Rory McIlroy is coming off a Masters title and apparently battling a cold, although the latter doesn’t seem to worry the sportsbooks.
McIlroy and Shane Lowry are the heavy betting favorites at this week’s Zurich Classic of New Orleans, the only annual team event on the PGA Tour schedule. McIlroy and Lowry beat Chad Ramey and Martin Trainer in a playoff at last year’s Zurich Classic, and Fanatics Sportsbook has the McIlroy/Lowry duo as +350 favorites to win again. The next-best odds to win are Kurt Kitayama and Collin Morikawa, who are +1200.
Although GOLF Subpar podcast co-hosts Colt Knost and Drew Stoltz looked further down the list to make their Fanatics Sportsbook top-10 bets of the week.
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Knost went with the team of J.T. Poston and Keith Mitchell at +170 to top 10, while Stoltz picked Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala at +210 to top 10.
“Two guys that I think pair up really well together — and I’m not really looking at recent form given that the format is so different — but give me Aaron Rai and Sahith Theegala,” Stoltz said. “You got Aaron Rai, who is sneaky at the top of almost all the main ball-striking stats out there. The guy is rock solid, and by the way as one of the most accurate, for alternate-shot day that’s a nice thing to have for Sahith Theegala. And Sahith, on top of that, if they do hit some wayward irons, it’s hard to find a better short game out there around the greens. I love that little tandem; complementary skill sets there.”
You can find complete Fanatics Sportsbook betting odds for the Zurich Classic here, and you can listen to the full episode of the latest Subpar (with guest Sarah Schmelzel) here or by watching the YouTube video below.
As GOLF.com’s managing editor, Berhow handles the day-to-day and long-term planning of one of the sport’s most-read news and service websites. He spends most of his days writing, editing, planning and wondering if he’ll ever break 80. Before joining GOLF.com in 2015, he worked at newspapers in Minnesota and Iowa. A graduate of Minnesota State University in Mankato, Minn., he resides in the Twin Cities with his wife and two kids. You can reach him at joshua_berhow@golf.com.