Grant Thornton Invitational Tips: Dave Tindall's three picks up to 10/1

• The mixed-team format played over 54 holes features 16 pairs

• 8/19.00 Lydia Ko and Jason Day can defend the title

• 10/111.00 Jennifer Kupcho and Akshay Bhatia are an each-way bet

• 13/27.50 Tony Finau and Nelly Korda can start fast

Brief history of the Grant Thornton Invitational

Grant Thornton sounds like an Aussie bloke, or perhaps a Kiwi, who teed it up in the recent Australian PGA Championship.

But that's not the case. In fact, it isn't even a single person. Grant Thornton is "a global network of independent audit, tax and advisory firms that serves private, public and nonprofit organizations."

They're also the latest sponsors of this end-of-season pairs event, coming in last year to give their backing to a tournament previously known as the QBE Shootout, Franklin Templeton Shootout and Shark Shootout.

Last year there was a twist to the usual format, with each of the 16 teams featuring one PGA Tour golfer and one LPGA Tour player. Victory went to Australian Jason Day and New Zealand's Lydia Ko.

The format is 18 holes of scramble, 18 holes of foursomes and 18 holes of fourballs.

The 54-hole event, which runs from Friday to Sunday, is played at Tiburon Golf Club in Florida, a 7,382-yard par 72 with Bermuda greens.

Ko and Day won with 26-under last year, a shot ahead of Canadian duo Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson.

Just four strokes covered the top seven teams so expect a tight finish again on Sunday evening.

Lydia Ko/Jason Day to win @ 8/19.00

This is obviously a quirky event and such tournaments can often throw up specialists.

Harris English and Matt Kuchar won this three times in its previous guise when an all-men's tournament and Kuchar and Megan Khang might get a bit of each-way love. Khang was fourth with Denny McCarthy last year.

But if playing the repeat feat angle, there is plenty of logic in backing Jason Day and Lydia Ko to defend their title.

Putting counts for plenty in this event and Ko steals a march on plenty of her rivals here in that category.

An incredible summer from Ko ended with victories in the Olympics, Women's British Open and Kroger Queen City Championship while her course record here is pretty special too.

As well as winning here with Day, she's twice won the Tour Championship here (most recently in 2022) and in that same event a couple of weeks ago she closed with a 63 to post third.

Day has two wins and a third in his last four starts in this event and was eighth in the recent Aussie PGA.

The only negative is his very lacklustre performance (joint-last) at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas but that could easily prove a red herring.

His record in this event carries far more weight in my eyes and his top 10 Down Under shows there is nothing wrong. In fact, coming back from Australia to the Bahamas could just have left him out of whack and he'll be raring to go again with his body clock now fully adjusted.

Jennifer Kupcho/Akshay Bhatia each-way @ 10/111.00

The LPGA has a pairs event too, the Dow Championship, and that brings Jennifer Kupcho into the equation.

She finished runner-up alongside Ally Ewing back in June while in 2022 Kupcho won that event in tandem with Lizette Salas.

The American also has plenty of experience of Tiburon and her 12th place here in the recent Tour Championship was Kupcho's best finish at the Florida venue.

For company she has the very in-form Akshay Bhatia.

A winner in Texas earlier this year, Bhatia has twice teed it up in November.

In the first of those he was runner-up at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan while last week he gave us some each-way returns at 25s in the Hero World Challenge when solo fourth.

Bhatia ranked 4th for SG: Putting at the Hero which bodes well.

Their combined mix of format and current form makes them worth an each-way bet at 10/111.00. The place terms are 1/5 Odds, 4 places.

Nelly Korda/Tony Finau for 1st Round Leader @ 13/27.50

For a quick Friday hit, I'll also play the first-round leader market with a win only punt on Tony Finau and Nelly Korda.

Using the advanced technology used to compute the Total Driving Stat (adding up two lists: Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy), I've done the same here but with first-round scoring.

Finau ranked 17th for R1 scoring on the PGA Tour last season, while Korda was 6th on the LPGA Tour.

Add that together - 17 + 6 - and the total of 23 is the lowest you'll get of the 16 pairs.

Of course, they aren't favourites in this market for that reason but it's a helpful addition for those looking to back two of the big stars on show and the joint-favourites to win the event.

More compelling is that they were the first-round leaders in this event last year, combining for a 56.

Clearly the scramble format - where both players hit tee shots, pick the best shot and both play from the same spot through to the completion of the hole - suits them.

Finau is coming in from knee surgery - "a pretty standard clean-up" - in mid-October which could put some off.

But maybe I have him down as indestructible after that infamous and still wince-inducing dislocated ankle episode in the Masters Par 3 Contest in 2018 when he popped it back in and came out the next day and shot 68 to sit second after round one.

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