The Mayakoba Golf Classic Prediction and PGA Tour Betting Odds
The final official PGA Tour event of this most unusual year is on tap starting Thursday with the Mayakoba Golf Classic from El Camaleon Golf Club in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. World No. 3 Justin Thomas is favoured on the PGA golf odds board.
Needless to say, with travel concerns and the virus raging there’s not a mega-strong field this week and it’s frankly a surprise that Thomas is playing. The next official Tour event is the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii starting January 7. There is a silly-season event next week in Florida, and we may preview that if the field is worthwhile.
The Mayakoba Golf Classic debuted in 2007 and was originally an alternate-field event, meaning it didn’t offer all the perks to the winner of a regular Tour event (like a spot in the Masters). That changed a few years ago when it moved from the winter to the fall. Americans have won this tournament every year but in 2015 when Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell did in a playoff.
El Camaleon Golf Club is rather short 7,039 yards and plays to par 71. Matt Kuchar set the 72-hole tournament record in 2018 in shooting 22-under 262 and beating out Danny Lee by a shot. Last year, Brendon Todd won at 20-under 264 by one over Adam Long, Vaughn Taylor and Carlos Ortiz.
Todd got up-and-down for par on the final hole Monday morning last year to complete a final-round 68. Taylor had a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that stopped just short of going in and forcing a playoff. Ortiz was going after his first PGA Tour win before a home crowd in Mexico but couldn’t birdie his final hole. Ortiz did get that first Tour win, though, in early November in Houston.
Todd looks to become the first two-time winner of this tournament and is +5300. He hasn’t won since.
The Mayakoba Golf Classic Odds
Thomas (+541) has played this event once, finishing 23rd in 2015. He comes off a fourth-place finish at the Masters and hasn’t been worse than 12th in four events of this wraparound 2020-21 season.
Brooks Koepka (+1100) hasn’t played here since missing the cut in 2014. He hasn’t had a great year overall but has been Top 10 his past two events. Abraham Ancer (+1500), Harris English (+1600), Daniel Berger (+1700), Tony Finau (+1700) and Viktor Hovland (+1800) are the other players below +2000. Ancer was eighth year a year ago. English won in 2014 and was fifth in 2019.
Andy Ogletree, the low amateur at the Masters, makes his first professional start on a sponsor exemption. He’s +10200.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson originally was in the field for his first event since winning the Masters in fairly dominant fashion. He would have been the first No. 1-ranked player in the world to play in this tournament. Alas, DJ withdrew over the weekend.
No Canadian has come particularly close to winning this tournament. Nick Taylor was T26 last year, David Hearn T41, Graham DeLaet T58, and Roger Sloan, Mackenzie Hughes, Michael Gligic and Ben Silverman missed the cut. Corey Conners has the shortest odds of a Canadian this week at +2800. Adam Hadwin is +12700, Sloan +24400, Hearn +29100 and Gligic +29100.
PGA Odds: The Mayakoba Golf Classic Predictions
Take Hadwin for a Top 10 as he has two here, but the winner at +6800 is Russell Knox. He has a runner-up, third and ninth in three of his past four trips to the Mayakoba.