Sports are slowly starting to trickle their way back into the calendar. Major League Baseball will be joining the fray in July (finally) and the NBA and NHL will be back too.
Meanwhile, the PGA and NASCAR have been strong in their returns as fans have been betting both sports hand over fist.
This week, the PGA Tour stops off at the TPC River Highlands where $7.4 million is on the line for the Travelers Championship. As for NASCAR, they have a busy schedule of their own as they will race twice this weekend – on Saturday and Sunday – at Pocono Raceway. Here’s a closer look at both events.
Travelers Championship Starts On Thursday
It’s been an exciting couple of weeks on the PGA Tour. From Daniel Berger’s big win (thanks to a final putt miss) to Nick Watney’s COVID-19 positive test to Webb Simpson winning outright last Sunday after missing the cut two weeks ago. So, what’s in store for the Travelers Championship, which gets underway on Thursday?
Rory McIlroy is the favorite to win at +1200 at FanDuel Sportsbook with bulked-up Bryson DeChambeau tied with Justin Thomas in second with odds of +1300.
Meanwhile, Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm round out the Top 5 at +1800.
However, it is worth noting that the odds vary from book to book.
For example, DraftKings Sportsbook actually has Thomas as the favorite at +1100 with McIlroy and DeChambeau at +1250.
They also have Koepka lower down the board (+2200), so if you like those specific players, make sure you’re getting the best price on the board.
The field is loaded as nine of the Top 10 players in the World Golf Rankings will be here (no Tiger Woods for a third straight week).
The question is who is a good bet? What we’re looking at here are good putters as the last 10 winners have averaged 6.6 putts per round.
Taking a look at some of the guys who have done particularly well over the last couple of weeks with the putter, Thomas, Justin Rose, Lucas Glover, Brian Harman, Ian Poulter, and J.T. Poston have all ranked inside the Top 25 in each of the last two weeks.
Koepka might be worth a look after placing in the Top 10 (seventh) last week, which was his first Top 10 in 10 months.
Two Races This Weekend At Pocono Raceway
It’s been nothing short of a wild week in NASCAR. Now that we’ve mostly sorted out the noose/rope situation with Bubba Wallace and thankfully it was discovered that it wasn’t a hate crime, the drivers will shift their focus to Pocono Raceway.
Known as the Tricky Triangle, we’ll actually have two races on this track with one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
If you’re taking a look at who does well at this track, Kyle Busch should be among the drivers you consider to win outright as well as for props. In his last seven outings, he has finished no worse than ninth at Pocono while winning three times.
Kevin Harvick placed sixth and 22nd last season, but prior to that, it was four or better in five straight and seven of 10.
One driver who is a little further down the board who might be worth a look is William Byron Jr. He’s only made four starts at the Tricky Triangle but he has placed fourth, ninth, sixth, and 18th. The 18th result was his first-ever race a Pocono, so he’s clearly improved over time.
In terms of someone you might want to steer clear of, Joey Logano looks like a driver to pass on. He’s finished 13th, 7th, 26th, 9th, 27, 23rd, 37th, 5th and 20th over his last nine starts at Pocono.
That means he’s placed 13th or worse in five of his last seven outings here and that’s a concern. While he’s ranked third in the points standings, he has placed 10th or worse in four of his last five starts, so he really hasn’t been that close.
The Saturday NASCAR race will start at 3:30 PM ET while the Sunday race will get underway at 4:00 PM ET.
