Through three rounds at the Charles Schwab Challenge, the leaderboard has some big names and players who are looking for their first win on tour.
This same leaderboard includes a little mix of Illini flavor, too. Nick Hardy, 2014-18, shot three rounds in the 60s to sit at -8 heading into the final round. He currently sits in a tie for fourth with Bob MacIntyre and Akshay Bhatia. All three players are five back of Ben Griffin and Matti Schmid, who sit at -13.
Sandwiched in the middle of both of those groups is the man currently in third place, Rickie Fowler. He is the big dog among those six golfers. Despite all of the golfers being in the mix, Hardy provides a great opportunity to cash in, as his odds to win the tournament are much worse than the players around him.
If you take a flyer on Hardy, who is just five shots back and in a tie for fourth, you can get +7000 odds on DraftKings. That is 70-1 odds for him to win the tournament, the worst odds among all of the surrounding players.
Player | Score | Standing | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
Ben Griffin | -13 | T-1 | 1.1-1 (+110) |
Matti Schmid | -13 | T-1 | 2.1-1 (+210) |
Rickie Fowler | -9 | 3 | 16-1 (+1600) |
Bob MacIntyre | -8 | T4 | 22-1 (+2200) |
Nick Hardy | -8 | T4 | 70-1 (+7000) |
Akshay Bhatia | -8 | T4 | 28-1 (+2800) |
Scottie Scheffler | -7 | T7 | 10-1 (+1000) |
Andrew Novak | -7 | T7 | 60-1 (+6000) |
Kurt Kitayama | -7 | T7 | 70-1 (+7000) |
This is a great value bet because the leaderboard ahead of Hardy isn’t vaunted. Griffin and Schmid have a combined one win, and that was Griffin’s victory at the Zurich Classic this season. So, there isn’t exactly a ton of top-of-leaderboard confidence heading into the final round.
Big names around Nick Hardy are more of a threat when betting the Charles Schwab Challenge winner
Griffin and Schmid have a five-shot lead over Hardy, but when I look at the betting lines and the leaderboard, I think the big names are what scare me more.
Hardy has thrown up a 67 in the last two rounds. He needs to shoot a 65, as it is a par 70, to get to -13 for the tournament. Schmid looked shaky down the back nine yesterday, and neither player has much lead dog experience. I could see both Griffin and Schmid throwing up an over-par round.
The thing that scares me the most is the big names. Fowler is playing some good golf and has plenty of experience with six wins on the PGA Tour. MacIntyre has multiple PGA Tour wins. Bhatia has multiple PGA Tour wins.
And then you get to the elephant in the room. Scheffler is lurking back there at -7. The dude is 28 years old and already has 15 career wins. He is the No. 1 player in the world and has played in 10 events this season with seven top 10s and two victories.
With that being said, golf is golf. When you wake up and hit your first tee shot, you don’t know exactly what game you have that day. Hardy is squarely in the mix after three rounds. He has a win on the PGA Tour. And he has by far the worst odds to win. You can get some great value on Hardy if you want to take a gamble on Sunday.