Golf | Tournament of Champions | Preview and Odds

The PGA Tour gets back underway with a cracker of an event as the majority of last year’s winners take their place in the 34-man field for the right to win the Tournament of Champions.

Tiger Woods, Justin Rose and Phil Mickelson are all missing, but it is still a world-class field and it is sure to be an interesting four days of golf at the Kapalua Plantation Course in Hawaii.

Our golf betting expert runs through the best bets to look out for.

DJ rightfully heads betting market

World number three Dustin Johnson comes into the tournament as the 5/1 favourite to win, and rightfully so.

He romped to an eight-shot victory over Jon Rahm in this event last year and also won back in 2013 by four shots over Steve Stricker.

Unsurprisingly the winner of the Tournament of Champions has hailed from the US for the last eight years, with the last non-American to win the event a certain Geoff Ogilivy back in 2010.

A third victory for Johnson would not surprise anyone, and while others may be put off by his short odds, I am not and will be backing DJ to take the title again.

Xander in the mix in familiar surroundings

A case could be made for pretty much everyone in the field with Satoshi Kodaira and Michael Kim 250/1 shots in such a small field of golfers so there is plenty of value around.

One I like the look of is Xander Schauffele as an each way bet at 20/1.

After struggling at the start of the season following his move from TaylorMade to Callaway equipment, he ended 2018 with some fine form as he picked up four top-10 finishes in the last eight events of the year.

The 25-year-old knows the course extremely well having spent two years in Hawaii while his father was assistant professional at Kapalua and at 20/1 he is sure to be there or thereabouts.

Another that is likely to be in contention come the final round on Sunday is Marc Leishman who was in prime position in this event last year after two rounds, before imploding on the Saturday.

He rallied in the final round to secure seventh spot though, and will be a serious contender once again this year. At 20/1, he represents good each-way value.

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