The Barclays Tips and Betting Offers, Thursday 25th August 2016, Bethpage State Park
The Barclays has a long history on the PGA Tour. It has been hosted under many different names and at many different venues but since the inception of the FedEx Cup in 2007, the Barclays has always been the first event of the Playoffs. Nothing has changed this season as the top 125 players in the FedEx Cup rankings have been given a spot to compete around the tough Black Course at Bethpage State Park.
Four of the qualifiers will give the event a miss but otherwise we’ve got the best players in the world competing at a brilliant course, all we need now is to pick a winner.
The Barclays Betting Offers
- Coral Golf Insurance Offer – Place a pre-tournament or in-play two-ball or three-ball acca with four or more selections and Coral will refund your stake as a free bet of up to £25 if just one selection lets you down – CLICK HERE
- Ladbrokes – £50 Free Bet – Join Ladbrokes and place a bet of between £5 and £50 at odds of 1/2 or above and the bookie will match your stake with a free bet to the same value – CLICK HERE
- 888sport – Treble the Odds – 888sport will pay out at Treble the Odds on your first bet when you join them, which is great for golf betting! – CLICK HERE
The Barclays Betting Tips
- Dustin Johnson to win at 10/1 with Ladbrokes – £50 free bet
- Hideki Matsuyama each way at 30/1 with Betfred – bet £10, get £30
One of the best things about the PGA Tour is the amount of variety you get in terms of host venues. When it comes to the Playoffs though, it only seems right to hold the events at course which provide a fair test of golf. That is certainly the case with the Black Course at Bethpage State Park.
There is no getting away from the fact that at 7,468, the Black Course is a very long par 71 track but previous events held here have shown that you cannot simply hope to overpower the course. These may be the best players in the world but every part of their game is going to have to be firing to have any chance of winning this week. It is vital to hit a majority of fairways and greens before putting confidently on the tricky greens.
The Verdict
It’s hard to focus on a particular stat when looking for winning bets but one thing is clear, this is a course and an event where the cream tends to rise to the top. We should be focussing on top quality players and there aren’t many better than Dustin Johnson.
Johnson is used to winning on the PGA Tour but this has been a particularly brilliant season for the big hitting American. He’s won his first major title, won a WGC event and looks well placed to follow up with a strong showing in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. Somewhere over the past year Johnson realised that there is no point driving it 300 plus yards if you don’t take full advantage with the shorter clubs. So, he put the work in and is now one of the best wedge players in the world. That combination of power and accuracy will make him tough to beat this week at odds of 10/1 with Ladbrokes.
If there is one way to get the better of the Black Course it is by being relatively boring from tee to green. That sounds like Hideki Matsuyama. The Japanese star is one of the best ball strikers in the world but has been let down by his putter this year. He should get the chance to overcome those putting troubles by hitting approach shots very close this week so looks a good price at 33/1 with Coal.