The strongest field of the new season is on tap this week as the PGA Tour heads west for the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas. World No. 4 Patrick Cantlay highlights a Shriners Children’s Open 2022 field that features 12 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking. Cantlay is playing his first event of the season’s fall portion after going 3-1-0 for the victorious United States team at the 2022 Presidents Cup two weeks ago. The International Team from that event also is well represented this week, led by South Korean Sungjae Im, who is back to defend his 2021 Shriners title. Tom Kim, who spurred on the Internationals with his energy and went 2-3-0 in the 17.5-12.5 Team USA victory at Quail Hollow, also is set for his first PGA Tour event of the season. The 20-year-old was a finalist for 2021-22 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year. Max Homa, who won the Fortinet Championship before going 4-0-0 in Team USA’s victory, also is among the stars in the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open field.

The latest 2022 Shriners Children’s Open odds list Cantlay as a 13-2 favorite, with Im (10-1) and Homa (14-1) not far behind. Among the other contenders in the Shriners Children’s Open 2022 field are Aaron Wise (18-1) and Kim (30-1), with every other golfer listed at 40-1 or longer. Before making any 2022 Shriners Children’s Open picks, be sure you check out the PGA Tour predictions and best bets from golf insider Patrick McDonald.

After spending time at FanSided and NBC Sports EDGE, McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in the spring of 2022. Now covering the sport from a broader perspective, McDonald still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour.

He takes a measured approach to his outright selections and finished the 2021-22 season up 42 units on those plays, having hit Cameron Smith (22-1) at the Tournament of Champions, Hudson Swafford (250-1) at The American Express, Joaquin Niemann (70-1) at the Genesis Invitational and Justin Thomas (66-1) live at the PGA Championship.

McDonald hit both of his head-to-head matchup plays at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship, and long-shot play Dean Burmester just missed cashing in at 66-1. The 33-year-old rookie stormed up the leaderboard on the weekend but ran out of time and finished fourth, just two strokes back.

Now, McDonald has studied the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open field and is locking in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. You can head to SportsLine now to see all his PGA picks and predictions. 

Top 2022 Shriners Children’s Open expert picks

Shockingly, McDonald is fading Homa, one of the biggest names in the field and one of the clear favorites. The expert knows the 31-year-old already has a victory this year and also performed well in the Presidents Cup, but he also has seen the Californian’s track record at TPC Summerlin. Homa has played this event five times, and he missed the cut in four of them and finished 30th in the other. He doesn’t hit the green as often as he will need to in Las Vegas, as he ranked 110th in greens in regulation last season and was 82nd on tour in scrambling.

On the other hand, the expert is looking forward to seeing if Cantlay can continue his excellent play at Summerlin. He won the 2017 Shriners for his first career victory and also was a runner-up twice before finishing eighth in his last appearance in 2020. He is 70 under par over those four events. Cantlay finished in the top 10 in 12 of his 20 tournaments last season, winning twice, including the BMW Championship playoff event, and finishing as a runner-up three times. He was sixth on tour in scoring average (49.468) and fifth in birdie average (4.44). See who else to pick here.

How to make 2022 Shriners Children’s Open golf picks

Before this week’s PGA Tour event in Las Vegas, McDonald has locked in his best bets for the 2022 Shriners Children’s Open. He is backing several massive long shots to win, including one golfer who comes in at almost 100-1. You can only see all of the expert’s picks at SportsLine.

So which 2022 Shriners Children’s Open picks should you target? Which golfer priced at almost 100-1 could pull off a stunning victory this week at the Shriners Children’s Open 2022? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Patrick McDonald’s top prop picks for Shriners Children’s Open 2022, all from the expert who ended last season up 42 units on outright plays.

2022 Shriners Children’s Open odds, field, top contenders

See full Shriners Children’s Open 2022 picks, best bets, and predictions here. 

Patrick Cantlay 13-2
Sungjae Im 10-1
Max Homa 14-1
Aaron Wise 18-1
Tom Kim 30-1

more odds coming soon …

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Danny Willett three-putted the 18th green from inside four feet after watching Max Homa hole a chip as the 34-year-old Yorkshireman missed out on the PGA Tour’s Fortinet Championship title by a shot.

“It was obviously a disappointing way to finish, but you know, it was the first event of the season, so to be in contention shows that my overall game is in a good place. We’ll live to fight another day,” said Willett, who shot a closing 69 to finish on 15 under.

On Homa’s chip-in birdie from below the green, he added: “I expected him to do it, but then it’s still a bit of a shock when it happens.”

The late turnaround means Willett remains in search of a first PGA Tour title since his 2016 Masters victory.

“It was kind of a wild finish,” said Homa, who carded a final-round 68 at Silverado Resort in California. “The last three minutes are kind of a blur. But I played really good golf. I played solid.”

American Taylor Montgomery, making his fifth tour start, shot the best round of the day with an eight-birdie 64 to surge up the leaderboard and finish third. Rickie Fowler showed signs he is returning to form with a share of sixth place after a closing 69, while Belgium’s Thomas Detry continued to impress as he finished joint 12th.

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NAPA, Calif. (AP) — Max Homa moved into position to defend his title at the Fortinet Championship, shooting a 5-under 67 on Friday to share the early 36-hole lead with Danny Willett at the PGA Tour’s season opener.

Homa, a two-time winner last season and a captain’s pick for next week’s Presidents Cup, had an eagle, four birdies and a bogey — his first of the week — for a two-day total of 12-under 132 at Silverado Resort & Spa.

“The course fits my eyes,” Homa said. “I hit a lot of wedges today and I’ve been hitting the wedges really well, so when I get a lot of wedges from fairways like these, I feel like I can attack the pins.”

The four-time PGA Tour winner played collegiately at California.

“I’ve got a great support system here,” said Homa, who won the 2013 NCAA individual title. “I’ve got friends and family up here and a bunch of, you know, people who appreciate I went to school up here.”

Willett, winless in the United States since his triumph at the Masters in 2016, shot a bogey-free 64. The English player kept his PGA Tour card for this season because of players defecting to the Saudi-funded LIV Golf series.

“Yeah, we kind of got handed a lifeline with the guys leaving, which was nice,” Willett said. “We kind of had to reassess things and decided we’d press on and play a little bit more this fall over here and really try to get some points up early.”

Willett has eight titles on the European tour, most recently last October at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland.

He had eight birdies in his second round and is bogey-free for the week.

“You know, the rough is hit and miss and with the greens being firm as they are. To go bogey-free is really good,” said Willett, who has only six top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour since winning his lone major. “The field game is pretty sharp, the short game’s pretty sharp.”

First-round leader Justin Lower was two shots back after a 71. His best finish in 28 previous PGA Tour events dating to 2013 was a tie for eighth.

“It’s always hard to follow up a very low round with another good round or even lower,” Lower said. “But I will take one under today. Could it have been better? Yes, but it definitely could have been worse as well.”

Jason Day, Harris English, Charley Hoffman and Webb Simpson were among the players who missed the cut.

Copyright 2022 by STATS LLC and Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and Associated Press is strictly prohibited.

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A new PGA Tour season — the last with the fall swing as we know it — began on Thursday in Napa, California, with a lengthy weather delay and a pretty fascinating first-round leaderboard. The entire field was unable to finish Round 1 on account of some early fog on the West Coast and a handful of golfers will finish up their first 18 holes on Friday morning.

Let’s take a look at a feel-good story at the top of the board after a partially completed Round 1 and a couple of big names who got their new seasons off to a great start.

The leader

1. Justin Lower (-9): Everybody probably remembers his teary press conference after narrowly missing making the top 125 last year at the Wyndham Championship. Lower later retained his PGA Tour card by being bumped up because some of the players ahead of him in the top 125 moved over to LIV Golf, and he took advantage of it on Thursday at the Fortinet Championship.

Lower’s T8 finish last year at the Barbasol Championship is the best of his career by OWGR points earned, but he’s in a great position to better that and put himself in a great spot to get well ahead of the curve of making the top 125 when this season concludes. Lower said after his 63 on Thursday that a year of experience on the Tour makes all the difference in the world.

“I left this course last year kind of in shock, honestly,” Lower said. “I was like, ‘God, if this is how the Tour is, I need to get a lot better very quickly.’ Yeah, I feel a lot more confident than I did at this point last year just being the last card last year and then being where I am this year, I feel a lot more confident with my game and a lot more comfortable, for sure.”

Other contenders

2. Max Homa (-7)

T3. Ben An, J.J. Spaun, S.H. Kim (-6)

T6. Greyson Sigg, Nick Taylor, Rickie Fowler, Sahith Theegala, Emiliano Grillo, Scott Harrington, Matti Schmid, Sung Kang, Brice Garnett, Robby Shelton (-5)

This dawned on me last year at this very tournament, which Homa won, but he has turned himself into one of the most consistent threats to win on the entire PGA Tour. He shot his third consecutive 65 at this event (dating back to last year when he shot 65-65 on the weekend to win) and picked up right where he left off on his best year ever on the PGA Tour last season. With the Presidents Cup coming next week, Homa’s form is a great sign for the U.S. team and perhaps an even better sign for him as he tries to win this tournament for the second straight year (Brendan Steele did the same in 2016 and 2017).

Rickie’s return

Rickie Fowler has had a rough few years, but he had an awesome Thursday with a 5-under 67, which is his second-best round since the Wells Fargo Championship in May. Contention from him this weekend would be incredibly popular and the absolute perfect start for the PGA Tour to a new season.

“Like we’ve talked, just trying to get back to being more consistent,” Fowler said. “I’ve had some good weeks in the past few years, but it shouldn’t just be a few weeks in those years, there needs to be more. That’s kind of the biggest thing is just getting back to playing some consistent golf, consistently being in contention and having chances to win tournaments.”

2022 Fortinet Championship updated odds and picks

• Max Homa: +350
• Justin Lower: 9-1
• Sahith Theegala: 12-1
• J.J. Spaun: 14-1
• Emiliano Grillo: 14-1
• Hideki Matsuyama: 20-1

I think Homa has the best chance to win, but I don’t like his number here. I’d rather have Theegala at 12-1 or even somebody like Adam Svensson — who was fifth in strokes gained tee to green on Thursday — at 55-1.

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