Safeway Open Lacks Star Power But Opportunity Ahead Of U.S. Open
Phil Mickelson is a Co-Favorite in Safeway Open
The top PGA Tour pros are taking a week off between the FedExCup playoffs and next week’s U.S. Open. That includes Dustin Johnson, who picked up a cool $15 million in capturing the Tour Championship last week. This week’s top draw is Phil Mickelson, who will tune up in Napa before heading across the country to Winged Foot next week.
Unfortunately, there will be no fans again or a Pro-Am, which has been scrapped from weekly events. Fans enjoying seeing other celebrities tee it up with the pros like Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors last year. No corporate tents, no cheering or supporting fans as play continues in wine country in Napa, CA this week.
Phil Mickelson is now ranked No. 51 in the Official World Golf Rankings, and he’s a co-favorite to win the Safeway Open along with Si Woo Kim, who is ranked No. 86. Kim ranks No. 1 against this field covering the players last 12 rounds in a key stat this week: Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green.
Other notable players that committed to play in Napa for the first time including major winners Jordan Spieth, Shane Lowry and Sergio Garcia, who are currently ranked No. 67, 44 and 28 respectively.
Mickelson is a major winner of course, and so is Jim Furyk, who finished top-20 in last season’s Safeway event while Mickelson missed the cut but finished T3 three seasons ago. Matt Kuchar is the highest ranked player in the field at No. 27 in the Official World Golf Rankings. Also playing is No. 47, Kevin Streelman, No. 48 Erik van Rooyen. and two-time Safeway Open winner Brendan Steele (2017 and 2018).
COURSE AND TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
- Course: Silverado Resort and Spa (North Course)
- Location: Napa, CA
- Date: Sept. 10-13, 2020
- Par: 72 / Yardage 7,166
- Purse: $6.6 million / Winner $1.1 million
- Fairways/Rough: Bermudagrass and Poa Annua / Bluegrass and ryegrass
- Greens: Bentgrass and Poa annua
- TV: Golf Channel and NBC (Sat-Sun)
- Live Streaming: NBCSports.com/live, NBC Sports App and PGA Tour Live
- Twitter: @SafewayOpen
Here are the odds to win the Safeway Open from the SuperBook at the Westgate in Las Vegas.
|
ODDS to Win:
|
|
| Phil Mickelson | 20/1 |
| Si Woo Kim | 20/1 |
| Brendan Steele | 25/1 |
| Shane Lowry | 25/1 |
| Sergio Garcia | 30/1 |
| Jordan Spieth | 30/1 |
| Erik van Rooyen | 30/1 |
| Emiliano Grillo | 30/1 |
| Doc Redman | 30/1 |
| Joel Dahmen | 30/1 |
| Chez Reavie | 30/1 |
| Harold Varner III | 35/1 |
| Brandt Snedeker | 40/1 |
| Cameron Davis | 40/1 |
| Kevin Streelman | 40/1 |
| Keegan Bradley | 50/1 |
| Sam Burns | 50/1 |
| Bud Cauley | 50/1 |
| Luke List | 50/1 |
| Mark Hubbard | 50/1 |
| Jim Furyk | 60/1 |
| Lucas Glover | 60/1 |
I chipped-in more Safeway Open coverage at TheLines with stats, player and course design, along with added odds and information you can bet on.
For bettors looking towards players that performed well in the event last year and comparing current form and odds, here are last year’s top finishers at the Safeway Open who are playing in the event at Silverado North Course again.
- Zac Blair (T4)
- Cameron Percy (T7)
- Zinjun Zhang (T7)
- Nick Watney (T10)
- Mark Hubbard (T13)
- Roger Sloan (T13)
- Jim Furyk (T17)
- Brandt Snedeker (T17)
- Brian Stuard (T17)
- Harold Varner (T17)
Still looking at tournament match-ups and any posts to be added Wednesday prior to the tournament as we finished with a 9-4 mark on match-ups posted on these pages since the PGA Tour restart in June. Our last match-ups were in the BMW Championship, where we went 1-1 but pegged the low-priced favorite Jon Rahm as the outrigth winner.
The Safeway Open is the opening event of the 2020-21 season.
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