The 2018 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, which begins Thursday at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas, Nevada, is the first full-field tournament that awards 500 FedEx Cup points to the winner since Kevin Tway was victorious at the Safeway Open earlier this season. There's plenty at stake as golf returns to U.S. soil after a three-week trek through Asia. Accordingly, the field features five of the top 20 players in the world, including Rickie Fowler and Tony Finau, who enter as co-favorites at 11-1 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open odds. Meanwhile, Bryson Dechambeau and Jordan Spieth are right behind them at 12-1. Before you make any 2018 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open picks or enter a daily fantasy golf tournament on sites like DraftKings and FanDuel, you'll want to hear what the team at SportsLine has to say.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed four of the past eight majors entering the weekend and called Tiger Woods' deep run in the PGA Championship despite entering as a 25-1 long shot. The proprietary computer model has also been dead-on in the new PGA Tour season as well. It was all over Brooks Koepka (9-1) winning the CJ Cup two weeks ago, projecting him to finish on top of the leaderboard from the start. Anyone who has followed the model is up huge.
Now that the 2018 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising.
One huge shocker the model is calling for this week: Kevin Na, a 40-1 long shot, makes a serious run at the title. He's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
Na earned his first victory on the PGA Tour at this tournament back in 2011. That year, he closed with a six-under 65 to defeat Nick Watney by two-strokes. He also finished second at the 2015 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, so we know Na can play extremely well at TPC Summerlin.
The SportsLine Projection Model believes Na will carry over those positive experiences into this week's tournament and find himself in the hunt for the title. He finished last season in the top 40 on the PGA Tour in scoring average (70.288 strokes) and was in the top 20 in FedEx season points with 1,183.
Another surprise: Patrick Cantlay, the defending champion, fails to defend his title and finishes outside the top five.
Cantlay earned his first career victory on the PGA Tour at last year's Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, beating Alex Cejka and Whee Kim in a playoff. He's also coming off an impressive seventh place finish at the WGC-HSBC Champions last week, but no player has repeated as champion of this event since Jim Furyk in 1998-99. There are far better values in this loaded field than the 16-1 premium he's commanding.
Also, the model says three additional golfers with 2018 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open odds of 18-1 or longer will make a strong run at title. Anyone who bets on these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the 2018 Shriners Hospitals for Children Open? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full Shriners Hospitals for Children Open projected leaderboard from the model that nailed the winners of four golf majors, and find out.
Rickie Fowler 11-1
Tony Finau 11-1
Jordan Spieth 12-1
Bryson DeChambeau 12-1
Webb Simpson 14-1
Patrick Cantlay 16-1
Gary Woodland 18-1
Aaron Wise 28-1
Cameron Champ 33-1
Beau Hossler 40-1
Chesson Hadley 40-1
Kevin Na 40-1
Matt Kuchar 40-1
Andrew Putnam 50-1
Joaquin Niemann 50-1
Patrick Rodgers 50-1
Ryan Moore 50-1
Si Woo Kim 50-1