Fortinet Championship Odds
This year’s Fortinet Championship will take place Thursday, September 14 through Sunday, September 17 at Silverado Resort & Spa in Napa Valley, California. Max Homa successfully defended his 2021 title last year, and will return to the field as one of the top favorites in his search for a three-peat in Napa. Justin Thomas, and Sahith Theegala also project as top favorites heading into this year’s tournament. Below we will provide a betting guide for the 2023 contest, which include Fortinet Championship odds from the top sportsbooks.
FORTINET CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS
The field for the 2023 FedEx St. Jude Championship will be officially announced on Friday, September 8. Until then, here are the golf betting odds for John Haslbauer’s projected favorites a week out from the event.
- Max Homa +1000
- Justin Thomas +1600
- Sahith Theegala +1800
- Eric Cole +2000
- Stephan Jaeger +2200
SILVERADO RESORT & SPA
The list of players atop the course history ranks – which includes the likes of Chez Reavie, Hideki Matsuyama, Brendan Steele, Stewart Cink, and Emiliano Grillo – would suggest this is an opportunity for “Team No-Putt” players can hang around on relatively straightforward greens complexes.
In short, players with plus-distance or elite driving accuracy who capitalize on par-5 scoring and have familiarity on West Coast Poa greens seem to find themselves towards the top of the leaderboard at this event each year.
How It Breaks Down
As a 7,123-yard par-72 with four reachable par-5s, Silverado Resort & Spa plays as one of the shorter courses on the PGA TOUR rotation. With narrow fairways, it was designed to be a positional course that rewards accuracy, however the absence of penal rough has instead ushered in a Bomb & Gauge approach from longer hitters, and effectively removed an advantage from SG: OTT, instead boiling down to a second shot course.
Just one par-4 measures over 450 yards here, placing a particular emphasis on wedge play from inside 150 yards with a concentration of six holes between 400-450 yards. The par-3’s offer the greatest defense at Silverado, each measuring over 180 yards. Three of the four par-3’s rank inside the top-4 in scoring difficulty relative to par. On the flipside, there will be ample birdie opportunities on the four reachable par-5s and three par-4s measuring under 400 yards, placing a considerable emphasis on Birdies or Better Gained.
Traits And Recent Notable Facts
Silverado Resort & Spa features the second narrowest fairways on TOUR behind only East Lake, which typically spells a formula for accurate plodders to find success, especially on a course which measures under 7,200 yards. However, with short and straightforward rough surrounding these fairways, Silverado ranks bottom-5 on TOUR in terms of missed fairway penalty.
That nuance has opened the door more recently for a new style of attack, as speed-chasers like Cameron Champ, Stewart Cink, and Max Homa have each taken a game plan of swinging freely off the tee to generate as many wedge approaches as possible, en route to their victories each of the last three years. Even still, plodders like Chez Reavie, Ryan Moore, and Kevin Streelman have also found consistent success here, and there is still an advantage to be had if you can consistently play from the fairway to control spin on shorter approaches.
SILVERADO RESORT & SPA COURSE SPECS
- Yards: 7,123
- Par: 72 (4x 3’s / 10x 4’s / 4x 5’s)
- Greens: Poa + Bent blend
- Architect: Robert Trent Jones & Johnny Miller
- Comp Courses: TPC Twin Cities, Colonial CC, Riviera CC, Torrey Pines, Detroit GC, Waialae CC, Pebble Beach, St. George’s G&CC, TPC San Antonio
- Historical Cutline: -2
- Hole-by-hole Breakdown:
FORTINET CHAMPIONSHIP BETTING HISTORY
The Fortinet Championship has predominantly played into the hands of longshots, with just one winner at shorter than 25-1 odds and two beyond 150-1 odds over the last 10 years. As the first event of the new season, we should expect volatility in this event.
The below table tracks consensus pre-tournament outright odds for the last 10 winners of the Fortinet Championship.
| Year | Winner | Pre-Tournament Odds | Winning Score | Field Median Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Max Homa | +1500 | -16 | -6 |
| 2021 | Max Homa | +5000 | -19 | -7 |
| 2020 | Stewart Cink | +18000 | -21 | -12 |
| 2019 | Cameron Champ | +2800 | -17 | -7 |
| 2018 | Kevin Tway | +6600 | -14 | -6 |
| 2017 | Brendan Steele | +3300 | -15 | -5 |
| 2016 | Brendan Steele | +5500 | -18 | -8 |
| 2015 | Emiliano Grillo | +5000 | -15 | -7 |
| 2014 | Sangmoon Bae | +15000 | -15 | -5 |
| 2013 | Jimmy Walker | +3000 | -17 | -7 |
HOW TO BET THE FORTINET CHAMPIONSHIP
When sportsbooks post the Fortinet Championship odds board, there will be a lot of familiar names as a result of how the field is set. This means betting on Max Homa, Justin Thomas, Sahith Theegala or another player as the straight-up winner will be an intriguing option. When trying to decide on a player, consider recent performances and if he has a history of playing the Silverado Resort & Spa course.
However, given the volatility that comes with the opening event of the Fall swing, prop betting might be a more appealing option at the Fortinet Championship. There will be opportunities to cash winning tickets during Thursday’s Round 1 versus having to wait until Sunday’s final round. End of round leader, matchups, and round scores could be a few of the props available as the event draws closer.