2017 OHL Classic Golf Odds & Betting Preview

2017 OHL Classic Golf Odds & Betting Preview

The start of the 2017-18 PGA Tour wraparound season is coming close to its holiday break as after this week’s OHL Classic at Mayakoba in Mexico, there’s only one official even remaining before the Tour goes into its silly season before starting back up in the New Year at the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. With the latest Golf odds already out, let’s see if we can find some good PGA lines value at Mayakoba.

2017 OHL Classic Golf Odds & Betting Preview

TV: Thursday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; Saturday-Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com). Live Stream: PGA Tour Live

Tournament and Course Info

The OHL Classic at Mayakoba is held at the El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa del Carmen and it’s Mexico’s first official PGA Tour event. This started as an alternate event to the WGC Match Play in late winter back in 2007.  In 2013, the event was moved to mid-November to be part of the 2014 season as a primary event in the early part of the season, which began in October for the first time. The tournament now offered full FedEx Cup points, a Masters invitation, and a large purse increase. El Camaleon Golf Club is a party 71 measuring a short 6,987 yards. Three distinct landscapes come together to make up “The Chameleon” – tropical jungle, dense mangroves and sand-lined oceanfront along the Riviera Maya. Scores are going to be low – the tournament record is 21-under 263, set twice.

Who Won Last Year?

The defending champion is Pat Perez. Perez closed with a 4-under 67 for a two-stroke victory over third-round leader Gary Woodland on the Greg Norman-designed El Camaleon course.  It was Perez’s first victory since he won the Bob Hope Classic in 2009 and came in only his third event back after sitting for more than eight months recovering from surgery. Perez became the eighth all-time winner here in his 30s or older, with the average age of that group at 38.1. Despite the international locale, nine of the first 10 editions of the OHL Classic have been captured by American-born players. Perez followed his victory in Mexico last November with a consistent and impressive PGA Tour season that included a runner-up and third place in his six top ten finishes by season’s end. Perez, Graeme McDowell and Charley Hoffman are among seven former champions back with a chance to become the event’s first multiple winner. The others: Brian Gay (2008), Johnson Wagner (2011), John Huh (2012), Harris English (2013). In addition, some leading players from Latin America will play. That includes Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo and Colombia’s Camilo Villegas. It marks the seventh consecutive appearance for Vegas, the fifth consecutive for Villegas and the second for Grillo.

2017 OHL Classic Golf Odds Favorites

American Rickie Fowler is the +800 favorite. Last season, he won the Honda Classic and had 10 Top 20 finishes overall.  Fowler also was part of the winning US Presidents Cup team. The California native had a tremendous 2016 season. He won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on the European Tour and then represented the United States at the Rio 2016 Olympics where golf returned to the Olympic Games for the first time since 1904. He finished tied for 37th. In the fall, after earning his way onto his third Ryder Cup team, he went 2-1 in his three matches and capped off the week with a 1-up singles victory over Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose. It’s Fowler’s debut at this event and this season.

What about the Defending Champion?

Perez is +1100 to repeat. The 40-year-old California native’s only previous victory had been at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic, though he added a third win last month in Malaysia at the CIMB Classic, winning by four shots. The 41-year-old only managed to make par on the back nine, but did enough to finish the tournament with a 24-under 264 to take home the $1.26 million prize purse and 500 FedEx Cup points. That earned him a spot in the 2018 Masters. Webb Simpson is +1600 with Woodland and Patrick Reed at +1800. Last year, Woodland started the final round with a one-shot lead over Perez, but he couldn’t get anything going until it was too late. Two closing birdies gave him a 1-under 70 and a second-place finish. It was the fifth time in six occasions that Woodland has failed to convert a 54-hole lead or co-lead. Reed plays here for the first time. Simpson was 24^th last year and comes off a T20 last week in Las Vegas.

Expert Prediction

Fowler’s good for a Top 10 as should Woodland be. To win, I like Scotland’s Russell Knox at +4500. He was third at Mayakoba last year and second in 2015 and has made the cut in every trip to  Mexico.