2021 Shriners Children's Open: Round 2 Matchups
The "birdie-fest" of a course at TPC Summerlin certainly lived up to its reputation during Thursday's first round of the Shriners Children's Open. The average score was over 2.6 strokes below par, as one golfer after another added to the red numbers on the scoreboard. By day's end, Sung Kang sat alone atop the leaderboard at 10-under par, shooting a career-best 61. Sitting two shots back at 8-under are Charley Hoffman, Sungjae Im and Chad Ramey. A whopping 59 players shot 4-under or better. Other notables include Matthew Wolff at 7-under, and Hideki Matsuyama and Louis Oosthuizen at 6-under par.
The weather tomorrow could definitely hamper the elite scoring conditions as winds are forecasted to be over 15 MPH all day, with gusts over 25 MPH. With scoring conditions so easy, and parsing through the top players on the leaderboard, there are three golfers who really had great rounds ball-striking I believe can make a run over the next three days. The odds for each one present great value. I consider the true leading score right now to be 8-under. Over the next few rounds, current leader, Sung Kang will fade like a flower in the Las Vegas desert. Thus, Mito Pereira (+5000) and Seamus Power (+10000) are both only a few shots back, and both gained over three strokes ball-striking today. Pereira looks as if he could win any week and Power has winning equity as he won the Barbasol just a couple of months ago. Viktor Hovland sits at 4-under and is still a very worthwhile bet at +3300 odds.
Round 2 Betting Selections
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*Betting lines accurate at the time of publication.
Seamus Power Over Sung Kang and Matt Kuchar (+148)
No doubt, Sung Kang had the round of his life on Thursday. He torched the field with both his ball striking and his putting. Regression will most likely come crashing down during tomorrow's round for the Korean veteran who is typically known as being one of the worst players on Tour. Seamus Power also had a tremendous day ball-striking, gaining over three strokes on the field. He was also below average with his putter which usually performs much better on bentgrass greens. To top it off, he is gaining an average of 1.09 strokes on the field over the past year during the second round of tournaments. Power at +148 is great value here as his overall form and game are a notch above both Matt Kuchar and Kang.
Carlos Ortiz Over Nate Lashley and Graeme McDowell (+142)
Going into tomorrow's round, Carlos Ortiz holds a solid edge in my SG Rating over both Nate Lashley and Graeme McDowell. The SG Rating attempts to quantify a player's current event performance along with their overall class and historical data from similar past rounds. Ortiz gained over 2.6 strokes ball-striking, while the others struggled and both finished negative for the round. Lashley greatly outperformed his typical putting average and should regress back toward the negative tomorrow. Ortiz also outclasses both of his competitors and has a much better historical second-round performance over the long and short term.
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