The PGA TOUR is closing out the West Coast swing this weekend in Los Angeles as The Genesis Invitational concludes back-to-back Signature Events before the action shifts to Florida next week. It’s already been an exciting tournament with a rainy Thursday creating a jam-packed Friday as some players had to play extra holes. The rain didn’t slow down Rory McIlroy, though, who sits near the top of the leaderboard coming into Round 3. Let’s check out the markets available for Rory McIlroy on DraftKings Sportsbook and pick out my best bets regarding him this Saturday.
Round 3 action on Saturday will start at 10:30 a.m. ET, with Rory McIlroy teeing off at 2:35 p.m. ET, playing alongside Xander Schauffele. The weather looks clear with very little wind, which should make the course very scorable for the round. We saw low scores after the rain on Friday, and conditions will be similar.
Here’s my favorite Rory McIlroy best bets for Round 3:
Rory McIlroy (-105) over Tommy Fleetwood Matchup (3 Way) – Round 3
Rory has started the week playing two excellent rounds to climb into solo third place coming into Round 3. He birdied three of his first holes to start the week and opened his first nine at four-under. He finished Round 1 at -5 after dealing with the weather more during his back nine. He continued to post good scores in Round 2, posting a bogey-free -6 with four birdies and an eagle.
Rory played the first two rounds with Fleetwood and last week’s winner Collin Morikawa. Fleetwood is also having a solid week with his rounds of -2 and -5, but he finished behind Rory’s total score both days. Like Rory, he was much better in Round 2, but he did still have a pair of bogeys to go with his seven birdies.
By playing this as a three-way matchup, Rory has to finish with a lower round score than Fleetwood (tie is a loss not a push). That bumps the odds to a very strong -105, though, and since Rory has scored better than Fleetwood in each of the first two rounds and looks very locked in, I think this is a strong option to consider Saturday.
Rory McIlroy End of Round 3 Leader (+205)
Rory has the shortest odds of any player to have the lead at the end of Round 3, but there’s still some value in the 2:1 odds available in this market. He has improved his Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and will be looking to claim his first PGA TOUR victory of the season.
He starts the day just one stroke off the lead, which is shared by Marco Penge and Jacob Bridgeman. Penge is a DP World Tour import that hadn’t had much success until this week, but he’s looking to burst onto the scene with a victory.
Bridgeman played well last week at Pebble Beach before ending up literally on the beach for a memorable finish that dropped him to T-8. The 26-year-old is playing very well but is still looking for his first PGA TOUR victory and doesn’t have nearly the track record that Rory has.
Since he’s only one stroke behind the two unproven co-leaders and has a two-stroke advantage over the rest of the field, I think Rory will end up holding the lead going into the Final Round as he looks to add his 30th win to his PGA TOUR career.
Based on how well he played the first two rounds and how comfortable he is on this course, I think he’s set for success all weekend. He’s +194 to win the tournament, but for Saturday, I’d rather take him at these odds to catch Bridgeman and Penge and hold the lead going into Sunday.
