Our first round leader selections at the Bermuda Championship featuring a 100/1 shot with course form.
Bermuda ChampionshipSee All Odds
Kevin Roy at 40/1 (Six Places) - 1pt EW
Kevin Roy could go well this week and looks like a prime candidate for a fast start, too. He comes into the event in some of the best form in the field, having finished inside the top 32 in each of his last six tournaments. Highlights include a tied-19th finish at the Wyndham Championship and a tied-13th last week at the Baycurrent Classic, where he faced a much stronger field than he will this week.
He handles the wind and has proved as much already this season, with finishes of T11 at the Scottish Open, T3 at the Myrtle Beach Classic and T13 at the Sony Open, where he shot an opening-round 62 to share the lead.
He also brings solid course form into the week, having finished T8 here in 2023 and T34 last year, when he sat 18th heading into the final round. It also helps that he has historically performed well on shorter courses. All things considered, he looks a great fit here.
Roy ranks sixth in this field for the percentage of rounds in which he has gained four or more strokes over the last six months. He has also produced some low rounds in recent tournaments:
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Baycurrent Classic: 66 in round three, the second-lowest score of the day.
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Bank of Utah Championship: 63 in rounds one and two, the second-lowest score on both days.
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Biltmore Championship: 64 in round four, among the lowest scores of the day.
He also ranks eighth for first-round performance over the last six months, with two top-five FRL finishes in his last six outings and another top-20 finish. With his ability to handle the wind, strong recent form and proven capacity to start quickly, Roy looks an interesting option in the FRL market.
Peter Malnati at 100/1 (Six Places) - 1pt EW
At a big price, Malnati might be worth a play in the FRL market. The two-time PGA Tour winner might not look like the most obvious bet on paper, but there is plenty to like about him this week.
His performance at the Biltmore Championship last month caught my eye. He shot a 65 in round one and a 64 on Sunday, ranking T3 and T6 respectively for those rounds. He also ranked fourth for approach play, which is particularly encouraging after a run of seven tournaments in which he had really struggled to find anything with his irons.
Despite following that performance with a missed cut, courtesy of a very poor opening-round 74, his second round saw him shoot a 65, just three strokes off the lowest score of the day. He also ranked 27th for approach in that round. There are signs he may have found something.
This is particularly important given that he arrives at a course where he has performed well before. He finished T21 on debut here in 2021 before following that up with a T7 in 2022 and a T37 in 2023.
He has gained two or more strokes in five of his 10 rounds at Port Royal (50%), which ranks sixth among this field. He has gained four or more strokes in two of those rounds (20%), ranking 13th.
Malnati was the outright first-round leader here in 2021 after shooting a 63, and he arrives this time around in encouraging first-round scoring form.
He ranks 15th in the field for first-round scoring over the last six months, with first-round positions of 28th, first, 23rd and third among his last six outings. At a big price, his course history and recent signs of improvement make him an intriguing FRL outsider.
