Sport
Hero World Challenge preview: Burns and Schauffele fancied to go well in The Bahamas
The golfing year might be winding down, but there is one last chance for the world’s best to strut their stuff this week.
Albany in The Bahamas stages the 20-man Hero World Challenge, hosted by the one and only Tiger Woods, and here is our glance ahead to what looks set to be four days of low scoring.
Burns can finish 2021 on a high
One man who won’t want 2021 to end is Sam Burns and he looks worth chancing to continue a supreme run of form at 16/1. Burns has enjoyed a stellar 2021, vaulting from 154th in the world rankings at the end of 2020 to a current position of 18th. He’s tasted success twice at the Valspar Championship and then again at the Sanderson Farms, with both events showing his liking for low-scoring events.
Burns shot 17 under to win the former, while he was 22 under at the Sanderson Farms, and also posted 21 under when tied for fifth at the CJ Cup in October. In short, he’s a player that likes firing at flags and being aggressive.
The winning scores of this Hero World Challenge event when played at Albany are -25, -18, -18, -20 and -18, meaning you need to go low to win this and this is heightened by the fact that the wind, Albany’s main defence, is supposed to be light. It should also be noted that the course has five par 5s and with Burns ranking 11th in par 5 scoring last season, his big hitting should be well suited to the challenge the course presents.
Schauffele could end PGA Tour winless run
It’s pretty obvious but you have to think Xander Schauffele will be there or thereabouts come Sunday. Although he won Olympic Gold earlier this year, it’s quite incredible that Schauffele hasn’t won a PGA Tour title since the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions. He’s knocked on the door numerous times and it might just be that when he does get that win, the floodgates will open. One should not take anything away from that Olympic victory, though, and that will surely have given the American huge amounts of confidence that he can get the job done.
His win in Tokyo as well as very good records in the Tournament of Champions (form figures of 22, 1, 25) and Tour Championship (form figures of 1, 7, 2, 25) show he likes these small-field events, and although he hasn’t contended in this event yet, it’s a course he should go well at. Schauffele ranked third in par 5 scoring on the PGA Tour last season and also has a tendency to do well in low-scoring tournaments, so this birdie-fest should be right up his street.
Schauffele looks poised for a big week and is available to back at 12/1.
