15. Gary Woodland
The lowest-ranked player in the Hero field (No. 32 in the world), Woodland is one of the hottest players teeing up at Albany, with three top 10s in four events on the new season.
Among the Tour’s biggest bombers, few are more accurate with their irons than Woodland, who finished 10th on Tour last year in greens in regulation.
He is playing this event for the first time, but at No. 3 on Tour in birdie average, there is little worry that he will be unable to keep up with the bigger names. The scores tend to be very low here, and Woodland has a penchant for going very low.
Odds: 28-1
World Rank: 32nd
Field Rank: 18th
Last Six: 41, 10, 2, 5, 11, 12
14. Hideki Matsuyama
Among the Tour’s elite talents, only Jordan Spieth was a bigger disappointment in 2018 than Matsuyama. After a three-win, three runner-up 2017, Matsuyama had none of either this past season, posting just four top 10 finishes in 21 PGA Tour starts and seeing his world ranking drop from 5th to 25th.
He looked like he was coming around again with a strong performance in the FedExCup Playoffs (T15, T4, 15, T4), but since the Tour Championship, he was irrelevant on the Asian swing, and more recently, had some shockingly poor finishes in two Japan Tour events (T44, T46).
The 26-year-old would love to get his game trending positively again, and he could give himself some momentum going into 2019 if he performs close at Albany the way he did when he won the 2017 edition by two strokes over Henrik Stenson.
Odds: 22-1
World Rank: 25th
Field Rank: 15th
Last Six: 44, 46, 30, 18, 4, 15
13. Patrick Cantlay
In an 18-man no-cut event, his phenomenal cut record might not be super relevant, but we continue to be incredibly impressed with Cantlay’s consistency, which has led to weekend play in 35 of his last 37 PGA Tour starts.
A Hero World Challenge rookie, Cantlay is 20th in the current World Rankings, and is coming to the Bahamas hot, with his last two finishes being a T7 at the WGC-HSBC Champions, and a runner-up finish at the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open, where he had 17 birdies over his final 36 holes, and perhaps most promising for his future prospects, he putted exceptionally.
Odds: 22-1
World Rank: 20th
Field Rank: 14th
Last Six: 2, 7, 17, 21, 55, 24
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