2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba Odds, Picks & Preview: Shane Lowry Trending Toward Next VictoryThe PGA TOUR continues its international fall swing at El Camaleon in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
This has become one of the more familiar stops during the fall swing and has been a spot to find a few guys down the board who have a shot to win.
The Course
El Camaleon is a short, easy course that measures around 7,000 yards for a par-71 where we can expect the winner to reach around 20-under par if the winds stay calm.
The driver is about as irrelevant here as any course on TOUR. It’s short, as mentioned, and anywhere that Brian Gay and Fred Funk have won shows you don’t need to bomb it off the tee. There also isn’t much rough, so accuracy really isn’t too important either. It’s truly a second-shot course where contenders will be dialed in with the wedges and enjoy a hot putting week.
We’ve mentioned in past previews for this event that this course has a strong correlation with the Sony Open in Hawaii. Both are short seaside courses that favor strong wedge play and putting. Two previous winners, Patton Kizzire and Matt Kuchar, followed this victory up by winning the Sony the following January. Two other champs, Johnson Wagner and Mark Wilson, have won both events in their careers.
The Favorites
Justin Thomas tops the odds board at +1200. He doesn't show up here often, but he does have a win at the Sony under his belt, so he could definitely come here and take this event down as well.
Abraham Ancer and Viktor Hovland are next in line at +1600. Ancer has played well in his previous appearances in his home country, while Hovland enters as the defending champ and is one of the few bombers to come out with a win at Mayakoba.
The Mid-Tier
We'll go back to some old friends here, starting with Shane Lowry at +4000 on BetMGM. Lowry had a bit of Ryder Cup hangover his last start out, but I'll back him here in this type of field. The iron play has been top notch all season. The CJ CUP was the first time since March he had lost strokes on approach, so I'll be playing him to bounce back here.
Harold Varner III at +8000 on FanDuel. I bet him here last year, and it didn't go well, but he does have a fifth- and sixth-place finish on this course in his career. The ball striking has been solid for a couple months now, and he's put up a few good putting weeks, as well. It seems like he's going to win here in the near future, and this course has been a good fit for him in prior years.
I'm also going to Jhonattan Vegas at +8000 on FanDuel. Vegas hasn't lost strokes on approach since May and has really popped up in the events where many of the big names are absent. He's also got a couple top 20s on this course so it's a place that when the game is dialed in, he'll be able to score.
My last guy in this range is Rickie Fowler at +5000 on DraftKings. I don't play Fowler in many spots, but we'll try here. He was second here to Kizzire a few years back. If he is going to bounce back in the winner's circle, this is the type of course where he should be able to find his footing again off the strong CJ Cup result a few weeks back.
The Longshots
Down in this range, I'll start with Adam Schenk at 100/1. This hasn't been a good spot for him in the past, but he's been able to pop up in contention a few times the past couple months on other courses that emphasize iron play and hot putting.
I'll also go with Chris Kirk at 160/1 on FanDuel. Kirk has made the cut in all four of his appearances here and has a strong record at the Sony, where he's got a couple of top fives. He's been playing solid golf, making six straight cuts and gaining strokes on approach in nearly every event for the past five months.
The Mayakoba Betting Card
- Shane Lowry +4000 (.83 units)
- Rickie Fowler +5000 (.66 units)
- Harold Varner +8000 (.41 units)
- Jhonattan Vegas +8000 (.41 units)
- Adam Schenk +10000 (.33 units)
- Chris Kirk +16000 (.21 units)
Total Stake: 2.85 units
