The 2021 Zurich Classic Betting Preview/Prop Bets
20 April 2021
Some big names in the game join forces, and that is especially true with defending champions Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer teaming again. There will also be a lot of younger players competing that are newer to this setup.
Tournament details
- Date: Apr 22–25, 2021
- Course: TPC at Louisiana
- Watch on: CBS, GOLF
- Purse:$7,400,000
Betting Overview
Since this event is not a full 100 person or more field, the betting options will be slightly easier to make a decision. Indeed, it should be easier to make a decision since the field has essentially divided in half.
However, if one of the teammates is performing poorly, it will be up to the other to pick up the slack. Keep this in mind before committing to a particular team if one of them has a history of not performing well here.
Head to Head Matchup to Watch
Patrick Cantlay is teamed up with Xander Schauffele, and some of PGA’s younger players such as Collin Morikawa and Matthew Wolff have paired up. Watching these two teams, for example, competing against each other will be interesting to watch as they both attempt to figure things out.
Dunkel Index For This Event
The Dunkel Index is showing these top 10 golfer pairings that could win this event. The following 10 are:
1 Gooch/Homa: -19.255
2 Palmer/Rahm: -19.692
3 Leishman/Smith: -19.786
4 Scheffler/Watson: -20.750
5 Morikawa/Wolff: -22.141
6 Cantlay/Schauffele: -22.173
7 Todd/Kirk: -22.552
8 Burns/Horschel: -23.092
9 Bradley/Steele: -23.304
10 Champ/Finau: -23.663
*index is subject to changes
Golfers That Could Win
Bubba Watson and Scottie Scheffler (-20.750) pairing up to make a nice combination of driving and iron play. Scheffler also deserves some credit as he has risen to the 21st spot in the world rankings, and it seems that he is ready to win any day now.
Watson has a great team personality and could really carry the positive momentum here. With that being said, they offer a dangerous combination that will be interesting to watch.
Brendan Steele and Keegan Bradley (-23.304) were already playing partners before this event. These friends have great chemistry and even practice together quite often.
Steele has made every cut this year and put together two top-five finishes. Bradley has three top 25 finishes and has six straight-made cuts.
Potential Winning Pick
Jon Rahm and Ryan Palmer (-19.692) are the defending champions and are a strong case to repeat. To keep it simple, they play well together and make a lot of birdies.
Compared to everyone else in the field, they arguably have the best team chemistry. Not only that, but their styles and abilities on the course complement one another.
Prop Bets
Top 10 Finish: Marc Leishman/Cameron Smith (+110)
The Australian pair come in playing some of their best golf of the season.
Leishman put together another strong performance at the Masters with a 5th place finish that marked his third Top 10 in 9 starts at Augusta National. He was especially strong on the Par 3s as he co-led the field with a scoring average of 2.75.
After finishing 10th at the Masters, Smith followed it up last week with a solid 9th-place finish at the RBC Heritage. On the season, he is 12th on Tour in birdie average (4.46) and scoring average (70.028).
These two felt they missed an opportunity when they weren’t paired together in their native Australia by Captain Ernie Els in the 2019 Presidents Cup. Out to prove a point and rated No. 3 in the Dunkel Index, we’ll take Leishman and Smith (+110) to finish in the Top 10 in New Orleans.
Top 20 Finish: Taylor Gooch/Max Homa (+100)
Gooch has yet to win a tournament since joining the Tour in 2014, but the Oklahoma State product has been very consistent this year.
He comes in ranked 26th in scoring average (70.353) and has 5 Top 25 finishes in the 16 events he’s entered, including a strong 5th-place finish at the Players Championship in March.
We liked Homa coming into the Masters and were disappointed when he failed to make the cut. But it doesn’t overshadow the strong season he’s had to date, which included his second Tour win at the Genesis Invitational. The Cal product is 35th in birdie average (4.22) and 34th in scoring average (70.475).
These good friends are rated No. 1 in the Dunkel Index and certainly can be in contention this weekend. But a safer play would be getting the pair for plus money (+100) to finish in the Top 20.
Keep up with your latest PGA news coverage and betting pick previews at The Dunkel Index.
