Shriners Children's Open 2024 Tips: Dave Tindall's picks from 40/1 to 100/1

• 40/141.00 Harry Hall is a Vegas resident with good course form

• 100/1101.00 Matthew NeSmith is a former runner-up here

• 66/167.00 Daniel Berger's comeback is gathering pace

It's never going to be the time of year to attract a plethora of star names but perhaps the bright lights of Vegas have had an effect as this week's Shriners Children's Open features the best field of the Fall Series so far.

Ten players who finished in the top 50 in the 2024 FedEx Cup standings head to Sin City and the field also includes Matt McCarty, fresh off his excellent win at the Black Desert Championship in Utah on Sunday.

Tom Kim goes for a three-peat - not done on the PGA Tour since Steve Stricker in 2011 - after wins in 2022 and 2023. Don't be surprised if we're on '59 watch' at some point this week.

For the record, there have been two 59s so far in 2024: Hayden Springer at the John Deere and Cameron Young in the Travelers.

TPC Summerlin is an easy resort course and with Las Vegas at altitude, the 7,255 yards of the par 71 will seem even shorter.

Hence a series of extremely low winning scores. Kim captured his second title with -20 last year while the previous three editions were won with -24, -24 and -23.

Patrick Cantlay's -9 winning total of 2017 sticks out like a sore thumb and was a result of strong winds.

The forecast this week is a little unusual for Vegas as it features a chance of drizzle over the first three days. Winds could pick up towards 20mph for the first two days as well which could keep scoring in check.

Back Harry Hall @ 40/141.00

It's likely that many golf fans didn't know who Harry Hall was when he played in this event for the first few times.

In 2021 he entered as the World No.292 and in 2022 as the World No.262.

Perhaps a few would have shown some recognition when prompted that he was the English guy in the flat cap.

Hall finished tied eighth and tied 15th in those two editions while, up to 153rd in the OWGR, he took tied 26th last year.

His unexpected success in the Shriners is pretty easy to explain. The Englishman went to the University of Las Vegas and still lives there.

He'll tee it up this year at 112th in the world rankings but also as a PGA Tour winner.

That breakthrough came at the ISCO Championship in July, another birdie-fest event.

Hall's 22-under total was matched by four others but he showed his mettle by coming through the playoff.

It added to Korn Ferry wins in 2021 and 2022, trophies he won with scores of -20 (Wichita Open) and -22 (NV5 Invitational).

The 27-year-old returned home in September to try his luck on home soil and performed creditably with 12th in the British Masters and 18th at the BMW PGA Championship.

And, back on American turf, he was showing off his skills as a birdie-maker once more with rounds of 65-69-64 at last week's Black Desert Championship to lie sixth with 18 to play before stumbling on Sunday.

Still, Hall is clearly in fine form, he loves a birdie-fest and he particularly likes one on what is now his home Vegas turf.

Back in 2021, he said: "Very comfortable to play on TPC Summerlin, a golf course I played so much on.

"Since being a professional and having PGA Tour status, I've been out here quite regularly, kind of treat it as my office and get most of my work done here and then play other courses in town.

"TPC Summerlin's a great track. I probably played it over a hundred times."

Back Matthew NeSmith @ 100/1101.00

It always seems appropriate to throw in a big-priced player in Vegas and the one who could hit the jackpot at three figures is Matthew NeSmith.

Three of the last six winners of this event had won it before and that highlights the importance of course form.

That's where NeSmith's name starts to flash before our eyes. In five visits since 2019, he has course form figures of 18-8-14-2-42.

He's a particular fan of 'Moving Day' having posted Saturday rounds of 65, 64, 65, 63 and 65.

Golfers at this level always fondly recall landmarks and NeSmith has one here. Sometimes it's part of the story when they make their winner's speech.

Speaking in 2022 ahead of his second place, NeSmith said: "I've played great here. This was my first cut as a PGA Tour player. I've had a top 10 and two top 20s. I've played some good golf here, and it seems to kind of keep running, so I'm excited to see what happens."

He's obviously 100/1101.00 for a reason and that would be where current form comes in. NeSmith's last four efforts on the PGA Tour show three missed cuts and a 48th.

But breaking down the numbers, he missed two of those cuts despite shooting 67-70 (Wyndham) and 70-69 (Black Desert).

In his 48th at the Sanderson Farms, NeSmith ranked fifth for SG: Approach and second for Greens In Regulation and he hardly missed a fairway last week in Utah.

And we only have to rewind to July to see him finishing runner-up in the ISCO Championship and ninth at the 3M Open.

"I played great," he said after shooting -22 before losing the ISCO playoff. "I can't be mad, I wouldn't have changed anything I did the entire way."

On a TPC Summerlin course where he's often gone low, NeSmith is definitely worth a roll of the dice.

Back Daniel Berger @ 66/167.00

Not that long ago, Daniel Berger would have been vying for favouritism in a field like this. As it happens he's a 66/167.00 shot this week.

Berger was sidelined for 19 months in the second half of 2022 and all of 2023 due to a back issue.

No wonder it's taken him a while to get comfortable again but there was definitely a breakthrough at the Sanderson Farms earlier this month when he opened with a pair of 65s before finishing seventh.

Speaking there, the four-time PGA Tour winner revealed: "This is probably the first time I can say I'm 100 percent.

"There is always that thought in the back of your head, am I good, can I swing as hard as I want? The last couple weeks I felt my best and played a bunch of golf at home with the guys and I am hitting it further and just feeling like myself more.

"That's kind of translating into what I'm seeing now."

He built on that seventh with 35th at the Black Desert Championship last week, shooting a middle pair of 65s this time after a slow opener.

While it would be nice to check his Vegas form and find a string of top 10s and 20s, he's only actually played here once since 2014. But, promisingly, that produced an 18th place in 2019.

Four top 11s in the Waste Management Phoenix Open also show he can play well in the desert and this could be very much a case of jumping on the 66s while you can get it.

Now read Steve Rawlings' Shriners preview here