No golf betting fan would call the Quicken Loans National (June 29th-July 2nd at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm in Potomac, Maryland) ‘star-studded,’ but it features an interesting blend of has-beens and gonna-bes, as people who bet on golf can see below.
Rickie Fowler
Fowler is coming off his second best finish in the US Open, where he finished tied for 5th place. Fowler tied the tournament record for lowest first round score in relation to par, shooting a bogey-free round of 65 (−7). Fowler has at least one first, T2, T3, T4, and T5 finish this year. He tied for 44th in the 2016 QLN after runnering-up the previous year, but his strong showings at both the US Open and the Memorial Tournament give him plenty of momentum.
The two Billys
Billy Hurley III has only won one PGA Tour event, but that was the 2016 Quicken Loans National. Unfortunately for him, this will be one of those few times when this tourney will not be played at the Congressional Country Club, the site of Hurley’s crowning achievement. Also, only Tiger Woods and Justin Rose have won it two times. Meanwhile, Billy Horschel missed the cut in the US Open but tied for 4th place at the St. Jude Classic and won the AT&T Byron Nelson in May.
Billy Haas
The change in scenery should affect Haas’s golf betting odds too much; he won the tourney in 2013 () and finished tied for 3rd place in 2016 – on both instances at Congressional Country Club – and placed T4 in 2015 at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club. Haas is coming off his best finish and first top 5 in the US Open.
The three Kims
Kim Si-woo won the 2017 Players Championship and had his best finish if any major tournament with a T13 at the US Open. Whee Kim missed the cut in the Travelers Championship and tied for 50th at the US Open, but placed T2 in the FedEx St. Jude Classic and T5 at the Puerto Rico Open. And then there’s Michael Kim. The first two of these young men hope to emulate their compatriot KJ Choi who won the 2007 QLN – then known as the AT&T National – and place second in the 2011 edition. While the third one would like to follow in the footsteps of fellow Korean American Anthony Kim (which, coming to think of it, makes it the four Kims) who won it in 2008. Choi will be at TPC Potomac but Anthony has not played a PGA Tour event since an injury in 2012.
Justin Thomas
Thomas missed the cut in the Travelers Championship but tied for 4th place at the Memorial Tournament and had his best finish in the US Open – or any other major for that matter – with a T9. Thomas was already having a breakthrough year, having won two PGA Tour events for the first time in his career. And that’s a wrap for our roundup of Quicken Loans National golf betting faves.