Golf
Shriners Children’s Open preview: Jäger to hit the jackpot in Vegas
After a successful streak on the DP World Tour, we turn our attention back to the PGA Tour for the Shriners Children’s Open.
TPC Summerlin is our destination this week as a $7,000,000 prize pot awaits the winner in Las Vegas, Nevada. That sum is enough to attract some big names, but it is still a relatively lacklustre field, lacking any of the OWGR top 20.
Yannik Paul came so close to landing us another winner last week as he finished T2 at 40/1, still returning nicely. We look to another German this week among our selections, as well as one of the Tour’s most popular players.
Stephan Jäger 33/1
We’re chancing our arm on another German this week, in the shape of Stephan Jäger. In a largely American field, Jäger is flying the European flag as the second-shortest player from the continent at 33/1, behind only Seamus Power at 28/1.
Our man Yannik Paul was not the only German runner-up last week and Jäger found himself finishing three shots behind Matt McCarty at the Black Desert Championship. He shot a total of 19-under-par there and his ability to score low could come in handy again this week.
TPC Summerlin is a notoriously low-scoring course, with the past six winners all scoring 20-under or lower. A classic desert course, its open fairways and fairly tame rough make it a good course for those who may not set themselves apart off the tee, but know how to get it done around the greens.
Jäger fits the mould, ranking 28th in the world for strokes gained around-the-green. When it comes to going for the green there are few better than the German, as he ranks 13th on the Tour when going for the green with the first shot on a par 4 or the second shot on a par 5.
He saw success earlier this year in a similarly named tournament, the Texas Children’s Houston Open, in similar conditions in Houston. That win is complemented by his three other finishes in the 8 places available with William Hill this year, and we’re hoping he can at least hit the frame again, if not go one better than last week.
Rickie Fowler 60/1
As one of the household names on the PGA Tour, Rickie Fowler needs no introduction. That said, he has not been at his best in recent years and he finds himself well back in the betting here as somewhat of an outsider at 60/1.
Granted his form has not been great this season, but there are reasons to suggest that he’s worth taking a chance on, not least the talent that every golf fan knows he possesses. It is not enough to simply rely on a sudden return to his best, but there are signs he could be heading in the right direction.
June and July were not fun months for Fowler as he combined three missed cuts with T20, T31 and 70th-place finish in his six starts. That lacklustre form inspired a nearly three-month hiatus, from which he returned last week with a solid T16 finish at the Sanderson Farms Championship.
He also needs to bounce back in terms of his TPC Summerlin form, where he has missed the cut at his last three visits. Before that, however, he seemed to take a liking to the Nevada course with four previous attempts seeing him finish T25, T22, seventh and fourth. Any repeat of his 2009 and 2019 efforts would see him return nicely, finishing in the 8 places available with William Hill.
Fowler ranked inside the top 20 for his putting and scrambling in his last outing and showed real fight to achieve that T16 finish, so we’re hoping there’s still a fire burning in him and if so then he could continue his return to the top with another solid showing here.
