Bets of the Week at the Honda LPGA Thailand: Odd Year Magic Reigns

Photo provided by Ben Harpring

Welcome back to the Bets of the Week! The Honda LPGA Thailand returns for the first time since 2019. Odd year magic will be heavily bet on this week. The tour returns to the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club, which has hosted the last five years of the tournament.

An update for the column: I dropped Intertops from the odds this week. Bovada, MyBookie, and Draft Kings have their full odds listed at the bottom, and each player bet on will have their website with the best odds posted.

Amy Yang (+2200) (Bovada)

Yang has won this tournament three times, all at the Pattaya Old Course, in 2015, 17, and 19. I wrote on this phenomena for Golf Digest here, including a statistical dive on her success.

She's played well this year with four top 16 finishes as well. It's easy to take her at any odds with her success at this event. MyBookie opened the week with her at (+2500), and the odds shifted to (+2000) over the week. Let's follow the smart money.

Bet: 7.5 Units to win 165 units

Moriya Jutanugarn (+2500) (MyBookie)

Jutanugarn is the second most consistent player since 2017 behind Yang. She's knocked on the winner's circle with three top 10s in three starts over that timeframe, including a T2 in 2018. She's playing consistently heading into her home country with a T-17 in Los Angeles and a 16th place finish in Singapore last week.

Bet: 5 Units to win 125 units

Patty Tavatanakit (+2800) (Draft Kings)

I’ve had a habit of picking a player based on the range of odds they receive for a given event. It’s generally gone poorly, but I’m sticking with the philosophy with one of the best players on the LPGA at the moment. Tavatanakit backed up her win in Palm Springs with a T3 finish at the HSBC Women’s World Championship last week.

It’s the Thai’s first start at the Honda LPGA Thailand as a pro, but the odds difference is difficult to ignore. She’s (+1600) at Bovada and (+2000) at MyBookie. I'll take the major champion at 13th most likely to win from Draft Kings.

Bet: 5 units to win 140 units

Xiyu Lin (+6000) (MyBookie)

This bet is all on the hot hand theory. Lin was the 54-hole leader for the first time in her career last week and held her own. It is also another significant odds variation, with Bovada and MyBookie listing Lin at (+4000). She mentioned her work during the 2020 quarantine on her game is starting to pay off, and there’s no reason to think that won’t continue this week.

She finished in 10th place at the Pattaya Old Course in 2016 and T-40 in 2017.

Bet: 5 units to win 300 units

Brittany Lincicome (+150000) (MyBookie)

Lincicome has not had a notable finish in 2021 outside of a T-7 at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions. She finished T-41 in Singapore last week.

The eight-time career winner has never played particularly well in Singapore but cracked the code at the Pattaya Old Course. Her last two starts there resulted in a 13th place and T-7 finish.

With a weaker field with the world’s No. 1 through 5 not in Thailand, it’s worth a flier to see if Lincicome can recapture the magic.

Bet: 2.5 Units to win 300 units

2020 Season Results

Units Spent: 350

Units Won: 547.5

ROI: +56.4%

2020 Wins:

Danielle Kang at Drive On Championship

Sei Young Kim at KPMG Women’s PGA Championship

Angela Stanford at VOA Classic

2021 Season Results

Units Spent: 150