Each day, one of our experts will offer up a best bet (or two or three) that mobile sportsbooks are offering. It might be a traditional spread bet, a player prop or one of the various odds boosts that books offer.
Here are our best bets for Wednesday, Aug. 9:
TOP PLAY
The play: FedEx St. Jude Classic, Jon Rahm to finish in the top 10
The odds: -110
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Time/TV: Thursday through Sunday (ESPN+, Golf Channel all four days; CBS on Saturday and Sunday)
Our take: The top 70 are in Detroit this weekend to kick off the FedEx Cup playoffs, and while we’re always good for a value play on an upset or two when we’re playing a top-10 pick we usually take our best chalk play.
Here, Rahm is well-rested playing only the British Open the past six weeks (and finishing second), and he has done well here with a fifth and a seventh since 2019. He might even be a better play to win this event at +850 over Scottie Scheffler’s +600.
The winner here is going to be someone who is best this week with a balance of off-the-tee and approach, and Rahm is one of the best at both.
We like the price for a top 10 with only 70 golfers in the field and no cut.
LONGER-SHOT TOP 20 PLAY
The play: Matt Fitzpatrick to finish in the top 20
The odds: +130
The book: FanDuel Sportsbook
Our take: Fitzpatrick hasn’t been great as of late (but he hasn’t been bad), but he certainly knows how to play this course with a fifth, sixth and fourth over the past three seasons.
Also, it seems like he has been so good in general over the past four to five seasons that when he has a stretch of 41st, missed cut, 49th, 17th and 20th, it just seems lousy.
Great value at plus money to finish in the top 20 for a player of this caliber.
HOW WE’VE FARED
MLB 5-inning play: Marlins -0.5 over Reds (LOST)
MLB total: Astros-Orioles over 8.5 runs (WON)
Tuesday’s record: 1-1
Total for the week: 1-3
Total for August: 7-11
Total for 2023: 181-205
NOTE: If a line or odds are minus, it considers the juice one must lay to place the bet. Ex: Team A is -160 on the money line, one would have to bet $160 to win $100 (or $16 to win $10). OR Team B is a 5-point favorite at -110, one would have to bet $110 to win $100 (or $11 to win $10.)
Conversely, on positive lines, if Team C is +140 on the money line, $100 would bring in $140 (or $10 to win $14).
