The Byron Nelson Prediction and Tips

The Byron Nelson takes top billing on the PGA Tour this week and despite the dust having just settled on a thrilling and exhausting US PGA Championship at Aronimink, a strong field is heading to the Dallas suburbs.

Scottie Scheffler, the world number one and defending champion, was always going to be a red-hot favourite if he teed it up at TPC Craig Ranch and his outright odds of 13/8 tell you everything. 

But if this is the birdie fest it always is then a player who was 97th in strokes gained putting last week - and even one as good as Scheffler - might not be that easy to fancy, especially at the odds.

The Byron Nelson Tips Summary

Best Bet - Christiaan Bezuidenhout each-way @ 60/1
Alternative Bet - Kevin Roy each-way @ 80/1
Alternative Bet - Beau Hossler each-way @ 90/1

The Byron Nelson Prediction

Best Bet: Christiaan Bezuidenhout each-way @ 60/1

Ernie Els and Rory Sabbatini have won the Byron Nelson and a third South African, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, could follow them in this week.

The world number 88 is having a solid year and after playing all four days at Aronimink he should be confident he can have fun on a course where the birdies can pile up.

Overseas players have a good record at TPC Craig Ranch - another South African, Erik van Rooyen, was second last year and since the turn of the century there have been seven different nationalities besides the US who have taken the spoils.

Bezuidenhout is clearly putting well this year and that is the key metric around this course in McKinney, Texas.

Bezuidenhout sits fourth in total putting in the PGA Tour's stats and was 10th in strokes gained putting at the US PGA Championship, where he came home tied-35th on one-over par, finishing 70-67 on the weekend.

He shared sixth place at Myrtle Beach the week before - a second top-10 this season - so the signs were there and this could be a golden opportunity for this South African to break his duck in the States.

Alternative Bet: Kevin Roy each-way @ 80/1

Another player who excelled at Myrtle Beach was Kevin Roy, who shot 68-66-65-69 for a tied-third finish, just two adrift of winner Brandt Snedeker.

The 36-year-old had been through a quiet patch before igniting in South Carolina and when he gets on a roll he can pile in the birdies.

He shot a best-ever 62 in Puerto Rico last year, a course comparable in many ways to Craig Ranch, and he is in the top 20 for strokes gained putting this season.

Alternative Bet: Beau Hossler each-way @ 90/1

Former Texas Longhorn Beau Hossler's best day on the PGA Tour came when he made a play-off in the Houston Open, back in 2018.

He lost out to Ian Poulter and apart from the odd flourish has not done an awful lot - until last week.

Again, Myrtle Beach was the venue with Hossler also shooting four rounds in the 60s for a tie for third alongside Roy.

That ended a 10-month wait for a top-10 finish and he can build on that at Craig Ranch, a course he knows well.

His driving can be suspect but he is fourth in strokes gained putting on Tour this year and it's the putter, not the driver, which will be the key weapon this week.

Key Tournament Stats

• TPC Craig Ranch is a Tom Weiskopf-designed 7,385 yard par 71, which is an absolute birdie-fest.

• Scottie Scheffler, himself a Texan, was in tears after winning one of his home-state events 12 months ago, doing so by compiling an outrageous, record-breaking 31-under score of 253.

• The tournament is named in honour of the first winner, Texas legend Byron Nelson, who bolted up by 10 strokes in the inaugural running in 1944.

• Scheffler is looking to become the fourth man after Sam Snead, Tom Watson and KH Lee to successfully defend the title. Lee, winner in 2021 and 2022, is in the field this week.

• The cut last year was at 137, or minus 5; Canada's Mackenzie Hughes opened up with a 65 and still managed to miss the cut by one.

• Twenty-two players last year shot four rounds in the 60s in the Byron Nelson, among them Scheffler, Erik van Rooyen, Jordan Spieth and Si Woo Kim, all of whom are teeing it up this week.

Read more golf betting tips and predictions on site.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.