Action on the links returns on Sunday when Rory McIlroy teams up with Dustin Johnson to take on Rickie Fowler and Matthew Wolff in a one-day charity skins game as solid -225 betting favourites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Announced on May 4, and scheduled for Sunday afternoon at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Fla., the TaylorMade Driving Relief event is expected to raise upwards of $4 million to assist a number of organizations in their relief efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic.
McIlroy has played some of the best golf of his career during his rise to No. 1 on the World Golf Rankings. The 31-year-old Northern Ireland native finished among the top five in each of his first six tour appearances this season, and also finished second alongside Tiger Woods at the MGM Resorts Challenge: Japan Skins to start the campaign.
Johnson’s reign as the world’s No. 1 golfer was among the longest in history when it ended in mid-2018, but the 35-year-old has struggled since then. Johnson turned in second-place finishes at both the Masters and the PGA Championship last year, but has finished better than 20th just twice in his past 12 tour appearances.
The 35-year-old American has enjoyed previous success in match play events, most notably at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play tournament, where he finished fifth in 2016 before claiming the title a year later. However, Johnson has failed to finish better than 40th in his last two appearances at that event.
Oklahoma State University will be well represented when Fowler and Wolff tee off on Sunday as +170 underdogs at online betting sites. Winner of the 2008 Ben Hogan Award as the best college golfer in the United States during his time at OSU, Fowler will be aiming to regain his touch after a shaky start to the current season.
The 31-year-old opened the campaign with a fifth-place performance at the Sentry Tournament of Champions but has struggled since then, missing the cut in two of his past four tour appearances — including a distant 18th-place finish in his last outing at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
For Wolff, Sunday’s contest will provide him with the brightest spotlight of his young career. The 21-year-old is coming off a stellar collegiate career, leading the Cowboys to the 2018 NCAA Division I championship before closing his college days with an NCAA Division I Individual Championship win last year.
Wolff also provided a glimmer of what is to come with his first PGA Tour win at the 2019 3M Open, but was struggling badly when the current season was paused, finishing no better than 52nd in his past four tournament appearances.
[relatedlinks]
