Golf Pick: Brooks Koepka “To win a major in 2023” (+1200) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
The LIV Golf season is only just over a month away with their first event of 2023 scheduled for the last weekend in February, at one of the old PGA Tour stops, at the El Camaleon for the LIV Golf Mayakoba.
The question we have yet to find the answer to is can the LIV Golf players compete in the major championships later in the season. The last major championship of 2022, saw Aussie Cameron Smith win the Open Championship before announcing his defection to the Saudi Arabian government-funded tour.
My initial reaction was that perhaps the razzmatazz that surrounds the 54-hole events might leave the golfers lacking in sharpness compared to those from the PGA Tour. But, to be devil’s advocate, playing 54-hole events and a less grueling schedule could leave LIV Golfers fresher for the demands of the major championships in the middle of the year. Either way, their pockets are bulging from their signing-on fees for LIV Golf and that’s not the worst thing for decreasing psychological pressure for many.
Let’s take a look at how LIV golfers will fare in the upcoming season and make some golf picks and predictions for 2023.
To make all of your LIV Golf bets, you can use any of these US betting sites. Check them out.
Can Brooks Koepka Add to His Major Championship Tally?
Brooks Koepka confirmed his prodigious talent in the golfing world between 2017 and 2019 when landing four major championships: two US Opens, and two PGA Championships. There’s no doubt the thirty-two-year-old from Florida was the standout player of that period and after coming fourth in the 2014 US Open, Koepka went to 24 major championships without missing a cut, accumulating sixteen top 10 finishes.
No player in world golf comes close to that record in the last decade of major championship golf and his only poor year was the last one when he had two missed cuts and two 55th-place finishes. There are legitimate excuses as in the last two years, Koepka has been constantly fighting injuries so it’s no surprise he has chosen the lighter schedule of LIV Golf going forward.
He was heartened by the way that he won their final event of the year in Jeddah to return to the winners’ circle. His reaction to winning was rather enlightening when he said, “I didn’t know if my career was over,” when referring to his injury woes of recent years.
Now back in rude health after the knee and hip injuries, Brooks Koepka could still have the burning desire to win major championships and if he does the +1200 golf odds for him “to win a major in 2023” by BetOnline is worth taking now.
Golf Pick: Brooks Koepka “To win a major in 2023” (+1200) at BetOnline
Cam Smith Ready to Take On 2023
Despite some sections of mainstream media portraying that Rory McIlroy was the man in 2022, the truth is Cameron Smith was the player of the season with his win at the unofficial fifth major championship of golf, the Players Championship alongside his Open win in July.
From August onwards though, the media, whose allegiance was to the PGA Tour took every opportunity to knock the Australian. I’m sure it was like water off a duck’s back to the Aussie, whose mind had been made up before he won the famous claret jug.
In recent seasons, Cameron Smith has looked like a future Masters winner with his performances at Augusta National suggesting he is perfectly suited to the course. In 2022, he looked like the winner for a while but closed gamely with a 73. That was unusual in a season full of the event winning golf and becoming the sport’s best closer, indeed the previous years at Augusta had already suggested the iconic green jacket would fit the twenty-nine-year-old well when runner-up in 2020 and fifth in 2018.
What you have to factor in also for Cam Smith is how well he’s played when starting a new season on the PGA Tour in recent times, in 2022 he won the Sentry Tournament of Champions on his seasonal debut after doing the same thing at the 2020 Sony Open. What that proves, is that Cameron Smith is a golfer who plays his very best when “fresh” off a break and that’s what the scenario will be in April at the Masters.
With average luck, Cam Smith could win two bets in one for BMR readers in April as I’m taking him in two bets, firstly, to win the Masters at +1400 and secondly, like Koepka, “to win a major in 2023” at BetOnline.
Golf Pick: Cameron Smith “To win a major in 2023” (+350) at BetOnline
Golf Pick: Cameron Smith to win the Masters (+1400) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
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