and aggressiveness has a chance to pay off. If this is a strong week for him, there's no reason Champ can't be crowned as (forgive the pun) champ on Sunday.

Other books are certainly more confident in Champ this week than DraftKings: both FanDuel and Unibet have him listed at +8000.

Peter Malnati +25000

This pick requires a bit of a journey. First, we’re relying on the analytics gurus at DataGolf and putting some trust in their Course Fit tool. That model compares this week’s venue — St. George’s Golf and Country Club — to all others on the PGA TOUR.

Though we’re putting our faith in small sample size since the TOUR hasn’t played here since 2010 (and did so just that once in recent history), DataGolf says St. George’s closest analogue is TPC Craig Ranch, the two-time host of the AT&T Byron Nelson.

Just last month, Malnati finished T9 at the Byron Nelson, posting his best strokes gained per round in a tournament since October of 2020.

He’s playing better golf of late, with two of his three top-15 finishes over the last 12 months coming since the start of May.

Against a weaker field here at the RBC Canadian Open, Malnati has a chance to climb the leaderboard.

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Chris Gotterup +32000

While Malnati is a mainstay at the bottom of the PGA TOUR betting board, Gotterup is a fresh face playing in just his second TOUR event.

This is Gotterup's first event after turning pro following his final NCAA season at Oklahoma. Last month, he finished just one shot out of the playoff that determined the NCAA’s individual champion.

More recently, Gotterup tied for the low score at the U.S. Open Sectional Qualifying at Century Country Club in Purchase, N.Y., besting several TOUR pros who were vying for a spot in the field at The Country Club next week.

While many regular members of the PGA TOUR are avoiding this week’s tournament in favor of rest and preparation for the impending U.S. Open, Gotterup is looking to hit the ground running and kick-start his pro career.

Gotterup clearly has the game to compete. In his lone PGA TOUR start as an amateur, he earned a T7 finish at the Puerto Rico Open.

I would not be surprised to see his streak of top-10 finishes extend to two this week.

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