AT&T Byron Nelson

Odds to Win Tournament

After an exciting PLAYERS Championship, the TOUR golfers head to Texas for the AT&T Byron Nelson on Thursday. Jason Day was the one that emerged victorious last week and he also happened to be a wire-to-wire leader in the tournament. He is, however, absent from this week’s field. Fortunately for those that plan on watching, Jordan Spieth will be playing in the tournament and he will be joined by guys like Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Sergio Garcia, Louis Oosthuizen, Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar. Steven Bowditch will also be playing in this tournament and he was the golfer that won this event a year ago. Bowditch shot an 18-under to defeat Charley Hoffman, Scott Pinckney and Jimmy Walker by four strokes. It was the best score shot in this tournament since Rory Sabbatini posted a 19-under in 2009. Sabbatini’s 261 total score was the best aggregate score this tournament has ever seen. With that being said, let’s now take a look at who might be winning on Sunday:

Jordan Spieth (7-to-1) - Spieth is coming off of a very bad outing at the PLAYERS Championship, as he went just one-under in the opening two days and ended up missing the cut. While a one-under might not seem that bad, the course was relatively easy to play on those days and his peers faired a lot better than he did. Spieth has now blown a tournament and missed a cut in his last two events, but he’s still a guy that must be backed when getting odds like 7-to-1. He has a strong claim for being called the best golfer on the planet and will be competiting in a tournament that won’t feature guys like Jason Day or Rory McIlory in the field. Spieth should be able to get back on track with a victory on Sunday.

Dustin Johnson (9-to-1) - Johnson didn’t miss the cut last week, but he also wasn’t anywhere near the top of the leaderboard either. He shot a three-under on the weekend and that gave him a t-28th finish. Johnson did, however, play some solid golf at The Masters, shooting a one-under and finishing t-4th in that tournament. He has one of the best all-around games on the TOUR, as he is a monster off the tee and approaches the green as well as anybody. Johnson will, however, need to keep his cool when putting. He is known for being a bit of a choker, but that isn’t necessarily the case in smaller tournaments like these. He’s a very good play at 9-to-1.

Bryson DeChambeau (50-to-1) - DeChambeau has burst onto the scene this season and has already gotten himself up to 207th in the Official World Golf Rankings. He recently officially became a professional and finished in the top 30th in each of his first three tournaments, with one of those being a t-4th at the RBC Heritage. While DeChambeau has missed each of his past two cuts, some of those struggles can be explained by a bit of fatigue. He has not played anything nearly as demanding as a pro schedule in his career, but he did not play in the PLAYERS Championship last week and that likely gave him some time to rest and get his body right. He’s a high-upside play at 50-to-1 this weekend.

Steven Bowditch (250-to-1) - Bowditch has had a truly miserable season thus far, shooting a nine-over at the PLAYERS Championship last week and also missing seven other cuts on the year already. He does, however, have some insane odds at 250-to-1 and it’s worth putting a half-unit or even a quarter-unit on him this weekend. There is always a chance that Bowditch can recapture some of his magic from last year’s dominant AT&T Byron Nelson performance. He navigated the course brilliantly a year ago and perhaps he can do it again starting Thursday. If he does find himself at the top of the leaderboard on Sunday then it’d payoff huge.