Many of last week’s Monday Misprice selections lurked at the 3M Open (Hoag, Schenk, and Stuard primarily), but it was Cameron Champ who blasted his way to his third career victory. Before heading down to Memphis for the WGC-Fedex St. Jude, many of the world’s top players (sans reigning US Open champion Jon Rahm and Bryson Dechambeau who were forced to withdraw due to positive Covid-19 tests) will head to the Far East to compete in the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Players will take on the Kasumigaseki Country Club, just outside of Tokyo. It is a classic Tom Fazio bentgrass design, with tree-lined fairways, and general similarities to Firestone, Shadow Creek, Quail Hollow, and Sherwood CC. Hideki Matsuyama won the main noteworthy amateur event played here a decade ago.
Considering this is a smaller than normal field (59 players as of this writing), without a cut, and play to begin Wednesday evening here in the States, here are the best value plays on Draftkings to medal in Tokyo…
$8,100-THOMAS PIETERS-making an exception to our usual sub-8K threshold due to the shortened field, The Belgian Bomber (succeeding Nicolas Colsaerts and preceding THOMAS DETRY who I am also intrigued by this week at $7,500 for similar reasons) makes the list. Known for his sound barrier piercing piss missiles, we’ve seen this guy lurk at Augusta, along with many other premier events in the States, but more so overseas on the Euro Tour in recent years. With five T15s to his name this year, call the waiter over-this cacio pepe needs some more fresh ground black PEPPER!
$8,000-MAC HUGHES-the bentgrass putting aficionado is a hammer play for me this week, not just for his prowess with the flatstick, but for his overall form and success at “big boy” events. We saw him lurk at the US Open at Torrey Pines (15th)-where most said he had absolutely no business to lurk. We saw him lurk at The Open (6th) only a couple weeks ago, again, at a venue where most discounted his chances due to a lack of experience. Welp, the prodigy from North of The Border keeps on coming through. Don’t leave the table yet…
$7,800-S.W. KIM-as we've heard at nauseam for the last year, along with his compatriot Sungjae Im, Si Woo needs a medal to avoid the notorious required military stint in his native land of Korea. I wish he were in better form, but with the stakes being this high, priced at a relative discount considering the weak field overall, I think it would be wise to sprinkle some SWK jimmies on the Olympics sundae this week.
$7,400-JHONNY VEGAS-The Venezuelean meat missile with the best last name in the degenerate sporting world is arriving in Japan off a runner-up at the 3M Open. His travel from Minnesota to Tokyo is really the only downside I see, and it should be considered no doubt. However, I will take his year-to-date form (now including three, yes, three runner-ups) over the potential jet lag. Let her rip! Weeee!
$7,300-RIKUYA HOSHINO-the lesser known of the host country athletes (behind reigning Masters champion Hideki, of course) may go under the radar for his lack of familiarity in the community. However, he could be a nice pivot off the impending lower 7K chalk. He did after all come in a respectable 26th place at the US Open, to go with 5 career victories on the Japan Tour, two of which came earlier this year.
$7,300-MIGHTY MITO PEREIRA-this is strictly a form play: between the Korn Ferry and PGA Tours, the next Chilean wunderkind has SIX T10s including two wins this year. Joaco Niemann still has the chops to lead the country’s contingent, but “Mighty Mito” could be the one holding the hardware come Sunday...
Sicko Specials-$7,100 or less this week (tread lightly): COUSIN RASMUS, SCHWAB, JAZZ, THE KIWI FOX, THE AUSTRIAN BULLDOG, and MAX KIEFFER.
BOL TO ALL!
*Follow @Blatant_Chief along with the other degens on Twitter (@BlatantGolf, @LiamBlatant, @BlatantLegsBets, and @RomeoTheCaddy) for real-time updates, more sleeper plays, and comical insight throughout the week.