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At +4500, Sebastian Munoz will look to get hot again in the Lone Star State.

At +4500, Sebastian Munoz will look to get hot again in the Lone Star State.

Does experience matter? The two former Korn Ferry Tour all-stars duking it out for not only their first win on the PGA Tour but first major would probably tell you “yes.”

It was back and forth for most of the final round at Southern Hills for not only Will Zalatoris and Mito Pereira, but Matt Fitzpatrick and Cameron Young as well. However, all four would ultimately shoot over par, allowing 2017 champion Justin Thomas to sneak into a playoff with only Zalatoris after Pereira’s mishap on 18. In the playoff, JT’s resolve and driving ability sparkled as he captured his second major title.

As for the picks, Fitzpatrick and Young both seriously contended for their first major championship recording T5 and T3, respectively, while Patrick Cantlay never seemed interested and missed the cut.

We now head back to Texas for the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth. Similar to the first tournament post-Masters, Colonial will enjoy a strong field including six of the top 10 golfers in the world. Unlike the unpredictable weather patterns of Tulsa, it should be sunny and hot throughout the week amid the shorter par-70, 7,200-yard layout. We’ll certainly see plenty of more birdies and an advantage for those who can keep the ball in regulation.

According to SI Sportsbook, Masters champion and No. 1 in the world Scottie Scheffler is the favorite at +1100. Right behind are friends and recent winners Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth at +1200. Next up is reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa at +1600. To close out the notables is Norwegian star Viktor Hovland at +2000.

For our favorite, we’re going just outside those mentioned above again and taking Sam Burns at +2800. This is solid value for a guy who’s won twice on the season and who seems to have found something at the PGA Championship with a top-20 finish after missing two straight cuts. Colonial has been previewed to be “Southern Hills Lite” and that will bode well for a guy who can lean on what brought him success the week prior. Furthermore, Colonial places an emphasis on second shots and Burns ranks 12th in strokes gained: approach and 13th in strokes gained: total for his Tour campaign so far. Burns should use momentum gained from last week for a strong outing in Texas.

For a midrange pick, Sebastian Munoz at +4500 seems to be the right horse here, playing some steady golf as of late. Munoz has not missed a cut since back in January at The American Express and did not finish worse than T39 prior to last week’s PGA Championship where he made the cut in brutal conditions. He contended at the recent AT&T Byron Nelson recording a T3 and perhaps most importantly, Munoz has positive strokes gained: approach in each start since missing his lone cut of 2022. Look for the guy who finished third at Colonial last year to make another serious run.

For a deep sleeper, we are going to look at last year’s renaissance man, Stewart Cink at +10000. We must go all the way back to 2000 to find Cink’s best finish at the Charles Schwab Challenge where he finished runner-up. However, the guy who won twice last year at the Safeway Open and RBC Heritage seems to be finding some of that form again. In two of his last five starts, Cink finished T7 at the Valspar Championship and T9 at the Wells Fargo Championship along with a solid T23 at last week’s PGA Championship. If Southern Hills was a warm-up for what players should expect at Colonial, Cink should continue to find some past touch and contend.

2021-22 picks scoreboard:

Events: 27
Winners: 2
Top 5s: 9
Top 10s: 5
Top 20s: 1

Here are some notable odds, according to SI Sportsbook:

Scottie Scheffler +1100
Justin Thomas +1200
Jordan Spieth +1200
Collin Morikawa +1600
Viktor Hovland +2000
Will Zalatoris +2000
Max Homa +2500
Sam Burns +2800
Abraham Ancer +3300
Tommy Fleetwood +3300
Daniel Berger +3300
Tony Finau +3300
Sungjae Im +3300
Webb Simpson +3300
Davis Riley +4000
Chris Kirk +4000
Jason Kokrak +4000
Billy Horschel +4000
Brian Harman +4000
Gary Woodland +4500
Kevin Na +4500
Sebastian Munoz +4500
Mito Pereira +5000
Justin Rose +5000
Harold Varner +5000
Maverick McNealy +5500
Tom Hoge +5500
Bryson DeChambeau +6000
Patrick Reed +6600
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +7000
Cameron Tringale +7000
C.T. Pan +7000
Ryan Palmer +7500
Rickie Fowler +8000
Kevin Kisner +8500
Erik Van Rooyen +9500
Kyoung-Hoon Lee +9500
Joel Dahmen +9500
Troy Merritt +9500
Cam Davis +10000
Ian Poulter +10000
Patton Kizzire +10000
Russell Knox +10000
Matthew NeSmith +10000
Stewart Cink +10000