Hero World Challenge Tips: Dave Tindall's two each-way picks at 25/1

• 25/126.00 Akshay Bhatia is a previous winner in the Bahamas

• 25/126.00 Robert MacIntyre should enjoy this test after a memorable 2024

• 7/18.00 Ludvig Aberg is worth a win bet 'without' Scottie Scheffler

Brief history of the Hero World Challenge

PGA Tour golf bettors can feel a bit lost in December but the 20-man Hero World Challenge offers another chance to try and crack the code.

Tiger Woods plays host as usual but any hopes of seeing the great man in action won't be realised with the 15-time major winner recovering from his latest round of back surgery in September.

But Scottie Scheffler, fresh off a seven-win season, is heading to the Bahamas and, guess what, he's the defending champion too. His other two starts in the event: a pair of second places.

Albany Golf Course is a par 72 measuring 7,449 yards and was designed by Ernie Els. Unusually, it has five par 3s and three par 5s.

It's really a week to showcase skills rather than put a severe strain on them so birdies will be plentiful.

Scheffler (2023) and Jon Rahm (2018) both got to 20-under when lifting the trophy while the three winners inbetween - Henrik Stenson (2018) and Viktor Hovland twice (2021 and 2022) - recorded 18-under, 18-under and 16-under respectively.

With world ranking points, a $5m prize fund, the pull of Tiger and a glorious setting, no wonder some of the world's best are dusting off their clubs.

Akshay Bhatia @ 25/126.00

I'll be honest, this isn't the easiest week for an each-way column.

All past winners here are either major winners or previous dwellers in the world's top 10, while even the place finishers (this week's place terms are 1/5 odds, 4 places) were almost always taken up by absolute top-end players.

But unfancied Sepp Straka's second place last year at least gives us hope and Stenson went off at around 33s/40s when winning in 2018 if memory serves me right.

But I totally understand Steve Rawlings keeping it simple and going with Scheffler.

It could well be that the top four places are clogged up by the top five or six in the betting but I certainly think Akshay Bhatia warrants a bit of each-way interest at 25/126.00.

The 22-year-old left-hander is already a two-time PGA Tour winner after adding to his 2023 Barracuda Championship victory by landing April's Valero Texas Open. Both those events were birdie-fests.

While rust could be a factor for plenty of his rivals, it won't be for Bhatia as he's coming in off a second place at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament in Japan - an event won previously by Tiger (twice), Brooks Koepka and Padraig Harrington.

He was fifth for Greens In Regulation and 11th in Putting Average there and closed with a 65.

Then there is this week's location.

Bhatia won the Great Exuma Classic in the Bahamas in 2022 when still a teenager and finished fourth when defending.

He was also seventh in another Korn Ferry event here, the 2023 Great Abaco Classic.

"This place is really calm, peaceful ... the aura about this place leads into why I'm so calm," he said when winning the Great Exuma to become the third youngest Korn Ferry winner in history.

Hopefully he'll feel the same vibes here on his debut and maybe someone will tell him that two of the seven winners at Albany were making their first appearance at the course. It's possible!

Robert MacIntyre @ 25/126.00

Bubba Watson was the first winner at Albany so I'll add in a second left-hander in the shape of Bob MacIntyre.

Like fellow southpaw Bhatia, the Scot has kept the engine running while others put their feet up and he rounded off a run of five straight top 25s on the DP World Tour with seventh as the season-ending DP World Tour Championship a few weeks ago.

That event has been a good pointer to success here and MacIntyre also took fourth place in it in 2021.

A victory here would be some thick icing on a substantial 2024 cake which has seen the Oban native post two storybook victories.

The first came at the Canadian Open with Dad Dougie on the bag - a win for this column at 70/171.00 - and he followed that with a real bucket-list triumph when capturing his home Scottish Open in July.

That's two PGA Tour wins in his last 15 worldwide appearances and of the 20 starters here, only Scheffler can beat that.

MacIntyre should relish this coastal test and he has a pair of top sevens and a 16th in his last three starts on Bermuda greens.

At the DP World Tour Championship, the 28-year-old ranked second on the All-Around stats and was in the top 25 for all five main Strokes Gained categories, including 12th for SG: Putting.

MacIntyre, who also showed off his seaside/links skills when fifth in September's Irish Open at famed Royal County Down, is definitely worthy of an each-way punt.

Ludvig Aberg (W/O Scottie Scheffler) @ 7/18.00

I'll cheat a bit with the last bet rather than try and squeeze out a final each-way selection.

I'm absolutely convinced Ludvig Aberg will have a huge week and am tempted to go 'win only' at 11/112.00.

Taking him each-way at that price is an option but I'm honestly expecting a serious title challenge rather than him scraping into the top four.

So, as I fear and respect Scheffler here (and why wouldn't I given that he's the defending champ and has a Tiger-esque win rate of around 50% since March?) I'll take the World No.1 out of the equation.

That leaves a punt on Aberg in the 'without' Scheffler market at 7/18.00.

The Swede returned to action following knee surgery with 17th in the RSM Classic.

An opening 73 left him 135th after 18 holes but he responded with a 62 and finished his week with a 64 so he looks ready to shine again.

A brilliant driver of the ball, Albany looks a good fit for him and he should be raring to go again after time off. The knee is healed so that's no longer a concern.

A man who can finish second on his Augusta National debut can excel on his first start at Albany but let's doff the cap to Scheffler and go all in (10pts win rather than the usual 5pts each-way) on this side market.

Now read Steve Rawlings' Nedbank Challenge preview here