Golf Tips: Betfair cheat sheet for Austin Championship and DP World Tour Championship

Austin Championship tips and predictions

Dave Tindall's Each-Way Tips: Back Austin Smotherman EW @ 35/136.00

Dave Tindall: The main argument for Austin Smotherman not winning this week is that he couldn't possibly make it three in a row. But it's hard to see how seven players can be above him in the betting given that he's one of the hottest players on the planet.

Smotherman's wins came at the Bank of Utah Championship and three weeks later at the Bermuda Championship. He's again rested after missing the two tournaments in Mexico so ready to go on the attack again.

Smotherman also won a few weeks apart on the Korn Ferry Tour in 2025. After the second victory he was fourth next time out so we have some past 'gets hot, stays hot' evidence to draw upon.

Finally, in his last three starts on Tom Fazio courses, he's finished runner-up at the 2026 Cognizant Classic, sixth at the 2025 NV5 Invitational and won the BMW Charity Pro-Am in South Carolina.

There won't be a more confident player in the field and he's even a Texas resident (Dallas) too. The 35s is surely a nice each-way price (5 Places).

The Punter's Preview: Chris Kirk chanced in Texas

Steve Rawlings: Chris Kirk is peaking as the year ends and he's finished inside the top 20 in five of his last six starts. He ended in a tie for 12^th in the World Wide Technology last week but he was matched at as a low as 5.59/2 in-running before having to play three off the tee on the 15^th.

Kirk followed that with a three-putt bogey on the par three 16^th but that wasn't a surprising reaction after his double-bogey at 15 had cost him any chance of taking the title.

Prior to that he'd finished sixth in the Bermuda Championship, so he heads to Texas in fair form and the fact that we're off to Texas is yet another positive. Kirk won the Charles Schwab Challenge there in 2015.

Austin Championship Long Shot Tips: Three to back at huge odds

Steve Rawlings: Nick Dunlap, who's only 22, burst onto the scene with victory on Bermuda greens at the American Express in January 2024 when still an amateur.

He followed that with another win at the Barracuda Championship in July '24 but he heads into the last two FedEx Fall series events languishing in 165^th on the standings.

It's hard to believe how far he's fallen in such a short space of time but it would be ridiculous to give up on someone so young, and he's demonstrated twice in his last four starts that a return to form may not be far away. He sat second after the opening round of the Utah Championship in October and second after a 64 on Thursday last week in Mexico.

His form is very inconsistent, as perhaps it should be for a 22-year-old who's wondering why he can't replicate his form of just two years ago, but he's fighting hard as the season draws to a close and importantly, he's putting very nicely.

He's too young to give up on just yet and he's too big on the Betfair Exchange this week at odds in excess of 500.0499/1.

Form stats for this week's event in Texas

Current Form Pick: A previous winner here, with four PGA Tour titles to his name, the Georgian Bryan Harman was 22nd last year and will be hoping to improve on that in 2026. He was T4 at the Baycurrent Classic in October.

DP World Tour Championship tips and predictions

The Punter's Preview: Back Rahm to go back to back

Steve Rawlings: Winning back-to-back is never easy but when Rahm won this event for a third time back in 2022, he did so in his first start after winning the Open de Espana for a third time.

Rahm's course form figures read a very impressive 1-4-1-1-5 compared to Rory's 3-5-11-1-5-2-1-9-20-4-6-4-22-1-2, and I was happy to chance him modestly before the off.

Rory's putter let him down a bit in Abu Dhabi on the back nine on Sunday, where he ranked seventh for Putting Average and 32^nd for Strokes Gained: Putting for the week and that could be the difference if the market leaders again dominate the event.

Rahm ranked third and sixth for those two metrics last week and he ranked fourth for Driving Accuracy and SG: Tee-to-Green and eighth for Greens In Regulation.

Dave Tindall's First Round Leader Tips: Hatton heads up three bets

Dave Tindall: I wouldn't normally go this short for a FRL bet but let's remember there are just 50 players teeing it up at the Earth Course this week.

Tyrrell Hatton looked back to his best when runner-up to Jon Rahm in Abu Dhabi on Sunday and now he gets a crack at a course where he's had six top eight finishes and nothing worse than 16th in the last six editions.

As for fast starts here, the Englishman had a piece of the 18-hole lead in both 2022 (65) and 2024 (67). He was also fifth after day one in 2020.

Hatton, who shared the halfway lead in Abu Dhabi last week (67-65), tees off at 11:50 local (07:50 UK).

Back him at 18s (1/4 Odds, 5 Places).

Course and current form stats

Course Form Pick: The two-time Masters winner often performs well in this part of the world and has an affinity for the Earth Course. He was second last year, when defending the title, and fourth in 2022. He arrives after finishing third last week in Abu Dhabi.

Get in-play golf betting updates this weekend from The Punter