PGA Tour Zurich Classic Of New Orleans Betting Preview

No Jordan Spieth or Tiger Woods or Rory  McIlroy or Phil Mickelson at this week's PGA Tour stop, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans at TPC Louisiana. But it's a pretty good field considering the next two events on Tour are the big-money WGC-Match  Play and the Players Championship.

Last Chance For Players Championship Spot

Reigning FedExCup champion Billy Horschel, whose first Tour victory came two years ago at Zurich, is slated to be joined by four others among the top 20 in the current world rankings. No. 5 Jason Day and No. 6 Dustin Johnson are highest on the list. Steve Stricker will make just his second start of 2015, coming off a tie for 28th at the Masters on the rebound from back surgery. New Orleans stands as the last chance for players to earn a berth in the Players Championship by moving into the top 10 in the FedExCup points chase or top 50 of the world rankings.

Last year, Seung-Yul Noh went wire to wire for his first PGA Tour win in last year's Zurich Classic, narrowly beating Robert Streb and Andy Svoboda. Keegan Bradley made an early charge but fell out of contention with a triple bogey on the back nine. oh’s victory was just the third time in the past dozen Classics that the winning margin was more than one stroke. Four of those went to playoffs, including back-to-back editions in 2011 (won by Bubba Watson) and 2012 (Dufner). Noh attempts to become the sixth back-to-back winner in New Orleans, a feat last accomplished by Carlos Franco in 1999 and 2000.

First-time winners have ruled the event for the past decade, with seven of the past 10 making it their breakthrough victory. That list includes Horschel (2013), Jason Dufner (2012) and Nick Watney (2007).

The Bovada Favorites

Dustin Johnson (8/1): He might be the hottest player on Tour other than Spieth. Johnson has five top-10 finishes in his last six starts, including a T-6 finish at the Masters. Johnson won earlier this season at Doral but his lone prior Zurich start was a missed cut in 2008.

Justin Rose (10/1): Rose struggled out of the gate with the wrist injury, but there was nothing wrong with his game at Augusta, where he was T2. He now tees it up on a course where he has cracked the top 15 each of the past three years.

Jason Day (11/1): He disappointed with his performance at Augusta after an opening-round 67. Day has struggled with injury and plays on a limited schedule but has already won in 2015. He's one of the best iron players on tour, which should help him on the long par 4s at TPC Louisiana.

Rickie Fowler (16/1): Back-doored a T12 at the Masters; 17 consecutive cuts made. Sum greater than parts; currently 38th in the all-around. Shared 10th here in 2012.

Keegan Bradley (20/1): Bradley appeared in line to win this event a year ago, playing in Sunday's final pairing before fading to T-8. He returns off a pair of top-25 finishes in Houston and Augusta, including a final-round 68 at the Masters.

Here are the tee times for Thursday (local, so Central, time):

7 a.m.: No. 1, Jason Gore, Andrew Svoboda, Brian Stuard; No. 10, Marc Leishman, Jerry Kelly, Nicholas Thompson

7:10 a.m.: No. 1, Will MacKenzie, Ricky Barnes, Alex Prugh; No. 10, Robert Garrigus, Bill Lunde, Robert Allenby

7:20 a.m.: No. 1, Brendan Steele, Morgan Hoffmann, Daniel Berger; No. 10, Heath Slocum, Kevin Chappell, William McGirt

7:30 a.m.: No. 1, Steven Bowditch, Boo Weekley, Lucas Glover; No. 10, Ken Duke, Justin Leonard, Charles Howell III

7:40 a.m.: No. 1, Robert Streb, Woody Austin, D.A. Points; No. 10, Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler, Steve Stricker

7:50 a.m.: Camilo Villegas, Michael Thompson, K.J. Choi; No. 10, Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Ben Crane

8 a.m.: Alex Cejka, Derek Ernst, Mike Weir; No. 10, Martin Flores, Greg Chalmers, Erik Compton

8:10 a.m.: No. 1, Charlie Beljan, Neal Lancaster, Andres Gonzales; No. 10, J.J. Henry, Jim Renner, Justin Thomas

8:20 a.m.: No. 1, Johnson Wagner, Aaron Baddeley Chris Stroud; No. 10, Chris DiMarco, Brian Davis, Jamie Donaldson

8:30 a.m.: Danny Lee, Kyle Reifers, Blayne Barber; No. 10, George McNeill, David Hearn, Carlos Ortiz

8:40 a.m.: No. 1, Kevin Kisner, Scott Langley, S.J. Park; No. 10, Jim Herman, Roger Sloan, Marc Warren

8:50 a.m.: No. 1, Sam Saunders, Derek Fathauer, Byron Smith; No. 10, Carlos Sainz Jr., Richard Sterne, Curtis Thompson

9 a.m.: No. 1, Andrew Loupe, Oscar Fraustro, Mark Hubbard; No. 10, Cameron Percy, Jonathan Randolph, Chris Naegel

Noon: No. 1, John Huh, Jason Bohn, Chad Campbell; No. 10, Chez Reavie, Chad Collins, Tony Finau

12:10 p.m.: Jonathan Byrd, Bo Van Pelt, David Lingmerth; No. 10, Brice Garnett, Ryo Ishikawa, Jon Curran

12:20 p.m.: No. 1, Sean O'Hair, Tim Wilkinson, Jarrod Lyle; No. 10, Bryce Molder, Brendon de Jonge, Adam Hadwin

12:30 p.m.: No. 1, Scott Stallings, Martin Laird, Scott Brown; No. 10, Scott Piercy, Mark Wilson, Rory Sabbatini

12:40 p.m.: No. 1, Seung-Yul Noh, Harris English, Keegan Bradley; No. 10, John Senden, Jonas Blixt, Retief Goosen

12:50 p.m.: No. 1, Billy Horschel, Nick Watney, David Toms; No. 10, Nick Taylor, Chesson Hadley, John Merrick

1 p.m.: No. 1, Eric Axley, Gonzalo Fdez-Castano, Bernd Wiesberger; No. 10, Spencer Levin, Colt Knost, D.H. Lee

1:10 p.m.: Andres Romero, Greg Owen, Troy Merritt; No. 10, Trevor Immelman, Russell Knox, Hudson Swafford

1:20 p.m.: No. 1, Freddie Jacobson, Jeff Overton, Michael Putnam; No. 10, Carl Pettersson, Jhonattan Vegas, Cameron Tringale

1:30 p.m.: No. 1, Tommy Gainey, John Peterson, Steve Wheatcroft; No. 10, Blake Adams, Luke Guthrie, Zac Blair

1:40 p.m.: No. 1, Max Homa, Steven Alker, Cameron Smith; No. 10, Scott Pinckney, Mark Anderson, Michael Smith

1:50 p.m.: No. 1, Will Wilcox, Tyrone Van Aswegen, Whee Kim; No. 10, Scott Gardiner, Andrew Putnam, Zechariah Potter

2 p.m.: No. 1, Fabian Gomez, Zack Sucher, Wes Homan; No. 10, Joe Affrunti, Tom Hoge, Jake Narro

Category : Betting Picks

Tag : dustin johnson , golf odds , pga tour odds , zurich classic of new orleans

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