The PGA Tour may be on hiatus until the New Year but golf fans can still get their fix this weekend with the PNC Championship. Justin Thomas and his father Mike Thomas lead the way as favourites in this unusual event, sporting short +200 odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
Formerly known as the Father/Son Challenge, the PNC Championship features 20 major tournament and PLAYERS Championship winners teaming up with a family member in a 36-hold competition. The two-day event gets underway on Saturday morning at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, and will be played in a scramble format, with no cut.
A fourth-place finisher at this year’s Masters, Thomas enters this weekend’s event listed at No. 3 in the World Golf Rankings. Thomas would likely sit among the favourites regardless of who he partnered with, but the addition of his father makes the duo a force to be reckoned with this week. A PGA teaching professional at Harmony Landing Country Club in Kentucky, Mike Thomas also caddied for his son at this year’s Memorial Tournament.
While the Thomas boys are the team to beat, they face no shortage of viable challengers. The duo are closely trailed by three teams pegged at +600 at betting sites, including Tiger Woods and his son Charlie. It has been a tough start to the campaign for Woods, who missed the cut at the U.S. Open, and finished a distant 38th at the Masters. However, this weekend the spotlight will shift to 11-year-old Charlie, who reportedly makes up for his youthful inexperience with accomplished trash talking on the course.
Joining Woods and son at +600 are Bubba Watson and his father-in-law Wayne Ball, and Matt Kuchar and his son Cameron. The duo of Jim and Tanner Furyk follow at +800 on those golf odds, just ahead of John Daly and his son Little John at +1000, and Tom Lehman and his son Sean at +1400. The Daly boys turned in an impressive first-round performance at this event two years ago, combining to shoot a 59 on their way to a third-place finish. Lehman and his son matched that score in the second round of last year’s event, lifting them to a third-place finish.
However, bettors should not overlook Bernhard Langer and his son Jason, who sport +1600 odds to repeat as tournament champions. The 63-year-old has enjoyed a busy year, recording 12 top-ten finishes on the PGA Champions Tour. More importantly, the Langer family have dominated at this event. Bernhard has raised the trophy on four previous occasions, twice with Jason, and twice with his son Stefan.
[relatedlinks]
