Two weeks after Steve Stricker won his second event in three starts, the Champions Tour shifts to Duluth, Georgia and the TPC Sugarloaf course for this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic. Stricker has been absolutely on fire of late but he won’t tee up this week and that opens the door for a strong cast of contenders looking to get back in the win column. Located just over 150 miles east of Augusta National, TPC Sugarloaf will be packed with fans that make the short journey from the home of The Masters to see this 54-hole event beginning on Friday. Here is a look at some intriguing sports betting picks for this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic with the odds courtesy of BetDSI.
Event Details
Event: Mitsubishi Electric Classic
Category: Champions
Date: April 13th-15th
Location: TPC Sugarloaf, Duluth, Georgia
Past Five Winners
2017: Stephen Ames
2016: Woody Austin
2015: Olin Browne
2014: Miguel Angel Jimenez
2013: Bernhard Langer
The Favorites
Bernhard Langer +700
Fresh off a top-40 finish at The Masters, Langer should be confident and motivated heading in to this week’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic. The 60-year-old is coming off his best start of the season on the Champions Tour when he placed ninth at the Rapiscan Systems Classic and he should be able to carry that momentum over to this week’s event. Following a slow start to the season, it won’t surprise anybody if Langer delivered his best performance of the year after he was the runner-up at this tournament a year ago.
David Toms +900
Toms has placed in the top-five in four of his five Champions Tour starts this season including a fifth place finish in the Toshiba Classic back in early March. After getting some time off, Toms should be well rested and confident heading in to this week’s tournament. He didn’t exactly light it up here a year ago, but consider his strong start to the season it wouldn’t be a surprise if Toms delivered a better performance than the 34th place finish he registered here a year ago.
Vijay Singh +900
Singh will be one month removed from his victory at the Toshiba Classic when he tees off this week and it should be no surprise that he is among the sports betting favorites to win this event. The fact that he didn’t participate in last year’s Mitsubishi Electric Classic isn’t really an issue as he is clearly in form heading in to this year’s tournament. Singh might not win this event outright but he should be in the mix for another top-10 finish as a legitimate contender.
Next In Line
Jerry Kelly +1000
Kelly opened the season with a victory in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship back in January. Can he double up at Mitsubishi sponsored events with a win in Georgia this week? Kelly certainly has the talent to do it and he has looked really good at times this season including a runner-up finish at the Cologuard Classic back in February. While he isn’t among the top-three betting favorites to win outright, Kelly definitely has what it takes to deliver this week.
Miguel Angel Jimenez +1000
Jimenez won this event back in 2014 so it’s impossible to completely write him off this week. However, Jimenez has just one top-10 finish in his last four Champions Tour starts and he has placed outside of the top-20 in each of his last two outings. Jimenez undoubtedly has the talent to contend this week. However, do you trust him to bounce back from a slow start to the season and deliver this week? At decent value, he could be worth taking a chance on if you think this is the tournament he delivers in.
Sleeper Picks
Billy Andrade +4000
Andrade is coming off a runner-up finish at the Rapiscan Systems Classic, which was his third top-10 finish in five starts this season. Andrade has the talent to contend again this week and considering his +4000 price tag the value is certainly there taking a chance on him to win outright this week. Andrade placed 18th in this event a year ago. If he could build on that performance, Andrade could be a quality sleeper pick to bet on in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic this week.
Stephen Ames +5000
Ames hasn’t placed inside the top-10 in any one of his six starts this season. However, Ames did win this tournament less than 365 days ago so it’s hard to completely overlook the defending champion this week. It’s understandable that Ames isn’t among the sports betting favorites to win this tournament following his slow start to the year. That said, at +5000 odds it’s hard to completely ignore the value that the defending Mitsubishi Electric Classic champion presents as a sleeper pick this week.
