Fortinet Championship Each-Way Tips: Make it Maverick at 22/1

Main Bet: Maverick McNealy each-way @ 23.022/1

Here we go again for what will be the PGA Tour's final wraparound season.

Yep, from the start of 2024 there's a reversion to a calendar-year schedule, something I'm quite looking forward to having never quite shaken off the idea that the starting gun should always be fired in Hawaii.

This is the seventh edition of the Fortinet Championship at Silverado - a stock par 72 in Napa, California - and as well as a season opener it also acts, for some, as the warm-up for next week's Presidents Cup.

Max Homa is the defending champion and he's one of five Presidents Cuppers in the field along with Internationals Corey Conners, Cam Davis, Hideki Matsuyama and Taylor Pendrith.

Homa was 6th for Strokes Gained: Off The Tee when winning last year (the top three were ranked 6th, 3rd and 11th) and 2nd for SG: Tee To Green.

Generally, the top finishers did everything well so a strong and balanced attack is needed. For the record the All-Around ranking of the winners at Silverado reading back from Homa is 2nd, 1st, 1st, 2nd, 1st, 1st.

And that brings me to my opening pick of the new campaign - Maverick McNealy.

McNealy ranked 13th in All-Around last season and only one player in the field was higher (more on him later).

He's also a Californian local and those from the Golden State have an excellent record in this event.

Brendan Steele won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017 while Cameron Champ (2019) and Homa (2021) are all part of the Tour's Cali crew.

Given those roots, early exposure to these types of course and his strong all-around game, it makes sense that McNealy gave his backers such a big run here last year.

He finished runner-up, shooting 18-under to be pipped by one.

To be fair, he hadn't done much previously in the event he first started playing in 2017 but a better reflection of where he's at as a golfer can be found when looking at his results in California since the start of 2021.

As well as second here, he was also runner-up at Pebble Beach in 2021 and his last two home visits have produce seventh at Riviera and ninth at the Barracuda.

McNealy is a player on the up - his world ranking before that second at Pebble last year was 189th; it's now 71st - and this looks a great opportunity for a first win.

Last year he said: "This is a special tournament to me. It's my fifth time playing this tournament, that's more than any other one out here, and it was my pro debut in 2017, so a lot of ties to this area and this place

And you won't find too many pros saying this: "I love when poa annua gets bumpy because then it just turns to a speed contest and I spend probably at least half of my putting time working on speed control, so I think it's a strong suit of my game."

McNealy ranked 13th in SG: Putting here last year to back that up.

After a near miss last year, back McNealy for the win at 22/1.

Next Best: Mark Hubbard each-way @ 81.080/1

Mark Hubbard comes through a couple of filters as he went to San Jose State University in California and ranked an impressive 30th on the All-Around last season.

In July he really caught the eye when following tied 13th at the John Deere Classic with a third at the Barbasol followed by a fourth a week later in the Barracuda Championship.

I can imagine him being 50/1 here had this week's event been the next one up but Hubbard rather went off the boil after that with a run of MC-61-MC.

However, he's had chance to reset after a month off and we're getting 80/1. That looks worth snapping up.

He's played here in six of the last eight years and had some decent finishes with tied 16th last year and tied 13th in 2019.

Notably, he's putted well in both (Hubbard has finished 50th and 52nd in the last two seasons for SG: Putting) so his success will be determined by how well he drives it.

At Pebble a few years ago he said: "I went to school in the Bay Area, so I'm used to Poa annua, I know how to putt it."

He's straight not long and if Hubbard finds enough fairways on a regular basis his 20th in SG: Approach in the last campaign suggests he can set up birdie opportunities.

His latest appearance in California produced that fourth place at the Barracuda where he had extra support from the galleries.

"A few friends popping up, a guy that I played on the basketball team with at San Jose State, he was up here yesterday, and my wife's family is all out with our daughter, so good little crew."

Hopefully Hubbard can give family, friends and us something to cheer here at 80s!

Final Bet: Justin Suh each-way @ 51.050/1

As for the Presidents Cup contingent, I did think about Taylor Pendrith.

Down the years, I've had some success in backing players who had just been given wildcards.

The theory is that they have extra motivation to justify their captain's pick and that can result in big performances.

But as the Presidents Cup is next week rather than down the line, I do wonder if Pendrith's thoughts will be somewhat distracted for the immediate task in hand.

Instead, I'll stick to the twin themes of California and all-around prowess by backing emerging talent Justin Suh.

Suh comes in off a victory at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship which secured him fully exempt status for this season and also entries into the 2023 Players Championship and the US Open.

Suh was born in San Jose and played his college golf at University of Southern California.

He represented the US at the 2018 Eisenhower Trophy alongside Collin Morikawa and has been tipped for big things since hitting top spot in the World Amateur rankings.

One added extra that catches my eye is that Suh finished 1st on the Korn Ferry Tour's All-Around rankings last season.

A check of his performance at the KFT Championship highlights that as he did everything well, ranking 1st for Greens In Regulation, 3rd in Scrambling and 18th in Putting Average.

Before that win, his Korn Ferry Tour form showed four top 10s in his previous five starts so this has been a sustained run of excellence.

Suh even played in this event last year and was 32nd with a round to play before dropping away.

That's money in the bank though and it's worth noting that Emiliano Grillo pulled off this same KFT Championship/Fortinet double in 2015.

Let's make Suh our final bet at 50/1.

Read Andy Swales' course form & stats here!

Read Steve Rawlings' Fortinet Championship tips here!