Safeway Open Predictions
The 2018 golf season actually gets started on Thursday morning with the Safeway Open beginning play. Here’s some golfers we like to win this tournament.
According to the latest oddsmakers, Phil Mickelson and Tony Finau are 16/1 co-favorites to win while Webb Simpson has 18/1 odds to win. The Safeway Open takes place Thursday-Sunday from Silverado Country Club in Napa, California.
Phil Mickelson is coming off a nice Presidents Cup showing last weekend and has some momentum building heading into the new PGA season. While Lefty has continued his four-year drought without a win, he finished sixth in the Dell Technologies Championship and 20th at the BMW Championship prior to the Presidents Cup. Mickelson was eighth in this tournament a year ago and I think he has another strong showing this weekend while making a push for the win.
Webb Simpson has climbed nearly 50 spots in the world rankings since the start of the 2017 year. He has put up six top-10 finishes this year, including a runner-up finish. While he hasn’t won since 2013 like Mickelson, he has a great shot this week. Simpson has finished 13th or better in four of his last five tournaments, all very competitive events. With this field being quite light, I think Simpson has a lot of value at the betting window.
Emiliano Grillo had a 2017 to forget. In 22 tournament he had just one top-10 finish with six missed cuts. However, I think Grillo can get the 2018 season started on the right foot this weekend. He was the winner of this event two years ago and placed 26th last year. While the 26th-place finish isn’t great, this is a course that suits his game whether it is good or bad. He can make the cut this weekend and then has a chance to put together a good weekend against this weak field. With 33/1 odds, Grillo has a lot of value. Someone has to win and there is reason to believe it could be him.