QBE Shootout best bets: The value at this week’s PGA event

The QBE Shootout is a traditional end-of-year contest on the PGA Tour, and adopts a rather unusual pairs format. The tournament has been around for a while, and always includes a number of well-known players. Here’s a preview of the action from the Golf Insider.

QBE Shootout

The event started back in 1989 and has been in the same two-man team format ever since. For many years it has carried the Greg Norman moniker (not the PGA’s favourite person at the moment!) – the “Shark Shootout”. But it remains a traditional fixture just before the end of the calendar year. But the format is unusual. Just the three rounds are played (the tournament starts on Friday) and comprises:

• Round 1 Scramble (both players tee-off, then select the best drive to play, both then play a shot from this position – and this format is repeated until the hole is completed).
• Round 2 Modified Alternate Shot (this is like a traditional Foursome, but here both players tee-off before the best ball is selected – then it’s alternate shots until the hole is completed).
• Round 3 Fourball (the classic format, where both players play their own ball tee-to-hole, and the lowest/best score of the two counts on each hole).

So expect crazily low scores!

Prizemoney $3.8m ($447,500 to the winner)

Field 12 two-player teams

Highest ranked players in field
Homa (16)
Young (17)
Harman (23)
Straka (27)
Conners (33)
Hoge (36).

2021 result:
-33 Kokrak / Na ($7)
-32 Burns / Horschel ($5)
-31 Kuchar / English ($7.50)
-31 Day / Leishman ($10)
-28 Kisner / Homa ($15)
-28 Conners / McDowell ($13)

Other recent winners
English & Kuchar (2020)
Sabbatini & Tway (2019)
Harman & Kizzire (2018)
Stricker & O’Hair (2017)
English & Kuchar (2016)

QBE Shootout partners Max Homa and Kevin Kisner are quite the entertaining duo. 😂 pic.twitter.com/icAmbeH1jP

— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) December 7, 2022

QBE Shootout: The Course

We’re at Tiburon GC in Naples, on the west coast of Florida. It was established in 1998 and has two courses – Gold and Black – both designed by Greg Norman. This week it’s the Gold course that’s in use.

First opened in 1989, it’s laid out as a par 72 which measures 7,382 yards in length. The set-up this week won’t be too penal as the idea is to keep the ball in play, and get the players shooting at the pins.

54-Hole Record 182, Couples & Floyd (1982)
18-Hole Record n/a

QBE Shootout: The Weather

A predominantly dry week is expected with a daily precipitation forecast of 10%-10%-10% over the course of the 3-day tournament. Temperatures will be in the low-80s, with partial cloud cover all week. Maximum wind speeds will range between 6-8mph over the three days.

QBE Shootout: The Bets

These are two of the each-way outright bets from the Golf Insider. Members receive all of his best bets for all markets – win and each-way, Top 10, Top 20, Round 1 Leader and 3-Ball groups. He covers every tournament on the PGA and European Tours.

Harris English / Matt Kuchar $5.80 with TopSport

The pairing of Kuchar and English almost picks itself in this tournament. They are three- times winner (the latest when we backed them in 2020) and twice runners-up. Their match-up of styles clearly suits the format and the course here at Tiburon. They look certain to go well here yet again.

$5.80

Brian Harman / Sepp Straka $7.50 with TopSport

Harman and Straka are individually playing some good golf right now, and Harman has also won this before (2018). Both are usually reliable putters, and this could well be where the title is won & lost this week.

$7.50