While a lot of golf aficionado eyes will be on “the Match” this Sunday when Rory McIlroy & Tiger Woods take on Jordan Spieth & Justin Thomas, there is also a team event in Naples, Florida – the QBE Shootout betting matchup.
This QBE Shootout is an unofficial PGA event, as it features 12 teams of two players golfing 54 holes from Friday-Sunday.
This tournament used to be known as the “Shark Shootout,” but do not mention that title this weekend as former host Greg Norman has become “he who shall not be named” after becoming the commissioner of the LIV.
Last Event Records
The QBE shootout betting field is always a bit interesting, this year coming a week after the Hero World Challenge 20-person event and being the last tournament of the calendar year.
Many international players want to get back home for the holiday (or the DP World Tour), which is why a team of two non-American golfers haven’t won this event since Australians Norman and Steve Elkington were victorious in 1998.
International players have been part of winning teams before, with Aussie Rod Pampling and American Jerry Kelly taking the title in 2006, Dustin Johnson and Ian Poulter making an unusual victorious pairing in 2010, while Jason Day and Cameron Tringale won in 2014.
Twenty-six of the past 32 winners of this event have been teams of two Americans, including the defending champs, Jason Kokrak and Kevin Na. Kokrak and Na have both left the PGA for LIV, so there will be a new champion of the QBE Shootout crowned in 2022.
QBE Shootout Betting Analysis
Since so many American partnership teams have won this event in the past, that’s a great place to start in QBE Shootout prediction for the weekend.
That being said, the team of the Australian Day, as well as the Florida native Horschel are the +500 favorites for the weekend.
Handicapping the QBE Shootout – like many team events – is more challenging because the format changes all three days.
Friday is a scramble, Saturday is alternating shots, and Sunday is the best ball, so teams that have the better all-around game are who you should look at (in theory, anyway).
Day/Horschel the Team to Beat?
It makes sense that Day, a former winner of this event in 2014, and Horschel, who lives up the I-95 from Naples in Jacksonville Beach, would be the favorites this weekend on the golf odds.
Horschel picked up a runner-up finish in this event last year with Sam Burns and has finished third in 2019, 2014, and 2016.
Odds of +500 aren’t horrible as Horschel is very comfortable after playing nine events at Tiburon Golf Course, while Day has finished in the top 25 in four of six tournaments he’s played this Fall.
Stricker/Young for the Nostalgia Play?
One of the more interesting pairings this weekend is Steve Stricker and Cameron Young going off at +1100.
This event being 54 holes definitely doesn’t hurt the 55-year-old Stricker, who won this event in 2009 with Jerry Kelly, in 2014 with Sean O’Hair, and was a runner-up in 2016 with Kelly.
Young was the best golfer not to win an event in 2022, finishing in second place an astonishing five times and coming in third two other times – all during his rookie campaign.
Teaming with 34X winner Stricker could give Young the insight to get over the hump and claim his first TOUR victory.
QBE Shootout Updates
Two LPGA TOUR players are in the field this weekend, with Lexi Thompson teaming with Maverick McNealy (+3300) while Nelly Korda and Denny McCarthy (+3300) aim to pull off a shocker as well.
QBE Shootout Betting Preview
There’s really not a bad pairing in this 12-team event, as Tom Hoge / Sahith Theegala (+650) have both had their share of success on the Fall TOUR Schedule, while Max Homa is 16th in the OWGR paired with Kevin Kisner (+700).
QBE Shootout Betting Prediction
The most intriguing team for your money in QBE Shootout betting is Young/Stricker.
Young is on the doorstep of his first-ever TOUR win, and the veteran Stricker will enjoy the weekend mentoring the up-and-coming star while also preserving his energy in a 54-hole, often best-ball tournament. The Golf stats tell us to take Young and Stricker at the +1100 in these golf.
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