Scott McCarron continued to roll on the Champions Tour as he won for the fourth time in 2017, and third time in six tournaments at the Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He won by a stroke over Miguel Angel Jimenez, while Scott Dunlap, Todd Hamilton and Kevin Sutherland were all three strokes back. Now, the Champions Tour will head to Japan for the inaugural edition of the Japan Airlines Championship, which takes place in Narita. McCarron, who is second on the Charles Schwab Cup money standings, will be in the field, which will battle for a $2.5 prize pool.
Details
Event: Japan Airlines Championship
Category: Champions Tour
Date: September 8th – September 10th
Location: Narita Golf Club, Narita, Chiba, Japan
The Japan Airlines Championship is the first official PGA Tour event of any kind, and it is a no-cut event, which means all 81 players will play all three rounds.
Past Five Winners
N/A
The Field
Taking a look at the Charles Schwab Cup money list, Bernhard Langer is at the top of the food chain. So far this season, he has four wins and just over $2.5 million in earnings. He’s not participating this week, though, which opens the door for some others to get the win. Scott McCarron, who is not favored but is second in line, is tied with Langer for the most wins on the Champions Tour this year (four). Kevin Sutherland is the favorite and it’s easy to see why as he’s played very well of late. He has five straight Top 10’s and while he hasn’t won in that span, he has finished third or better three times. Joe Durant is third in terms of the odds and is coming off a sixth-place finish at the Shaw Charity Classic. However, he hasn’t picked up a win this year. American Scott Dunlap is in fourth according to the odds and that’s after picking up a third-place finish last week. However, that was only his second Top 10 finish of the year.
What To Know About The Course
Narita Golf Club is a par-72 course that can play at 7,140 yards, but that length can change over the weekend. It is a hilly course, but not bad enough that it’s a bad walk, and hitting the fairways should be easy enough. On new courses, iron play and putting can be key. The biggest obstacle for the field, however, could be jet lag after making the trek to Japan.
A Good Matchup To Bet: Scott McCarron over Kevin Sutherland
Sutherland has been playing some fine golf, and by finishing T-3 in Calgary, he has now finished in the top 10 in his last five starts. That is not a bad run, but he shouldn’t rated at -130 over McCarron at +110. McCarron has been red-hot as of late, although there are a couple of just-fine results in there, like a T-37 at the 3M Championship and a T-41 at the Boeing Classic. When McCarron is on, he is on and he could be the one to break Langer’s five-year run as the winner of the Schwab Cup. At odds of +110 to win this matchup over Sutherland, McCarron is certainly a good bet.
Top-Five Pick: Kevin Sutherland
This might be called a hedge bet by some, and maybe it is, but why not? Sutherland is as consistent as anyone on the Champions Tour; the problem is that he doesn’t turn it into wins. However, Sutherland has finished between second and seventh in 13 events this season and his lowest finish of the season has been a T-29 at the U.S. Senior Open Championship; he also finished T-25 at the American Family Insurance Championship. Sutherland is usually around the top of the leaderboard and while he may not win, he is a very good bet to finish in the top five, and you never know, maybe this will be the week that he turns it into a win, which would be his very first win on the Champions Tour.
Odds To Win The Japan Airlines Championship
Kevin Sutherland +550
Scott McCarron +650
Joe Durant +1415
Scott Dunlap +1415
Colin Montgomerie +1550
Steve Flesch +2050
Tom Lehman +2250
Stephen Ames +2250
Gene Sauers +2250
David Toms +2250
Billy Mayfair +2550
David Frost +3050
Kirk Triplett +3050
John Daly +3250
Duffy Waldorf +3550
Paul Goydos +3550
Scott Parel +3550
Jeff Maggert +3550
Wes Short +4050
Corey Pavin +4050
Tom Pernice +4050
Jay Haas +5050
Jerry Smith +5500
Billy Andrade +5500
Click here to get all of the latest golf betting lines at BetDSI including head-to-head matchups, props and odds to win each tournament!
