⛳️ Tour Championship Bets

New Callaways, Ryder Cup, and more.

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Josey Orr, Jay Huffman & Chase Majerus
August 23, 2023

Good afternoon! Welcome to Shanks, a golf gambling rag. There are now a few thousand of you who read this newsletter 3x weekly, and that number grows every day. We appreciate you.

Trivia: Which European Ryder Cup player once went 12 matches without losing? Answer Below. 

Here's what we've got for ya today:

  • Doin Lines: Tour Championship

  • New Callaways

  • Golf Shots Heard Round The World

  • Ryder Cup Stuff

  • Golf Thing We'd Buy If We Weren't Broke

Doin Lines: Tour Championship

And then there were 30.

The Tour Championship uses a “starting strokes” format, which is intended to reward players for their quality of play throughout the year.

🚩 Location: East Lake Golf CLub

💰 Purse: $75M - Winner gets $18M

👑 Previous Winner: Rory McIlroy (started -4)

👀 Watch On: Golf Channel, CBS, ESPN+

2023 Tour Championship tee times, Round 1 pairings

All times Eastern

  • 11:26 a.m. — Jordan Spieth, Sepp Straka

  • 11:37 a.m. — Emiliano Grillo, Tyrrell Hatton

  • 11:48 a.m. — Jason Day, Sam Burns

  • 11:59 a.m. — Adam Schenk, Collin Morikawa

  • 12:10 p.m. — Taylor Moore, Nick Taylor

  • 12:21 p.m. — Corey Conners, Si Woo Kim

  • 12:32 p.m. — Sungjae Im, Tony Finau

  • 12:43 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim

  • 12:54 p.m. — Keegan Bradley, Rickie Fowler

  • 1:05 p.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Russell Henley

  • 1:16 p.m. — Wyndham Clark, Matt Fitzpatrick

  • 1:27 p.m. — Patrick Cantlay, Brian Harman

  • 1:38 p.m. — Lucas Glover, Max Homa

  • 1:49 p.m. — Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm

  • 2:00 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland

The Course

East Lake is in the Top 5 for courses that penalize you for missing the fairway.

It’s long (7300 yards) and the weather will be hot. Usually, longer hitters do well here.

But there is one other thing to make note of… The last five winners have gained an average of six strokes around the green and putting combined.

The above stat is independent of starting strokes, btw.

Past Winners at The Tour Championship:

  • 2022: Rory McIlroy

  • 2021: Patrick Cantlay

  • 2020: Dustin Johnson

  • 2019: Rory McIlroy

💰Shanks Picks💰

An important note for bets this week: some books let you bet inclusive of starting strokes, and some let you bet without starting strokes.

Outright Winner: Jon Rahm +850 (Inclusive)

  • Rahms recent form hasn’t been great and spotting Scottie Scheffler a four stroke lead feels impossible to overcome, but never forget one thing… Jon Rahm is a baaaaaaad man. He can win anywhere, anytime.

Top Five: Sungjae Im +900 (Inclusive)

  • Sungjae is part of the group starting at 2-under. Every year, someone from this flight has finished in the Top 5. He’s our horse.

Top Ten: Brian Harman +135 (Inclusive)

  • Harman doesn’t necessarily have the length, but his game around the greens, recent form, and starting position have us liking him here.

Top Twenty: None.

  • The top twenty odds are so gross this week we can’t even take one.

Longshot: Max Homa +2800 (Exclusive of Starting Strokes on BetMGM)

  • Max had the course record last week for about 48 hours, then Hovland did his thing. However, Max has the length, recent form, and putting game to perform well here.

Tourney Special: Max Homa and Xander Schauffele to both finish Top 10 +195

  • This is our replacement for the “Make The Cut Parlay”.

New From Callaway

Another new hot drop!

Paradym is a name you’ve heard nearly a million times if you’ve been watching professional golf at all this season. It’s in damn near every ad and the triple diamond driver is in many pro bags currently. So, I guess it wouldn’t be insane to find out that they’re expanding the Paradym family. Enter, Callaway Paradym Star.

  • Who this is for: moderate/low swing speed players

  • Similar to: After reading the comps, it’s the Paradym X family, just lighter and with higher launch, to provide more distance

  • What’s available: driver, fairway woods, irons, hybrids in lefty and women’s

  • Shaft: ATTAS Speed T1100 Graphite shaft

  • Grips: Winn Dri-Tac Lite grip

Don’t be fooled, these “senior clubs” are not in fact for old geezers only. As shown by mygolfspy.com, these clubs have all the same technology as the rest of the Paradym family, with, dare we say, even BETTER curb appeal with that black and gold combo.

Pre-sale starts Aug. 18. They hit stores and fitting locations Sept. 15.

Golf Shots Heard Round The World

Saudi Overlords: PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said he is “certain” that a definitive agreement will be reached with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund before the end of the year.

Ryder Cup Stuff

The closer we get, the more Ryder Cup dialogue gets louder. At this point, a little under a month away, Golf Twitter has been buzzing with projections.

Here’s a roundup of all the Ryder Cup things, so you can read until your heart is full.

Just a reminder… The Americans are currently on a 30 year, road Ryder Cup drought. In order the break it, Zach Johnson has to put together the best team he possibly can. That’s all that matters.

God bless America!

Trivia Answer: 

Lee Westwood!

Golf Thing We'd Buy If We Weren't Broke

If you’re unfamiliar with the YouTube group Good Good, (probably because you are of legal drinking age) they are incredibly popular on Youtube.

Now that you’re caught up, we should also mention that Callaway signed Good Good to a major deal in the beginning of the year.

That means Collab merch:

  • Birdie Blue Trucker Hat – $29.99 – This hat features Good Good’s signature blue on a simple trucker hat

  • Gentlemen’s Polo – $74.99 – This polo is classy looking and sporting the same classic Good Good blue

  • Good Good Putter – $299.99 – According to at least one reviewer, the putter is actually pretty dang good.

These boys are popular, so be sure to check out their gear asap before it’s all sold out!

That's all folks! See ya’ll Saturday morning for a weekend bet, and recaps for rounds 1 and 2 of the Tour Championship.