Odds outlook: Jackson Koivun edges Blades Brown as betting favorite at Austin Championship

The PGA Tour returns to Texas in 2026 for the Austin Championship presented by Compliance Solutions. The penultimate event of the FedExCup Fall visits the Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek Resort & Spa. Emerging young superstar Jackson Koivun (+1600) is the favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook at this inaugural event in Texas Hill Country, which features three of the previous four winners on Tour, including the youngest winner since 1931, 19-year-old Blades Brown, the champion at the World Wide Technology Championship on Sunday.

Making his 10th start as a professional, Koivun (+1600) has assimilated seamlessly into life on Tour. He won for the first time in late July at a shootout at the 3M Open and earned two other top-10 paydays. In 34 rounds, he posted scores in the 60s 28 times, with 33 loops registered at 71 or better. Koivun knocked off four weeks of rust, signing for T21 (-15) at El Cardonal at Diamante on Sunday. Currently ranked 60th in the Official World Golf Ranking and 68th in the FedExCup Fall standings, he has this week and next, if he so chooses, to improve his playing status for 2027. Players ranked Nos. 51-60 at the end of the FedExCup Fall will qualify for the 2027 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational, the season's first two Signature Events.

Doug Ghim (+2000) will be one of four alums representing the University of Texas at the par-72, 7,451-yard layout just 10 miles west of campus. Still grinding for his first professional win, the 30-year-old makes his 195th Tour start in excellent form. He earned solo second at the Bank of Utah Championship, and two weeks ago he added T6 at the VidantaWorld Mexico Open. Since the beginning of April, he missed just two cuts and earned checks for T31 or better. Ranked fifth in Strokes Gained: Total, he sits sixth in SG: Tee to Green and 14th in SG: Around the Green. At a brand-new event, focusing on guys who hit fairways and greens is a sharp angle to take this week.

What can Brown (+2200) do for an encore? After shooting 63 on Sunday to force and win a playoff, he returns to the States with a two-year exemption, a winner’s check and status as the fourth-youngest Tour winner in history. He terrorized the four par-5 holes in Mexico (15 under), and he gets four more chances each round in Austin. He also gained almost nine shots against the field on the greens and racked up 28 par-breakers (26 birdies, two eagles) against seven bogeys. Brown, who secured his 2027 playing privileges via the Korn Ferry Tour last month, earned T19 and T17 in the FedExCup Fall before his victory last week. Nothing seems to faze him.

Andrew Novak (+2700) and Brian Harman (+2700) are tuning up before both return home next week for The RSM Classic on the Golden Isles of Georgia. Novak earned his first Tour victory two weeks ago in commanding fashion, winning the VidantaWorld Mexico Open by five shots. His red-hot putter lost four shots to the field in the final round, but he still led the field for the week in SG: Putting. He also paced the field in proximity, landing in the top three after all four rounds. With a week off to take it all in, he will happily allow Brown and the other youngsters to absorb the spotlight while he gets his work done. Harman, 39, who has not played since he picked up a check for T4 at the Baycurrent Classic in Japan, returns for just his second start of the FedExCup Fall. A four-time Tour winner, Harman lifted the trophy on Fazio’s Eagle Point track in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 2017. If the breeze picks up, this veteran, who won The Open in 2023 and the 2025 Valero Texas Open down the road in San Antonio, will be able to navigate the conditions.

Jordan Smith (+2700) closed with a scintillating 63 Sunday at the World Wide Technology Championship to earn T8, his second top-10 result in his last three starts. He squared only three bogeys at El Cardonal (T1). He has now made the cut in 10 straight Tour events. The English ball-striking machine owns T26 or better in four Fall events, but his last win anywhere in the world was the 2022 Portugal Masters on the DP World Tour.

Chris Kirk (+3000) continues to knock on the door of the first page of the leaderboard. The Georgia native cashed T12 or better in four of his six previous starts. In Los Cabos last week, he was second in SG: Approach and fourth in proximity, but he ranked 68th of 75 players in SG: Off the Tee. His next victory, if and when it comes, would be his first since the 2024 Sentry (Hawaii). Among his six career titles was a win at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, in 2015.

Austin Smotherman (+3000) will attempt to win in his third consecutive start. The 32-year-old, who played collegiately at SMU in Dallas, began his Fall reign posting 26 under to win the Bank of Utah Championship. He returned to action and won the Butterfield Bermuda Championship in a playoff over Seamus Power (+3500) in a weather-shortened, 54-hole event. His excellent ball-striking and navigation of windy conditions on Bermuda could come in handy again in windswept Austin.

Other Texans of note include Pierceson Coody (University of Texas, +3300) and Johnny Keefer (Baylor University, +3500).

Here's a look at the odds for select players in the field, with odds via FanDuel:

• +3300: Zach Bauchou
• +4000: Kristoffer Ventura, Ben Kohles, Marco Penge, Eric Cole
• +4500: David Ford, Ricky Castillo, Max Homa, Stephan Jaeger, Max Greyserman, Rico Hoey
• +5000: Davis Thompson, Neal Shipley, Mac Meissner
• +5500: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Trace Crowe
• +6000: Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Miles Russell, Daniel Berger, Tommy Morrison, Sam Stevens, Jackson Suber
• +6500: Haotong Li, Billy Horschel, Rasmus Højgaard, Mackenzie Hughes
• +7000: Austin Eckroat, Zecheng Dou, Luke Clanton, Cole Sherwood, Kevin Roy, Kevin Yu, Zac Blair, Nick Taylor
• +8000: Karl Vilips, John Parry, Matt McCarty, Taylor Moore, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen

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