PGA Tour Playoff in Memphis; NFL Preseason Week 1

Happy “Hump Day” or Wednesday. Welcome to all the new Betting with Bearman subscribers that signed up over the last few days. I won’t promise to get you rich as that is under false pretenses, but I do promise to give you solid information to help you become a smarter and sharper bettor and put you in the best position possible to make your bets.

The PGA Tour has reached it’s 3-week every changing playoff, starting in Memphis. You may or may not like the format, but 69 golfers are teeing it up either way and we have a betting card for you.

The NFL preseason is under way with 16 games this weekend. A word of caution when betting the preseason, which is as unpredictable as it gets. The games don’t count and you rarely see many starters play for long. Anything I give out in these newsletters on the preseason are leans only and based on information that I have read and been told. I would not bet a lot and would 100 pct understand if you stay away. Again, they are just leans.

But we also have an NFL future to jump on now that you won’t want to miss.

Remember to download and listen to the Betting with Bearman podcast at Apple and Spotify, where we discuss all of this and more. In the latest podcast, I was joined by Jo Madden and we discussed the Chargers, Broncos and other AFC West futures we liked.

Three weeks left of the PGA Tour season. It begins this week in Memphis, the first leg of the 3-week playoff. The TPC Southwind course has been used as different events over the years and now serves as the launching point for the playoff. 69 of the top 70 in the standings are playing with Rory McIlroy taking a controversial week off. Only the top 50 will move on to next week’s event in Maryland, which could be a factor in the betting picks.

To the card we go!

Outrights

Scottie Scheffler to win (+280), top-5 finish (-175)

Ok, so all year, I have said I couldn’t justify betting Scottie at such low prices and have taken top-5 bets and bet him live. Why would I change that and do the +280 here? Well, for starters, there are only 69 players in the field and secondly, there are only 3 events left to crown the FedExCup champion, so you should treat these as majors when wagering. Each week builds up to the next and Scottie has proven that he’s the best in the world at the best events. If this were a major, you’d be taking Scottie anyhow.

I don’t have to sell you on his stats… he’s first in everything. He finished 4th here last year en route to his FedExCup title and was 4th before we knew who he was in 2020. We’ve been burned a few times by the top-5s as he went T-7, T-6, T-8 in between his Memorial and Open Championship wins, but two of those three were full field events. Only 69 guys here and he’s the best of them all. He has 11 straight top 10s if you want to lay shorter odds and go -390.

Matt Fitzpatrick to win +2400; top-10 finish (+200)

There might not be a player in better form (other than Scheffler) than Matt Fitzpatrick. After a brutal start to the season, Fitz has gone T-8, T-4, T-4, T-8 over the last four events, with all 16 rounds at par or better. T-5 here back in 2022.

Fitzpatrick is also 41st in the FedExCup standings, so he’ll make top 50, but has some work to do to get to Tour Championship (top 30).