Golf Tips: Best bets for BMW Championship and Danish Championship

• Finau looks a fine each-way play at 30/131.00

• Nacho is tasty each-way bet at 80/181.00

• Zalatoris rates a promising first round punt at 40/141.00

• McCarthy arrives in form and is worth backing at 169/1170.00

• Form stats and course info for both tournaments

BMW Championship Tips and Predictions

Matsuyama can win back-to-back at 21/1

Steve Rawlings: "Last year's winner, Viktor Hovland, had finished the FedEx St Jude Championship nicely the week before, shooting 64-65-69 to finish 13^th, having sat 59^th after round one, but with form figures reading 19-29-25-13-13 since he'd won the Memorial Tournament in June, his current form wasn't typical of a BMW Championship winner.

"Patrick Cantlay had finished only 57^th in the FedEx St Jude the week before he defended the title two years ago but prior to that he'd finished fourth in the Scottish Open, eighth in the Open Championship and second in the Rocket Mortgage Classic so he was in fair form overall.

"He wasn't in great form in 2021, but he'd finished 11^th in the Northen Trust the week before he won (the first of the three Playoff events three years ago) and the front two were both in great nick in 2020. Dustin Johnson came into the event having finished second to Collin Morikawa in the US PGA Championship and first in the Northern Trust the week before and Jon Rahm had finished sixth behind Johnson.

"The 2019 winner, Justin Thomas, had finished inside the top 12 in each of his previous four starts and they were all big events, so he was bang in form. And in the old format, when this event was the third of four FedEx Cup Playoff Series events (up until 2018) all the winners had been in really good form...

"It's common to see someone win more than one FedEx Cup playoff event and previous results at this venue suggest a hot putter is essential so I'm more than happy to play last week's winner, Hideki Matsuyama, at 22.0 given he topped the Strokes Gained: Putting stats in Memphis last week."

Each-Way Tips: Picks from 25/1 to 55/1

Dave Tindall: "Tony Finau was fifth the last time he contested an event in Utah and looking at some of the courses that should correlate also shines a light on him.

"The 34-year-old has a fifth and two other top 10s at Augusta, a seventh and a ninth at the Plantation Course and no less than five top 15s in eight starts at Jack's Muirfield Village, including eighth this year.

"That June finish is part of an excellent run of form that shows Finau posting top 20s in each of his last seven starts on American soil.

"That includes third at the US Open while last week he shot all four rounds in the 60s to take 16th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

"This event has moved around over the years but Finau has enjoyed it, once posting a run of four straight top eights from 2017-2020. Ranking 6th (St Jude) and 12th (3M Open) for Putting Average in his last two events points to a real improvement on the greens so 30/1 (1/5 Odds, 6 places) in this limited field is worth a play."

Find Me a 100 Winner: Back best putter Denny at 169/1

Steve Rawlings: "The best putter in the field this week is Denny McCarthy, who ranks highly for all the various metrics on the PGA Tour. He ranks sixth for Putting Average, third for Strokes Gained: Putting, second for Total Putting and first for both Putts Per Round and Overall Putting Average.

"The 31-year-old is yet to win on the PGA Tour but the closest he's come to getting off the mark was in the Memorial Tournament last year, where he was beaten in extra time by Viktor Hovland. Matched at a low of 1.18 before Hovland made the only birdie of the day at the 17^th hole, he did nothing wrong that day and that's another reason to think he'll go well here.

"The Memorial Tournament is staged at another Jack Nicklaus design with Bentgrass greens and given he'd also finished fifth there the year before, that performance was no fluke.

"McCarthy sat tied for the lead at halfway in Memphis last week before a poor third round saw him slip out of contention, but he rallied on Sunday with a two-under-par 68 to finish ninth so he arrives in fair form."

First-Round Leader Tips: Picks from 40/1 to 55/1

Dave Tindall: "Will Zalatoris returned to form with a 12th place in last week's St. Jude Championship and said he'd felt relief after a poor patch since ninth at the US Masters.

"'I've busted my tail for three or four months and haven't gotten much out of it," he said after round three in Tennessee.'

"And yet despite a miserable run, he had made a couple of fast starts. The American opened with a 64 to sit second after 18 holes of June's Travelers Championship while he was fourth after day one of the Rocket Mortgage Classic a week later thanks to a 66.

"Club selection is tricky this week due to altitude but it seems Zalatoris is quick to adjust.

"He's played two previous (Korn Ferry) events in Colorado which is 6,000 feet above sea level, and in the first he was second after the opening lap and in the other, the 2020 TPC Colorado Championship, he posted the first-round lead before claiming a wire-to-wire win. There are some promising angles for a punt at 40/1."

Form stats ahead of this week's tournament in Colorado

Andy Swales: "Laid out just over 6,000 feet above sea level, this picturesque Colorado course has tree-lined fairways, while water comes into play on seven holes (most of it on the back nine);

"This week's tournament is the second of three Play-Off events, featuring the top 50 players in this season's FedEx Cup standings. By Sunday evening, those occupying a top-30 slot will be eligible to compete at the Tour Championship in Atlanta...

"This year's top two golfers, Scottie Scheffler 16/5 and Xander Schauffele 11/2, relentlessly powered-on at last week's Play-Offs' opener in Tennessee finishing fourth and second respectively. And anyone wishing to win in Colorado on Sunday will have the difficult task of finishing ahead of these 'Two Giants of 2024'."

Danish Golf Championship Predictions

Nacho is a tasty price at 84/1

Steve Rawlings: "What little history we have at the venue suggests we might not be able to scan too far down the leaderboard after round three.

"Christian Jacobsen won here over 54 holes on the Alps Tour in 2022, having trailed by five with a round to go. But the man he beat in a playoff, Jeppe Kristian Andersen, had been tied for the lead with a round to go and the other four course winners were up with the pace.

"Bjorn Akesson was trailing by a stroke in 2023, as was the ECCO Tour Championship winner in 2011, Daniel Denison, and the other two course winners were leading by one with a round to go.

"Denmark's Rasmus Hojgaard is looking to defend the title but it's his twin brother, Nicolai, that heads the market and that makes sense.

"Now playing on the PGA Tour, and having played in last year's Ryder Cup, Nicolai is arguably the better player of the two and the Official World Rankings suggest that's the case. At 48, Nicolai is the highest ranked player in the field, whereas Rasmus is down in 101^st place.

"The two-time winner, Bernd Wiesberger, is the third favourite and the only other man in the field trading at less than 20/1 but I'm happy to swerve them all...

"I was more than happy to follow Matt Cooper in on Nacho Elvira. His 28^th place finish at the Czech Masters was an encouraging performance given he'd started slowly and that he'd missed his three previous cuts and as Matt points out, this venue may well suit him nicely."

Each-Way Tips: 80/1 Nacho Elvira can seal the deal

Matt Cooper: "Back in 2015 Nacho Elvira won the Challenge Tour's Rolex Trophy, his third win of the year, at Geneve GC which as we've already established is a RTJ Jr design.

"It took him some time to land the first win on the DP World Tour but when it came it was at Celtic Manor's 2010 Course and while roughly half of that was designed by European Golf Design's Ross McMurray, the other half was originally part of the resort's Wentwood Hills Course which is another RTJ Jr layout.

"Elvira has a 5-for-5 record at making the cut there, was second at halfway in 2020 and T12th in 2022. His first experience of a main tour play-off also came at RTJ Sr's Dar es Salam Course. The father and son will insist they are different designers, as they are, but they do create courses of a certain type.

"Elvira followed up May's win with a top seven in the Scandinavian Mixed before he missed three cuts on the bounce. Two were on the linksland which he has rarely troubled the scorers on. Last week he recorded a much better T28th and he can maintain the improvement this week."

Form stats for this week's tournament in Aarhus

Andy Swales: "The Resort consists of three nine-hole courses titled Sand, Sky and Forest. All three were designed by Robert Trent Jones II and opened in 2008. This week's layout will be a combination of its Sand and Sky courses.

"The venue is situated in the eastern region of Jutland, with Lubker's courses laid out among the forests of the Djursland peninsula...

"Only three members of the world's top 100 players are teeing-up this week. And three of the four highest-ranked golfers in the field hail from this week's host country Denmark.

"The 'top seed' is world No 48 Nicolai Hojgaard 11/1, who returns home after failing to qualify for the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup Play-Offs.

"After making his Ryder Cup debut last year, Hojgaard has endured a disappointing season in the States, although he should still comfortably retain his PGA Tour playing-rights for 2025. On his most recent trip to Europe he finished seventh at this month's Olympic tournament in Paris."

Read the Punter's golf betting live blog for the latest from both events in-play