Only two players (NOT named Tiger Woods) have won the same event three years in a row over the last 40-plus years! Believe it or not, Tiger did it for six different events in a nine-year span. Two of those six three-year runs extended to a fourth year. But he’s the greatest of all-time and an unfair comparison to mere golfing mortals. Tom Kim has a chance to be the third three-time winner this century at the Shriners Children’s Open.
Two years ago, Kim walked away with a three-shot victory at 24-under par and last year claimed the trophy at 20-under par again. His terrific accuracy is a perfect fit for TPC Summerlin’s annual scoring fest. The average winning score in Las Vegas each October is 23-under par over the past five years. Kim enters the week as the betting favorite (14-1) and the only player with odds under 25-1. Can Kim three-peat? He will need more consistent scoring form if he does plan to contend.
The FedEx Cup Fall series has one common theme, shoot low scores. The first three fall events have an average winning score of 22-under par. Can Kim hold off the hottest golfers on tour after a roller coaster end to his 2024 FedEx Cup season? Don’t forget, his playoff campaign ended abruptly when he finished the St. Jude bogey, double bogey, double bogey. That dropped Tom outside the top 50 and ended his season. Prior to Memphis, Kim’s consistency was questionable. Kim lost in a playoff at the Travelers and then didn’t play the weekend at the Rocket Mortgage. He followed that weekend off with a 15th at the Scottish Open and missed cut at The Open. Eighth at the Olympics, and then 50th at the St. Jude to finish the season.
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He was the emotional leader for the Internationals in Montreal, but his play only resulted in 1.5 points. His odds are far too short alongside this recent resume to back in the Shriners. Especially when you consider many of the other players under 40-1 have been competing since the Sanderson. Stephan Jaeger, Seamus Power, and Beau Hossler are three names (and games) that catch my attention. Jaeger just finished 23rd at Sanderson and runner-up at the Black Desert Championship while Power is a Vegas resident who just continues to finish well in the fall events (11th Sanderson, 11th Black Desert). Speaking of runners-up, Hossler lost in a playoff at the Sanderson and finished 11th in Utah.
Hossler’s history at the Shriners is solid; he finished seventh last year. Since his recent form is hot like the Vegas desert, I’m taking him this Monday Odds Drop to win the Shriners. At 33-1, the number is higher than last week (25-1) and we have course history. Beau is a birdie machine and ranked inside the top eight for Birdie or Better Percentage and birdies gained in the field. Yet to cash a PGA Tour winner’s check, I think the trend is his friend to become the third straight first-time winner on tour this upcoming weekend. As you can see in the below video, Stephen Hennessey is joining me on that pick, too.
Watch our Monday Odds Drop video below for the 2024 Shriners Children’s Open:
Keith Stewart is a five-time award-winning PGA professional, a betting contributor and content partner with Golf Digest and founder of Read The Line, the premier on-site live golf betting insights service covering the LPGA and PGA Tour. Subscribe to Read The Line’s weekly newsletter here and raise your golf betting acumen. Keith’s winning content can also be found on SportsGrid, Bleacher Report and The Sporting News. Follow him on Twitter @readtheline.
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