Over $1.5 million, 500 FedEx Cup points and a wooden pony keg trophy are up for grabs to the winner this week as several of the world's best golfers are in the field for the 2019 Safeway Open in Napa, Calif. The third tournament of the 2019-20 PGA Tour wraparound season, the Safeway Open welcomes former major champions Justin Thomas, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott, Jimmy Walker, Jason Dufner, John Daly, Fred Couples and Jim Furyk to the 7,203-yard, par-72 Silverado Resort and Spa North course. The latest 2019 Safeway Open odds list Thomas as the pre-tournament favorite at 6-1, with Scott and Patrick Cantlay second-best at 11-1 and Hideki Matsuyama at 14-1. In addition, defending champion Kevin Tway, Bryson Dechambeau, Brandt Snedeker, Pat Perez and Marc Leishman are in the field. Also, CBS Sports analyst and former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will compete on a sponsor's exemption. Before you lock in your 2019 Safeway Open picks, you'll want to see the PGA Tour predictions and projected leaderboard from the team at SportsLine.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed two of the last three majors entering the weekend. It predicted Gary Woodland's first career major championship at the U.S. Open even though he wasn't the favorite entering the weekend. The result: Woodland held off a late charge from Brooks Koepka and won by three strokes. The model also called Koepka's historic victory at the 2019 PGA Championship, predicting he'd hold his lead in the home stretch. In all, their advanced computer model has nailed a whopping six majors entering the weekend, and anyone who has followed it is way up.
Now that the 2019 Safeway Open field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. One huge shocker the model is calling for: Adam Scott, a 13-time PGA Tour champion and one of the top Vegas favorites, makes a strong run but falls short of winning it all.
Scott played extremely well down the stretch last season, finishing inside the top 10 in six of his last eight PGA Tour starts. In all, Scott finished the 2018-19 PGA Tour season with nine top 10s, including three consecutive top 10 finishes in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Despite his dominant season, Scott struggled to find consistency throughout the year. In fact, the 39-year-old finished T-40 or worse six times last season. Scott's inconsistent performances can be directly attributed to his inability to find the fairway off the tee. The 2013 Masters champion finished last season ranked 135th in driving accuracy percentage (64.93), which doesn't bode well for his chances to finish on top of the leaderboard this weekend. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in this loaded Safeway Open 2019 field.
Another surprise: Francesco Molinari, a massive 33-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title.
A three-time winner on the PGA Tour, Molinari is the 2018 Open Champion and one of the most consistent players worldwide. Molinari also won the 2018 Quicken Loans National, and followed it up last season with a victory at the 2019 Arnold Palmer Invitational en route to a No. 17 finish in the FedEx Cup points standings. Molinari is one of the best bunker players in the world, ranking No. 1 on the PGA Tour last season in sand save percentage (65.33) and No. 4 in proximity to the hole from the sand (7 feet, 3 inches). Currently No. 9 in the Official World Golf Rankings, Molinari also plays on the European Tour, where he has six career victories and won the 2018 Race To Dubai. He has all the tools to make a run near the top of the 2019 Safeway Open leaderboard, so he's a value selection to put on your radar this week.
Also, the model says five other golfers with odds of 25-1 or longer will make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big. You can see who they are, and get the full projected leaderboard, only over at SportsLine.
So who wins the Safeway Open 2019, and which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the projected 2019 Safeway Open leaderboard from the model that's nailed six golf majors, and find out.
Justin Thomas 6-1
Adam Scott 11-1
Patrick Cantlay 11-1
Hideki Matsuyama 14-1
Bryson DeChambeau 25-1
Sungjae Im 25-1
Byeong Hun An 28-1
Francesco Molinari 33-1
Brandt Snedeker 33-1
Lucas Glover 40-1
Emiliano Grillo 40-1
Collin Morikawa 40-1
Scott Piercy 40-1
Chez Reavie 40-1
Kevin Streelman 40-1
Marc Leishman 45-1
Kevin Na 50-1
Abraham Ancer 66-1
Bud Cauley 66-1
Corey Conners 66-1
Dylan Frittelli 66-1
Adam Hadwin 66-1
Charles Howell III 66-1
Phil Mickelson 66-1
Ryan Moore 66-1
