Crypto.com Showdown Best Bets: Brooks and Bryson To Take the Crypto Coin
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Craig Edwards
- December 16, 2024
Golf Pick: Brooks Koepka & Bryson DeChambeau ML (+110) at BetOnline (visit our BetOnline Review)
This week at BMR we analyse the Showdown between LIV Golf’s major champions, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka and the PGA Tour’s best two players’ Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy.
Crypto.com Showdown
Tuesday, December 17, 2024 – 06:00 PM ET at Shadow Creek Golf Club
Course Notes
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Par 72, 7560 yards
- Designer – Tom Fazio
- Originally built by Steve Wynn for his high-roller clientele 30 minutes away from the Las Vegas strip.
- Bent grass greens
- Bermuda grass fairways
Ryder Cup Style Format
The Showdown has incorporated the Ryder Cup style match play format over 18 holes and has been broken down into three six-hole segments to represent Fourballs, Foursomes (alternate shot) and Singles, which will close the Showdown over the final six holes
LIV vs. PGA Tour
The breakaway LIV Tour exposed the PGA Tour’s inefficiencies, which Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson have long campaigned against.
There is undoubtedly a slice of humble pie being eaten by the PGA Tour and golf fans are hoping this Showdown brings the two tours back together for a more convivial relationship beneficial to all parties. It will be interesting to see Jay Monahan of the PGA Tour attend what looks mainly a LIV-promoted event with the commentary team featuring David Feherty and Bubba Watson.
Scottie Scheffler & Rory McIlroy
With the four players of this long-awaited contest returning from lengthy breaks since the end of their seasons, Scottie Sheffler’s impressive win a couple of weeks ago at the Hero World Challenge is the standout piece of recent form.
I don’t think anyone would take issue with the fact that Scheffler is the world #1 despite the fact LIV players can only play in the major championships, diluting the credibility of the World Rankings. The problem for this duo, however, is that McIlroy is the potential weak link of the four in the modern game. His capitulation to allow Bryson DeChambeau to win the U.S. Open was another mental scare for the popular four-time major winner.
Leaving the Northern Irishman’s long-awaited search for a fifth major championship spilling over into a second decade since his win at the 2014 PGA Championship, there are no such concerns for Scheffler, who has the potential to win the match alone.
Brooks Koepka & Bryson DeChambeau
For many years, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau were arch-rivals indeed. It was only a couple of years ago they played a “Grudge Showdown” encounter between them in Las Vegas.
Bryson DeChambeau has been busy since the season ended, doing his YouTube content and a Hole-in-one Challenge at home as his Instagram shows.
Time appears to have healed their rift, and perhaps being LIV golf’s two biggest signings and their two most recent major champions since signing for the Saudi-backed Tour has brought them together with a sense of “siege mentality” when playing major championships.
It is plausible that playing major championships off a lighter schedule and with a chip on their shoulders has focused their minds, as both still look at the top of their games. That chip-on-the-shoulder togetherness could actually work for them in this match, as they go about the business of winning the Showdown to put LIV Golf on the theoretical top of the golfing world.
We anticipate Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau stepping up for The Showdown. They’re positioned as the underdogs at (+110) with BetOnline, making them our pick for the Crypto.com Showdown.
Golf Pick: Brooks Koepka & Bryson DeChambeau ML (+110) at BetOnline
*The line and/or odds on picks in this article might have moved since the content was commissioned. For updated line movements, visit BMR’s free betting odds product.
