Collin Morikawa among Charles Schwab Challenge best bets

Las Vegas Review-Journal

3 years ago

Collin Morikawa watches his tee shot on the second hole during the second round of the PGA Cham ... — Collin Morikawa watches his tee shot on the second hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament on the Ocean Course Friday, May 21, 2021, in Kiawah Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Collin Morikawa hits his tee shot on the 15th tee during the first round of the PGA Championship golf tournament on the Ocean Course Thursday, May 20, 2021, in Kiawah Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Matt York)

Bettors who backed Collin Morikawa to win last year’s Charles Schwab Challenge probably still haven’t gotten over the bad beat.

Morikawa missed a 6-foot birdie putt for the win in regulation, then lost to Daniel Berger on the first playoff hole when his 3-foot par putt lipped out.

Including college, Morikawa has three straight runner-up finishes at the Colonial Country Club. Handicapper Wes Reynolds, co-host of VSIN’s “Long Shots” golf betting show, is hoping the fourth time is the charm for the Las Vegas resident.

He’s backing Morikawa as one of his best bets to win the tournament, which tees off Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas.

Morikawa is the 14-1 co-second choice with Justin Thomas at the Westgate sportsbook behind 12-1 favorite Jordan Spieth.

“No one’s irons game has been better of late than Morikawa’s,” said Reynolds (@WesReynolds1). “He has gained 44 strokes on approach over the last 24 rounds. That mark is more than 12 shots better than anyone else in this field. Morikawa also returns to Colonial with some redemption on his mind.”

Here are Reynolds’ other best bets, with comments on each:

Corey Conners, 25-1

“The Canadian clicks every statistical box this week and has been playing terrific golf of late with four top-10 finishes and a solid performance at the PGA Championship, where he was the first-round leader and tied for 17th.”

Gary Woodland, 48-1

“Woodland was on the first page of the leaderboard Sunday before tumbling down to a tie for 38th. Nevertheless, he played better than his finish and returns to Colonial, where he was ninth in his debut last year. Woodland also finished sixth last month in Texas at the Valero.”

Chris Kirk, 50-1

“The 2015 winner here at Colonial has four top-10 finishes this year and has been playing his best golf in five years this season.”

Emiliano Grillo, 60-1

“Grillo has done well here before, placing third in 2018. He tied for second just a few weeks ago at the RBC Heritage.”

Jason Kokrak, 62-1

“Kokrak had an awful final round on Sunday that plummeted him to a tie for 49th at the PGA. He returns to a spot at Colonial where he finished third last year.”

Brandt Snedeker, 74-1

“Snedeker seemed to find something at the Valero several weeks ago, and that started a run of two top 10s and four top 20s over the course of his last five events.”

Peter Uihlein, 170-1

“Uihlein has two top-15 finishes in his last two appearances at Colonial. He also won the Korn Ferry Tour’s MGM Resorts Championship at Paiute six weeks ago.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.