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Many of the world’s best golfers will be in the Bahamas this week for the 2024 Hero World Challenge, a tournament hosted by Tiger Woods. Albany Golf Course will once again host this star-studded event, which is headlined by world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. The first round begins on Thursday morning from Nassau.
Below, we look at Hero World Challenge odds from BetMGM Sportsbook’s PGA Tour odds and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions.
Scheffler, who’s making his first start since the Presidents Cup, is the defending champion here. He won the Hero World Challenge last year at 20-under-par. He’s joined by Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay and Ludvig Aberg in this loaded field. Woods is hosting the event again, but he won’t be playing as he continues to recover from back surgery.
Albany Golf Course is a par 72 and plays at 7,449 yards. It was designed by Ernie Els and features plenty of water hazards throughout, which will challenge players. It’s not an overly difficult course, with 17 of the 20 players finishing under par last year and 9 in double-figures, but wind and weather factors could have an impact on scoring, too.
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Hero World Challenge – Expert picks
Odds provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list of PGA Tour odds. Lines last updated Monday at 3:55 p.m. ET.
Justin Thomas (+900)
Thomas is a frequent participant in this event and he’s had success here with a third-place finish and 3 fifth-place finishes in the last 4 years alone. It’s a strong field, but also one with very little experience at this course outside of Thomas, Scheffler, Sam Burns, Patrick Cantlay and four others who have played it more than once. That could give Thomas an advantage. It’ll just come down to whether he can edge out the seemingly unbeatable Scheffler.
Sungjae Im (+1400)
Im tends to excel at events where birdies come in bunches, which was evidenced by his T-8 finish in 2023. His short game is excellent and when his irons are on, he can be one of the best ball-strikers on the planet, too. At +1400, he’s worth a shot this week.
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Hero World Challenge picks – Contenders
Akshay Bhatia (+2500)
Why not play the young and exciting Bhatia in a small field at a course where his length off the tee could be an advantage. Bhatia had a terrific 2024 season and now heads to the Bahamas where he’ll try to take on a stacked field and steak a victory to close out the year.
Hero World Challenge picks – Long shots
Sepp Straka (+4000)
Straka finished second last year after coming in 10th the year prior, so he’s found success in his only 2 trips to Albany Golf Course. He had 4 top-10s in 24 starts this season and cracked the top 25 in nearly half of those tournaments (11), so he had a decent season despite being without a top-5 finish.
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For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.
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