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Feb 2, 2024

Draws & Fades: Despite trailing, Patrick Cantlay clear betting favorite at Pebble Beach

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Draws and Fades

Patrick Cantlay's clutch up-and-down on No. 7 at AT&T Pebble Beach

Patrick Cantlay's clutch up-and-down on No. 7 at AT&T Pebble Beach

    Written by Will Gray

    Patrick Cantlay didn’t hold onto First Round Leader honors at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, but he still did enough to race to the top of the odds board heading into the second round.

    Cantlay blistered Spyglass Hill to the tune of an 8-under 64 that set the pace for much of the afternoon along the Pacific Coast. Typically the harder of the two courses in rotation this week, Spyglass instead played a touch easier than Pebble Beach – as evidenced by Thomas Detry racing home to close out a 9-under 63 that edged past Cantlay.

    But with finishes of T11 or better in each of his last three trips to the Monterey Peninsula, Cantlay has clearly distanced himself in the eyes of oddsmakers after a day in which Jordan Spieth (even) and Xander Schauffele (1-over) both fell from among the pre-tournament favorites toward the back of the pack in the limited 80-man field.

    Updated odds to win AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (via BetMGM Sportsbook)

    • +350: Patrick Cantlay
    • +1000: Collin Morikawa
    • +1100: Thomas Detry
    • +1200: Scottie Scheffler
    • +1600: Justin Thomas, Matthieu Pavon
    • +2000: Ludvig Åberg, Si Woo Kim, Max Homa, Viktor Hovland
    • +2800: Rory McIlroy, Emiliano Grillo, Sam Burns

    Heading into the second round, there are still more questions than answers in terms of an overall handicap. Players will now switch courses, with those who played Spyglass heading to Pebble and vice versa, and they’ll play one more round with their amateur partners. Things will start to distill over the weekend, when Pebble Beach becomes the sole venue and the amateurs head home, but a torrential weather pattern still appears ready to upend the proceedings on Sunday and add another layer to the mix.

    So for now, we work with what we have. That includes a board in which only four players are within three shots of the leader, but Detry sits atop the board still in search of his first win.

    Here’s a look at the players I’d look to add after the opening round, and those whose prices have been overly adjusted:

    Draws

    Si Woo Kim (+2000)

    With so many variables in play, I’m not looking to grab the in-play chalk (even though I was bullish on Cantlay at the start of the week). But Kim catches my eye at this price, coming off a round at Pebble in which he was second in SG: Total and inside the top five in both SG: Approach and SG: Around the Green. A proven winner on TOUR across a variety of tracks, Kim now heads to Spyglass – where there is less data but a clear edge in scoring on the opening round. After a 6-under 66 he’s just three shots behind Detry and two back of Cantlay. I expect he’ll be able to remain inside the top five heading into the weekend, at which point his price will no longer be in the neighborhood of +2000.

    J.T. Poston (+8000)

    Look. Things are going to get a little weird this weekend at Pebble, if the forecast is to be believed. What better time to take an in-play flyer? Poston is largely under the radar but has quietly been one of the best players on TOUR in recent months, starting the new season with three straight finishes of T11 or better. He was briefly on the first page of the leaderboard Thursday before playing the back nine at Spyglass without a birdie, closing out a 2-under 70 that dropped him seven shots off the pace. It’s an uphill climb from here, but the price reflects it. He has gone ultra-low before in his career, notably at the RBC Heritage which also boasts small greens like Pebble Beach, and should he post something in the mid-60s on Friday he could move within striking distance heading into an unpredictable weekend.

    Fades

    Thomas Detry (+1100)

    I need to see it first. Yes, this perspective hasn’t exactly panned out the last two weeks, as Nick Dunlap and Matthieu Pavon took home trophies in unexpected fashion. But Detry is no stranger to PGA TOUR events, and yet he remains in search of his first win in the States. The Belgian packs plenty of game, as evidenced by his 10-birdie performance Thursday, but this has the feel of an event in which one of the bigger names will snap the longshot streak. The fact that Detry is priced behind Morikawa, a player he leads by four shots, is a bit of a tell and reason enough for me to view his price as too short.

    Rory McIlroy (+2800)

    It all was going so well, until it wasn’t. McIlroy was on cruise control Thursday, 6-under through 14 and in the lead, before the wheels came off. A wayward shot (and poor drop) led to a triple, and he putted a ball off the green on the par-4 eighth en route to a bogey. Suddenly he’s eight shots adrift staring down three rounds at Pebble.

    Could he course correct and get back in the mix? Sure. Is +2800 an enticing number for McIlroy at this juncture, generally speaking? Absolutely. But it felt like the wind came out of his sails a bit with just how quickly things went awry (and that was before he was assessed a two-shot penalty for the poor drop). I’m just not buying that he’ll be able to really make a run at the title from this point.

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