After a week of team golf, the PGA TOUR is back to its usual format with THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson. This is a look at the best first-round leader bets to make for the event on DraftKings Sportsbook.
THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson
THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson is being played at TPC Craig Ranch, just outside of Dallas, for the fifth straight year. TPC Craig Ranch is a par-71 golf course and ranges 7,569 yards. The greens are Bentgrass, just like those at Augusta National a few weeks ago. The field is missing most of the world’s best players, but the world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is participating in the event. Outside of Scheffler, the top contenders are Jordan Spieth, Byeong Hun An, Sungjae Im and Sam Burns. Last year’s winner at this event, Taylor Pendrith, is also in the field, along with one half of last week’s winning team at the Zurich Classic, Ben Griffin. It will be up to one of those normally middle-of-the-pack TOUR players to take down Scottie Scheffler.
Here is a look at my picks to lead after the first round of THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson:
Byeong Hun An FRL (+4000)
Byeong Hun An has been playing good golf over the past few weeks. In much more competitive fields than this one, he finished T-8 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, T-16 at the Valspar and T-21 at The Masters. An has also performed very well at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson in his career. In three career starts at the event, he has finished T-4, T-14 and T-5. Just last season, he had that joint fourth-place finish at TPC Craig Ranch. So, An should be feeling confident heading into this tournament with his game in a good place and with great history at this course. An ranks 19th in strokes gained off the tee this season, a key factor on this long course. He should be able to put up a great score in the first round and compete all week.
Alejandro Tosti FRL (+7500)
Alejandro Tosti is one of the most underrated players on the PGA TOUR this season. Tosti is all the way down at 125th in the OWGR, so he is not an often-discussed player. However, his game is in great form heading into this tournament. Excluding last week’s team event, Tosti has finished in the top-12 in each of his past three events on the PGA TOUR. Even more significant for this tournament, two of those three great performances came in Texas. Tosti finished T-5 at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, T-12 at the Valero Texas Open and T-2, his second career runner-up finish, in his most recent tournament, the Corales Puntacana Championship. Tosti’s game is in the best form of his career and he should feel confident heading into this tournament. This is a long course, and Tosti ranks fifth on the PGA TOUR in total driving distance. With that length, he has the chance to go low in the opening round and be a shocking first-round leader.
