Brian Sausa, Last Updated: June 7th, 2021 - NJ Sports Betting - Free $3,250 For Sports Bets In New Jersey
With The Northern Trust in the rearview mirror, just two events remain on the PGA Tour schedule this season. The excitement continues to build with the arrival of the second event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs as the top remaining players get ready to tee it up at the BMW Championship. The tournament will be played at the historic Medinah Country Club in Illinois, located nearly an hour outside of Chicago beginning on August 15.
As it does for major championships, golf betting reaches an extra gear for the postseason and an overwhelming majority of gamblers are taking their action to various sports betting sites in one of the ever-growing number of states with legal wagering. Regardless of the sport, doing your betting online is definitely the way to go. It offers a range of unique markets to bet on while being the most convenient option. Rather than waiting in line at a betting window, you’re comfortable in the location of your choosing. What’s not to like?
Before you go signing into any New Jersey sports betting apps, we’ll be previewing the upcoming tournament, providing some golf betting tips and making some BMW Championship predictions using odds from FanDuel Sportsbook.
The FedEx Cup is a season-long tournament on the PGA Tour that awards players points based on their performances each week and adds them up over the course of the season. The amount of points earned depends on the tournament and the player’s finishing position, and those points determine placement in the FedEx Cup standings.
The playoffs, which were first played in 2007, are comprised of the final few events of the season. Justin Rose is the defending champion while Tiger Woods is the only golfer to have won the playoffs more than once (2007, 2009). Other recent winners include Justin Thomas (2017), Rory McIlroy (2016) and Jordan Spieth (2015). Here are the three tournaments included as of 2019:
The golf season concludes with the handing out of the FedEx Cup Trophy and $15 million to the winner of the TOUR Championship on the final weekend of the season. The field of 125 entering play at Liberty National has been cut down as only the final 70 in the standings will descend on Medinah Course No. 3 for the BMW Championship. Only the top 30 in the standings after the weekend will make the cut for the TOUR Championship at East Lake. The top five of the current standings heading into the BMW Championship go as follows:
It wasn’t the biggest week of Koepka’s career, but the fact that he finished tied for 30th at Liberty National and still leads the points race is a testament to the unreal season he’s had. With an adequate performance this week, he should remain in front and begin with the lead at East Lake next week. Hopefully, he does since he was our pick (+225 on FanDuel) to win the FedEx Cup Playoffs prior to The Northern Trust.
Tiger Woods, who currently sits in 38th place, likely needs to appear near the top 10 to extend his season but hasn’t looked the same since winning The Masters and even withdrew from The Northern Trust last week. For what it’s worth, Woods won both PGA Championship events previously played at Medinah.
Golf is unlike other sports in the way that the playing field is always changing. Each course presents its own unique challenges and requires varying skills in order to navigate with success. Some tracks are built for big hitters while others put an emphasis on accuracy and putting. The most versatile and adaptable players are the ones who generally get positive results at various types of courses, and becoming a winning golf bettor requires the proper research, along with a little bit of luck.
For the part that you can control, below are some things to remember before making BMW championship picks on the upcoming playoff event at Medinah at any of the sports betting sites in NJ.
Medinah No. 3, which has hosted two PGA Championships (1999, 2006) along with the 2012 Ryder Cup, is a long and challenging tree-lined course that may not play quite as big as the scorecard says at well over 7,000 yards. Three massive par-5 holes account for a good chunk of that yardage and many of the par-4s are more about accuracy than distance.
The rough can be treacherous, so starting in the fairway is key. Because of various doglegs around the course, we can expect to see players taking less-than-driver off the tee on plenty of occasions to set up a mid-iron shot toward the flag. Among the PGA Tour stats to take a look at this week are Strokes Gained: Tee To Green, Approaches From 175-200 Yards and Approaches From 200-225 Yards.
While there might be no delays, the potential weather at Medinah could effect which statistics you put an emphasis on. While the fairways and iron play gets the attention, rain is scheduled to move through the area before the tournament on Wednesday and could re-appear on either Friday or Saturday, if not both at some point. The softening of the course (specifically the greens) may lead to additional chances to put up great scores, which brings putting into the equation a bit more since making birdies will be the goal. Strokes Gained: Putting and Birdie Or Better Conversion Percentage are also stats to look at.
Gambling on golf changes in the playoffs because the season becomes more of a three-week marathon and is no longer a one-off tournament, as what happens this week impacts whether you play next week. Players are aware that whether they’re No. 1, No. 70 or somewhere in the middle of battling for a spot in the final event.
This week, players hovering around that No. 30 line should play with quite a bit of urgency to make the cut while players at the top of the points standings also can’t get complacent. The top 20 or so players likely have equity built-in to play next week, but your points following the BMW Championship determine your starting place in the PGA Tour finale next week.
Want to learn more about How To Bet On Golf? Please visit our guide for more tips and information about wagering on the PGA Tour.
One of the reasons so many bettors in New Jersey choose FanDuel Sportsbook is the variety of wagering options. The site takes it to a new level with golf, offering an incredible variety of markets including:
We are making BMW Championship predictions in addition to various finishing position bets. Making online golf betting picks on the outright winner of a tournament is one of the more difficult wagers there is in sports, so we like being able to go deeper into the field to find value in other markets.
Below are our official gambling predictions for the second round of the FedEx Cup Playoffs at Medinah:
Along with Brooks Koepka, McIlroy is the betting favorite on FanDuel Sportsbook to win the BMW Championship. Simply put, McIlroy is having a season for the ages despite his down performance in the Open Championship in Northern Ireland. To his credit, the two tournaments since have placed him fourth and sixth, so it hasn’t affected him much and he’s got a great history at the BMW event.
He leads the tour in converting birdie or better and in Strokes Gained: Tee To Green this season while also ranking well approaching with irons from over 200 yards. In the six events which McIlroy has reached the weekend since May, he’s gone top 10. With that, we’d also tack on a virtual even-money bet on McIlroy once again to finish top 10 (-105), as he leads the tour with 13 such finishes this season and is likely destined for another.
Since the PGA Championship in May, Spieth has begun to turn his season around and is suddenly in the conversation for reaching the top 30 in the FedExCup standings. He’s hot with the putter and now ranks No. 3 in Strokes Gained: Putting and No. 2 in converting birdies or better. According to scenarios on the PGA Tour website, Spieth needs a top-10 finish in order to complete his second-half surge and reach the TOUR Championship. Considering the value and his current form, take a shot on a three-time major champion who has dealt with some pressure before.
A top-10 Rahm finish was one of our Northern Trust predictions, we’re doubling down this week. The Spaniard has six top-10s in his last nine events, including third-place finishes at the US Open and at Liberty National last week. He ranks in the top 10 gaining strokes tee-to-green and in the percentage of birdies or better while being T-1st in approaches from 200-225 yards, leading us to this being one of our easier BMW Championship picks. Few players are in form like Rahm is, and he’s a popular pick to win it all.
Sungjae Im has played the most rounds on tour this season (114) and has a chance to close out strong. Currently in 26th place, he likely needs to wind up in the top 30 at Medinah to reach the final playoff event and we are taking our shot after he came up big for us last week (+120 for a top 40 finish). Im may have ended T-38th at The Northern Trust, but played well enough to warrant a top 20 return and we like him to end his rookie PGA Tour season strong behind his ability to gain strokes off the tee and scramble.
With The Northern Trust in the rearview mirror, just two events remain on the PGA Tour schedule this...
Sports Picks and Predictions
With The Northern Trust in the rearview mirror, just two events remain on the PGA Tour schedule this...
Sports Picks and Predictions
With The Northern Trust in the rearview mirror, just two events remain on the PGA Tour schedule this...
Sports Picks and Predictions