9. Patrick Reed
Reed’s breakthrough victory at last year’s Masters ensured that his 2018 season would be an enormous success, but he would have liked to have finished the season better, as he went ice cold after a 4th place finish at the U.S. Open, and late in the year he made more news with his offstandish personality, becoming something of a villain in the process.
He was invisible in the FedExCup Playoffs, and lost some of his Ryder Cup luster with a subpar performance in Paris, but he seems to be heating up since the new season started, posting a T7 at the WGC-HSBC Champions (although his Sunday was a disaster), and a T2 at the European Tour’s DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.
This will be his fifth consecutive year playing the Hero World Challenge, with three of those four event starts landing inside the top 5. His best finish was a runner-up to Bubba Watson in the 2015 edition.
Odds: 18-1
World Rank: 15th
Field Rank: 11th
Last Six: 45, 2, 7, 28, 19, 35
8. Tony Finau
Being off the last two weeks was probably necessary for Finau, who was red-hot from August through October, but was leaking oil in his two most recent starts, mediocre finishes in Las Vegas and Mexico.
Finau was not quite able to land in the winner’s circle in 2018, although he had a tremendous season overall, finishing runner-up three times, and his 11 top-10s ranked second on Tour.
A first-timer at Albany, few players on Tour boast a greater combination of both power and finesse. There is little doubt that he can go low here.
Odds: 18-1
World Rank: 14th
Field Rank: 10th
Last Six: 16, 36, 2, 10, 15, 8
7. Xander Schauffele
In the 2018 season, Schauffele posted a plethora of great finishes in elite events, including a T2 at THE PLAYERS Championship, a T6 at the U.S. Open, a T2 at the Open Championship, and a T3 at the BMW Championship, but he was not quite able to add career victory No. 3 during his sophomore season.
He ended that dry spell last month, when – in just his third start of the new 2018-19 season – Schauffele outdueled Tony Finau in a playoff to claim victory at the WGC-HSBC Champions.
An ultimate big-game hunter, it is worth wondering if the Hero World Challenge is enough to really pique the interest of the now World No. 12, but even as an event rookie, his form has been too good to ignore.
Odds: 18-1
World Rank: 12th
Field Rank: 8th
Last Six: 16, 1, 48, 25, 7, 3
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