Barbasol Championship Each-Way Tips: Get with Gotterup

Main Bet: Chris Gotterup each-way @ 21.020/1

Since the Barbasol Championship moved to Keene Trace Golf Club in 2018, we've seen winning scores of 23-under, 26-under and 21-under.

The first two were won by one-shot margins while last year Seamus Power edged out J.T. Poston in a playoff.

That 2021 edition can help us point the way this year.

Power went into the event in excellent form having reeled off three top 10s and two further top 20s in his previous five starts.

Poston, meanwhile, has just won the John Deere Classic, another birdie-fest.

So, as we scan the field, it's fair to be looking in the crosshairs for in-form players who make a bunch of birdies.

The problem is, there are are hardly any! With all the big names either contesting the Scottish Open or resting up ahead of the Open, it's a rather rum bunch contesting this week's event on the 7,328-yard par 72 in Kentucky.

As with the Scottish Open, this event has also been afforded co-sanctioned status. There are, however, very few DP World Tour players who look capable of contending having just touched down on US soil.

So, bearing in mind the idea of an in-form player who makes birdies, I'm going to the front of the market to select Chris Gotterup at 20/1.

I'm wincing a bit given that he was 80s in an admittedly better field at the John Deere but there's a good chance he's in a different league to most of these rivals.

Gotterup won the prestigious Fred Haskins Award earlier this year for being the nation's top collegiate golfer. Previous winners include Tiger, Phil Mickelson, Justin Thomas and Patrick Cantlay while Matthew Wolff and Sahith Theegala won in 2019 and 2020 respectively.

A star-studded college career is one thing but has Gotterup been able to make an early impression in his pro career? The answer is a very clear yes.

Gotterup was tied seventh at March's Puerto Rico Open on his very first PGA Tour start and then made the cut at the US Open last month, finishing tied 43rd.

He's still only made a smattering of appearances but since the US Open he's posted tied 35th at the Travelers Championship and then tied fourth in last week's John Deere Classic.

Overall, he has two top sevens in four regular PGA Tour events: not a bad start!

Looking at some numbers, the 22-year-old made two eagles at the John Deere (T4) and was ranked T11 for birdies after notching up 21, including eight in his opening round.

In Puerto Rico, Gotterup was T5 for birdies while he sprinkled seven red numbers in his closing 67 at the Travelers.

He's ranked in the top three for Driving Distance in four of his five events and his big-hitting should work well here.

In addition, Gotterup was 2nd for both SG: Tee To Green and SG: Approach at the John Deere so if he can hole some putts this potential future superstar can bag an early win and lock up a PGA Tour card.

Next Best: Chesson Hadley each-way @ 29.028/1

If putting an emphasis on current form, I simply have to back Chesson Hadley this week.

It's hard to find many with a recent top 10 in this modest field but Hadley has two of them in his last two starts.

The American was solo fifth at the Travelers Championship and added tied 10th at last week's John Deere Classic. Those two results have flung him 152 spots up the world rankings.

Hadley was a combined 28-under for those two events and, if adding in his previous start at the Byron Nelson, he's 38-under over his last 12 rounds.

That's a massive turnaround after missing five of his last six cuts and, to a large part, it's due to a big improvement in his long game.

Hadley ranked in the top five for birdies at the John Deere, managing at least five in all four rounds, and he racked up 18 and an eagle at the Travelers.

He's tended to bunch good performances when looking through his career - he once went 3-2-4 in the Fall Series - and two of his four Korn Ferry wins came in late June/early July so this tends to be a good time of year for him.

A runner-up at last June's Palmetto Championship, let's hope he can add to his one PGA Tour win, the 2014 Puerto Rico Open.

Hadley is one of those trying to get into the top 125 of the FedEx Cup rankings at the end of the regular season and, at 137th, he's ready to pounce.

Playing that incentive angle applies to plenty in this week's field.

Others I looked at where 128th Greyson Sigg and 150th Kelly Kraft.

Sigg was 16th at the John Deere while Kraft has two top 25s in his last three starts and was runner-up on his one start here in 2019. He's not for me at 33s though.

Final Bet: Lee Hodges each-way @ 41.040/1

It wasn't easy trying to land on a third player but one name who kept popping up during a range of searches was Lee Hodges.

Firstly, a check of the lowest scores on the PGA Tour this season reveals Hodges' name. That was due to a 62 in round one of The American Express where he also added a 64 in round three.

Looking at the Greens In Regulation ranks of the three winners here shows Troy Merrit (5th), Jim Herman (1st) and Power (8th).

Hodges ranks 10th in the field for GIR over the last eight weeks and he's 31st in the season-long charts, three spots above Collin Morikawa!

Breaking that down further, a good wedge/short-iron game works well here and Hodges is 17th for Approaches from 125-50 yards and 20th from 150-175 yards.

As for current form, he's made his last four cuts and shot a Friday 65 on the way to tied 25th at the Travelers Championship two starts ago.

Hodges was 11th after 54 holes there and also eighth at the halfway mark of the Canadian Open the start before that so he just needs to finish things off better.

The 27-year-old also has some course experience having teed it up here last year.

Rounds of 67 on days one and three put him in the top 25 with 18 to play before he ran out of gas but that experience should help him on his return.

At 103rd on the FedEx Cup rankings, he's surely done enough to secure his card and that should ease those final-round nerves hopefully.