Bets of the Week at the Kia Classic

Photo provided by Ben Harpring

The California swing begins with returning to the Kia Classic. The tour did not play in Carlsbad last year due to the pandemic. Nasa Hataoka emerged victorious over a conglomerate of LPGA heavyweights, with Jin Young Ko, Inbee Park, Danielle Kang, Sung Hyun Park, and Azahara Munoz finishing T2 behind the Japanese star.

We've got a bit of a sample size early on, so focus on play and history at the course is a key for selections this week.

Draft Kings, Bovada, MyBookie, and Intertops full odds are listed at the bottom.

Inbee Park (+1400) (Draft Kings)

The Hall of Famer is making her 2021 season debut at a course she has finished inside of the top 25 in every year of the tournament's existence. Park has three runner-up finishes, five top fives, and nine top 20s, with her worst finish, a T21 in 2017.

Entering her 15th season on tour, the veteran knows where her game needs to be in contention from the jump. In 2020, she lost to Gaby Lopez in a playoff at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions and then won at the ISPS Handa Australian Women's Open in February. Her first start back after the restart, she finished in 4th at the AIG Women's Open. Park won her second start of 2018 at the Founder's Cup in Arizona. The last three of her 21 career victories have come in February or March.

The best performer in the Kia Classic's history has slightly better odds at Draft Kings than anywhere else, with a (+1200) at the other three sites.

Bet: 7.5 Units to win 105 units

In Gee Chun (+4000) (Draft Kings)

Chun is the only player on the LPGA Tour in 2021 that has finished in the top 10 in every single start. Her opening press conference discussed her shifting mindset, acknowledging and overcoming a difficult battle with depression has put the two-time major winner back into the game she once had.

"So my swing coach is as well as my mental coach, so he talk me a lot positive things, but I couldn't hear. Now my ears open a little bit, so I really appreciate them. I think without them I couldn't get back to normal In Gee," she shared.

It's the first time the South Korean has finished in the top ten for three consecutive starts since she rattled off seven in a row in 2016, a run that included her victory at the Evian Championship.

She has one top ten in three career starts at Aviara Golf Club, a T10 in 2017, and held the lead after the opening round.

Once again, Draft Kings has better odds than elsewhere, with the other three books with odds of (+3300) for Chun.

Bet: 5 Units to win 200 units

Jennifer Kupcho (+5000)

The second hot hand bet, Kupcho is looking to make it four American victories in a row to start 2021, coming off her second runner-up finish in her last eight starts. In her 38 career appearances on the LPGA, she's finished in the top-five five times.

This week is her debut at the Kia Classic, as she elected to finish the season with Wake Forest before debuting at the 2019 U.S. Women's Open.

Every book has Kupcho's odds the same. The 23-year-old keeps knocking on the door, and it's a matter of when, not if, for the no. 12 player in the Rolex World Rankings.

Bet: 5 Units to win 250 Units

Jeongeun Lee6 (+6600) (DraftKings)

Once again, another appetizing value bet for the no. 13 player in the world at 66 to 1. It's 16 to 1 higher than any other book.

Lee6 has struggled out of the gate, with two made cuts but not inside the top 50. The 2019 U.S. Women's Open champion bounces back incredibly well, with a top 10 in three of her four starts after a missed cut in her LPGA Tour career.

In her only career start at Aviara Golf Club, the 2019 rookie of the year finished T16.

Bet: 5 units to win 330 units

Mel Reid (+15000) (Draft Kings)

There's been a theme with Draft Kings not placing as much value on past winning as the other books have, and Reid is part of that trend. She's 25 to 1 higher there than anywhere else.

She's coming off a T28 at the Drive On Championship at Golden Ocala and has four career starts at the Kia Classic. Her best finish was a T50 in 2019 when she broke a seven missed cut streak.

The Englishwoman is a new golfer since the 2020 ANA Inspiration this past September. In Reid's last 12 starts, she has a victory and six finishes within the top 15.

Bet: 2.5 units to win 375 Units

Full Odds

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