Gambling
U.S. Women's Open 2020 picks: Our 7 favorite bets at Champions Golf Club
Mike Ehrmann
Let's get one thing out of the way—we are NOT experts when it comes to betting on the LPGA Tour. Hell, we're not PGA Tour betting experts either, though we have our weeks. But there are mountains of data to help us make informed decisions week to week on the men's tour (which sometimes leads to picking winners).
But unless you're Beth Ann Nichols (definitely worth a follow this week) or Golf Digest's own Keely Levins, you're coming in rather blind on U.S. Women's Open week. The LPGA does not have strokes-gained statistics, and with only 12 post-pandemic events to look over, there's not a great sample size to go off.
As if that would stop us from wagering some hard-earned dollars on it. With the information we could glean from folks on-site this week, plus our special guest on the Golf Digest "Be Right" podcast, Cheyenne Woods, we came up with seven favorite bets this week at Champions Golf Club.
U.S. Women's Open 2020 picks (all odds per DraftKings Sportsbook)
Lexi Thompson, top-20 finish (+200) — We haven't seen Lexi's best stuff in 2020, particularly of late. But as Cheyenne Woods pointed out on our "Be Right" podcast this week, Thompson is the type to rise to the occasion. If you can believe it, this will be her 14th U.S. Women's Open appearance (she's 25!), and her 50th start in a major championship. In her last 35 majors, Thompson has 15 top 10s, including back-to-back top 10s in this event. All you need here is top 20, which is plus odds. This feels like a lock given her major resume. An added bonus: she's got Bryson DeChambeau's caddie, Tim Tucker, on the bag this week. -- Christopher Powers
Chuck Burton
Inbee Park, top-10 finish (+188, DraftKings) — There are fewer locks in women’s golf than Inbee Park contending in a major. She has seven major titles and 32 top-10 finishes in majors. Yes, THIRTY-TWO. Most players in the field this week aren’t even close to having 32 starts in majors. Best yet, Inbee is playing some great golf lately. She finished runner-up at another Texas course that played windy and long, like Champions will, and she finished runner-up at the last major, the KPMG Women’s PGA at Aronimink, which measured a similar yardage and also had very large greens. Inbee’s one of the best putters of all time. She may very well win this week (12-1 outright odds are nice), but make sure to take this lock of a top-10 bet, too. -- Stephen Hennessey
Angel Yin, top-10 finish (14-1) — Length will be a huge factor this week, we're told. Angel Yin is one of the longest players on the LPGA Tour, and while she's coming off a missed cut, he did have a pair of top 20s in her previous four starts. Last year, Yin surprised some with her T-2 finish at the U.S. Women's Open, though it wasn't her only major top-five finish. At the 2018 Women's PGA, Yin tied for fourth. She's also played in two Solheim Cups, going 3-2-1. This is a massive top-10 number for a player who has proven she can pop in the high-pressure events. --CP
So Yeon Ryu, outright winner (28-1) — This was Cheyenne Woods’ pick to win on our podcast this week, and I love the call. So Yeon won the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open, which feels like a long time ago, but all she’s done since is contend in this championship. She has five top-five finishes since her win, including a runner-up last year at the Country Club of Charleston. So Yeon also finished runner-up last week in Texas, where she spends her time practicing when she’s over in the U.S. I’m going to bet on this major champ who’s trending up and back it up with a top-10 bet, too. -- SH
Mina Harigae, top-20 finish (+500) — Harigae checks a lot of boxes this week. She has some great recent finishes—a T-13 at Aronimink and a T-4 in Georgia in two of her past three tourneys. The tour veteran is also 11th in greens in regulation and 13th on tour in driving accuracy. I love the consistency lately—and the odds feel like a real value. -- SH
Mike Ehrmann
Lydia Ko, outright winner (28-1) — Sooner or later, Ko is going to raise a 16th trophy. She's simply playing too well right now, having collected four top-8 finishes in 12 starts in 2020, including the gut-wrenching runner-up to Danielle Kang at the Marathon Classic in July. With the way she's looked, 28-1 is too enticing to pass up for a two-time major champ and one of the more prolific LPGA winners in recent memory. There'd be no better way to cap off this awful year than by Ko finally winning again. -- CP
Angela Stanford, top-20 finish (+335) — You’re getting last week’s winner with a proven track record in her home state at more than 3-to-1 odds to finish in the top 20. VERY attractive. -- SH