Opinion & Analysis

2022 Farmers Insurance Open: Best prop bets

Published

4 years ago

Jan 25, 2022

The PGA Tour heads to Torrey Pines this week with a top class field assembled for the event that begins on Wednesday.

Alongside Matt Vincenzi’s outright preview of the Farmers Insurance Open, here are my ideas of the best side bets for the week ahead.

Max Homa – Top 5 finish/Top 10 finish +1400/+700

The 31-year-old Californian native is a good putter. He says so himself.

At PGA West last year Homa said:

“I think I’m a great putter. I kind of realized that around the PGA Championship last year. I had a couple weeks where it wasn’t great. I also putted it the best in Mexico and there was no ShotLink, so it’s not exactly helping my statistical average.”

What we do know is that Homa is an extremely tidy tee-to-green player that thrives when others struggle to keep it tidy. Picking the ball off the grass is of no hindrance around the rough of Torrey Pines, and whilst he missed all three successive cuts at the start of his career, finishes of ninth and 18th speak volumes as to his improvement from 2018.

In the last three years, the man from Burbank has won three times, twice in California, including the Genesis at Riviera, and risen from 130th in the world to a place well inside the top-40.

The wins aside, Homa has progressive form at Bay Hill (49/24/10), at the Memorial (37/MC/6) and consistency at the Travelers (9/18), and he comes here off the back of a midfield display at the Tournament of Champion, where his putting kept him in the event.

The Rickrungood.com golf site shows that he gained over four strokes with his putter on five different occasions in 2021, earning a top-10 finish in all of those events, including two victories. Should he repeat his tee-to-green effort of the last two runnings of this event, he should give himself every chance of another.

Marc Leishman – Top 10 finish +375

A very close thing between the Aussie and Tony Finau but whilst one firm can’t split them, 365 offer the more tempting price and thus get the play.

Apart from the win in 2020, Leishman’s form here in 14 starts comprises two runner-up medals, a brace of top-10s and two further top-20 finishes, whilst he has a healthy bank of form at many of the correlative courses, all classic in their make-up and requiring a touch of nous to conquer.

Returns of two top-five finishes and a couple of top-20s at Riviera read well given the grass comparisons, whilst there is a host of historical placed form that links Bay Hill (Leish has a win, second, third and seventh at Arnie’s place), Muirfield (two top-fives and a pair of top-15 finishes), and he also has a victory and placings at River Highlands, yet another course that requires a skilled overall game and an ability to play from rough.

Recent form is perfectly acceptable with a 10th in the season opener in Maui followed by a top-40 at Waialae, neither of those low-scoring events really suiting his style of play, but with the short game and flat stick being crucial here over the weekend, confidence on the poa anna greens will count for more than just latent ability, and this grinder can post another high finish on his resume.

Franceso Molinari – Top 20 +330

The 2018 Open champion is back, or at least I believe he is.

His well-publicised hiatus through 2020/2021 could have finished what was still a promising career, but he is now settled after a move to California in 2020, and the results are showing.

Sporadic, they may be, but the eight-time winner knows how to play courses that require guile and recorded his third top-15 in six starts here when finishing 13th last season, an effort that sandwiched an eighth at the American Express and a further top-10 at Riviera.

He lost his form soon after but returned one further top-15, significantly here at the U.S Open, before appearing fighting fit at the three-course American Express last week.

It may seem too convenient to expect yet another couple of top-10 finishes at exactly the same events, but why?

Just a year since ranking 3rd in tee-to-green around here, he warmed up for a repeat with a solid top-20 for approach and putting at the three-course rotation and could easily back up a bank of form that includes top-10n finishes at three of the courses mentioned above.

Opinion & Analysis

5 Things We Learned: Thursday at the PGA Championship

Published

2 weeks ago

May 15, 2026

Ronald Montesano

Aronimink is not a storied club, but when Donald Ross himself proclaimed it to be as good as he can design and build, one had to take notice. Jay Sigel was the pre-eminent male amateur golfer from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. He might have called any number of Philadelphia clubs home, but he chose Aronimink. It served him well. Gary Player won a PGA Championship here in 1962, and was followed by the 1993 winner … nobody. Aronimink gave that event away to Inverness, for reasons of which it is certainly not proud. So be it. We had to wait sixty-four years for the PGA to return to Newtown Square, but here we are. Aronimink has been neo-restored by Gil Hanse and team, to return Ross features with an eye toward defense against the dark arts, errrr, high-tech equipment.

Day one saw Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau dig big holes, to the tune of plus-four and plus-six, respectively. Since the first-round lead will be minus-three at worst, many shots will need to be made up for the power couple to reach contention. By nightfall, seven golfers held the day-one lead at three-under par 67. Shots and sticks caught our attention, and we are proud to present Five Things We Learned on Tech Thursday at the 2026 PGA Championship. Thanks to InsideTourGolfer, Today’s Golfer, and GolfWRX for initial equipment research.

First, meet Min Woo Lee

Min Woo Lee, aka Dr. Chipinski, has once again thrust himself into the conversation of Can he, will he, when will he? Lee has so much talent, wins not nearly as often as we believe that he should, and has no major near-misses (much less titles) on his wiki. The young Aussie is getting older and wiser, but is he able to avoid the scarring that holds the older and wiser back from breaking through? Philadelphia offers another opportunity. Min Woo signed for five birdies and two bogeys on day one, and grabbed a share of the opening-day lead at Aronimink. Winners transcend history and the moment, and Lee will need that sort of ascent to lift the Wannamaker on Sunday.

Second, meet Aldrich Potgeiter

The young South African golfer can rip driver with the best of them. Aronimink tips out at nearly 7400 yards, but beyond the fairway bunkers that ensnare only the mortals, Potgeiter can take his chances with wedge from the rough. On Thursday, he spent plenty of time in the spinach. Like Popeye, he used his muscles to gouge and thrash and dig his way out. Six birdies against three bogeys on the card brought AP in a three deep.

Third, meet Martin Kaymer

Not a major event takes place without a where’s he been throwback moment. We know that Martin Kaymer left the PGA and DP World tours for LIV golf, but the two-time (US Open and PGA) major winner has a lifetime exemption into at least one major event, and he seizes the opportunity each May. Kaymer joined the six-seven brigade with four birdies and a solitary bogey on day one. Kaymer was never a long hitter, and the years are kind to no golfer. The German champion will need to uncork every bottle of guile and strategy in his cabinet to remain in contention. For today, though, he occupies a rung on the ladder of Tour Tech.

Fourth, meet Scottie Scheffler

Let’s see, he’s the defending champion at the PGA, and he found his way back to the top tier with five birdies against two bogeys. To be a favorite and then play up to that stature and expectation is quite difficult. Just ask Rory, Bryson, and some of the other pre-tournament heartthrobs. Scheffler’s game is complete, and to knock him off the OWGR #1 pedestal, one needs to defeat him at the majors. Aronimink is the sort of course that fits Scheffler’s game. Better yet, it unfits the game of many of his challengers. Don’t expect Scheffler to go away anytime soon. Come Sunday, he’ll be around.

Fifth, meet Stephan Jaeger

Clocking in for the unheralded players shift are Ryo Hisatsune and Stephan Jaeger. Hisatsune logged seven birdies on day one, but gave most of them back with four bogeys. Still, he’s tied at the top for a time. Jaeger pitched five birdies against two bogeys, including a run of three consecutive, from holes four through six. Odds are that one of the two will hang around through 36 holes. Odds also suggest that both will be gone by Saturday evening. Still, the PGA Championship has historically been the major most likely to be won by an under-known. Both Hisatsune and Jaeger feature on that list, so good luck, lads!

Club Junkie

Club Junkie’s Titleist GTS driver fitting results!

Published

2 weeks ago

May 14, 2026

Brian Knudson

On this episode of the Club Junkie Podcast, I head to the Titleist Performance Institute for a full driver fitting with the new Titleist GTS lineup. We dive into the fitting process, talk about what made the biggest difference in performance, and break down how the different GTS heads and shaft combinations compare on the launch monitor. If you are thinking about a new driver setup for this season, there is a lot to take away from this one.

I also get into Brooks Koepka and the gear setup he brought to the PGA Championship, including the putters that caught my eye during the week. There are some interesting equipment trends showing up at the highest level right now and we break down what stands out.

To wrap things up, I talk about reshafting a few wedges, what I learned during the process, and swapping an adaptor onto a new shaft for another build project in the shop. A gear packed episode from start to finish for anyone who loves golf equipment and club building.

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Club Junkie

Club Junkie WITB, week 16: New Titleist GTS woods!

Published

2 weeks ago

May 14, 2026

Brian Knudson

Excited for this week’s WITB as we get to add the new Titleist GTS woods to the bag! I was fit at Titleist’s TPI facility in Oceanside California a few weeks ago and my new clubs just showed up. I am also adding a cool set of irons that I built last year some wild custom wedges into a new golf bag. Speaking of the bag I have a new Ghost Anyday Black Ops stand bag that I will be using on my Motocaddy Remote M7 electric cart.

Driver: Titleist GTS3 (11 degrees @ 10.25)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 6s

3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD CQ-7s

5-wood: Titleist GTS (18 degrees)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7s

9-wood: Titleist GT1 (24 degress)
Shaft: Fujikura Ventus Red 7s

Irons: Bettinardi CB24 (5-PW)
Shafts: KBS C-Taper Lite 110 stiff

Wedge: TaylorMade MG5 (50-09 SB)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT 125 Stiff

Wedge: TaylorMade MG5 (56-12 SB)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT 125 Stiff

Wedge: TaylorMade MG5 (60-08 LB)
Shaft: Mitsubishi MMT 125 Stiff

Putter: Dan Carraher ZT Proto

Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour

Bag: Ghost Anyday Black Ops Stand Bag