ISCO Championship:
The Genesis Scottish Open is not the only co-sanctioned event this week held by the PGA Tour and DP World Tour as players head to Kentucky for the ISCO Championship.
This event is even more notable this week in the golf betting market with an amateur player being the favorite. Luke Clanton (12-1) just wrapped his sophomore season at Florida State, and this past Sunday he became the first player since Billy Jo Patton in 1958 to record back-to-back top-10 finishes (Rocket Mortgage Classic, John Deere Classic) on the PGA Tour as an amateur.
The second choice on the odds board is another recent college player: Michael Thorbjornsen (18-1), who recently left Stanford as the No. 1 player in the PGA Tour U rankings and finished tied for second with Clanton last week at the John Deere Classic.
There is a decent-sized drop-off from the two youngsters to the rest of the field on the odds board. Chan Kim, Mac Meissner and Daniel Berger sit at 33-1.
Carson Young (35-1) finished in the top 5 last week at the John Deere.
Ben Silverman has three top-20 finishes in his last five events and is priced at 40-1 along with Michael Kim and Joel Dahmen.
At 45-1 are J.J. Spaun who finished in the top 10 two weeks ago in Detroit, and Neal Shipley, who turned professional two weeks ago in Detroit after earning low amateur honors at the Masters and the U.S. Open earlier this year.
The Field
There are 156 players in the ISCO Championship field, which you can find here.
Current DraftKings odds
The Course
The Champion Course at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Ky., plays host to the ISCO Championship and has done so since 2018. The track was originally designed in 1987 by Arthur Hills and was made over in 2016 by J. Drew Rogers. It plays as a par-72 of 7,328 yards and is a relatively easy track for these professionals with a little better than 23 under as the average winning score for this tournament over the last five years. There is a large lake in play at the end of both nines and on six holes overall; however, this course is gettable. The Bentgrass fairways are undulating but very generous and players will be hitting into large (6,000 square feet) and receptive Bentgrass greens that roll at 11 on the stimpmeter.
Hot and humid weather conditions allow the ball to fly long distances, and this tournament is often played with soft turf and receptive green conditions. It’s a recipe for a good old-fashioned PGA Tour birdie-fest.
ISCO Championship Recent History
2023: Vincent Norrman (-22/266); 28-1*
2022: Trey Mullinax (-25/263); 150-1
2021: Seamus Power (-21/267); 16-1**
2020: No Tournament (COVID-19)
2019: Jim Herman (-26/262); 500-1
2018: Troy Merritt (-23/265); 55-1
Playoff Win over Nathan Kimsey – *
​Playoff Win over J.T. Poston – **
Selections
J.J. Spaun, 33-1
Spaun finished top 10 two weeks ago in Detroit and T-23 last weekend at the John Deere Classic where he was inside the top 10 heading into Sunday’s final round.
He ranks ninth in this field for Strokes Gained: Approach.
Rico Hoey, 40-1
Hoey is off a T-6 in Detroit and a T-26 at the John Deere Classic over the last two weeks.
He ranks fifth in this field for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee, sixth for Opportunities Gained, ninth for Birdie Or Better and 18th for Strokes Gained: Approach.
Patrick Fishburn, 50-1
Fishburn has five top-25 finishes in his last seven starts.
He ranks seventh in this field for Strokes Gained: Off-The-Tee.
Pierceson Coody, 60-1
Coody has made eight of his last nine cuts.
He ranks third in this field for Strokes Gained: Putting over the last 36 rounds.
Johannes Veerman, 75-1
Veerman has four top-10 finishes in his last eight starts on the DP World Tour.
