Bets of the Week: The LPGA Tour Gets an Extra Day on the Jersey Shore at the Shoprite LPGA Classic

While the pier of Atlantic City is not back to full capacity due to COVID-19, the LPGA Tour is extending it stay for the first time since 1990. The Shoprite LPGA Classic is a 72-hole event this year. The Bay Course at Seaview is hosting for the 10th consecutive year.

Odds for the event can be found here courtesy of mybookie.

Lexi Thompson (+1400)

The defending champion is coming in off another week off and is once again showing the skill that kept her in the top 10 in the world for over seven years. She snatched victory from the grasp of Jeongeun Lee6’s fingertips with a cross-green bomb for eagle on the 54th hole, shaking Jersey Shore for her seventh consecutive year with a victory on the LPGA Tour.

This tournament is a boom or bust for Thompson. Along with her victory, she finished T5 in 2012 for two top 10s in seven career appearances. She’s made only one other cut, which isn’t the most encouraging sign.

Yet she’s currently following recent trends for her to find the winner’s circle. In four of her 11 career wins, Thompson finished in the top 10 at the tournament before her victory. She’s set herself up to make it five of 12, with a solo 4th place finish at the ANA Inspiration before a two-week reprieve. Thompson, with a victory, would join Anna Nordqvist as the only player to successfully defend her title at the Shoprite LPGA Classic. Speaking of Nordqvist…

Bet: 7.5 units to win 105 units

Anna Nordqvist (+2200)

The Swede narrowly missed her 9th career victory a month ago at the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, and Nordqvist is presented with a great opportunity for redemption. Nordqvist won this event in ’15 and ’16, and arguably more impressively has not finished worse than T17 in 10 career starts at the Bay Course at Seaview.

She’s finished in the top 5 in 70% of the time she’s been in the field at the Shoprite LPGA Classic. There’s dominance, but this ownage in the tier of Lydia Ko at the LPGA Mediheal Championship.

The week off since the Cambia Portland Classic should help Nordqvist right the ship after a difficult runner up finish in Arkansas and regain the form that found her in contention for the first time since this tournament in 2019.

Bet: 5 units to win 110 units

Ariya Jutanugarn (+4500)

Picking the former world No. 1 breaks one of my rules of the bets of the week: making the cut the week before. Yet, it was such a funky tournament with only one day of practice available to players before play began at the Cambia Portland Classic, it's reasonable to make an exception. Jutanugarn turned in her best finish since the 2020 restart at the ANA Inspiration of T11.

With the wind forecasted to pick up throughout the tournament, Jutanugarn’s success in the United Kingdom is an apt comparison for the links-style setup at the Bay Course at Seaview. She took home the first major ever won by a player from Thailand in 2016 at the Ricoh Women’s British Open, and her last victory was at the ASI Ladies Scottish Open in 2018. She has two additional top 10 finishes across the pond in 11 career appearances at those two tournaments.

Jutanugarn finished T5 at the Shoprite LPGA Classic last year in her second career appearance at the event. At 45-1, it's pretty appealing for the level of talent Jutanugarn has, even without her finding the winner’s circle in two years.

Bet: 5 units to win 225 units

In Gee Chun (+5500)

Chun is consistently undervalued in the odds. The three-time career winner rattled off four consecutive top 25 finishes, including two top 10s, before missing the cut at the abnormality of a tournament that was the Cambia Portland Classic. Chun holds one top 10 in one career appearance at the Shoprite LPGA Classic in 2018 where she finished T10. Chun holds strong value as tied for 21st most likely to win this week.

Bet: 5 units to win 275 units

Mariah Stackhouse (+12500)

Stackhouse aims to be a first-time winner on the LPGA Tour, and the jersey shore is as good of any place for her to find the winner’s circle. The Stanford graduate has back to back top 10 finishes at the Shoprite LPGA Classic, with a career-best finish of T5 in 2019 and T7 in 2018. Stackhouse matched it with a T5 at the Cambia Portland Classic in her last start. Her steady improvement at the Bay Course at Seaview provides a lot of value at 125 to 1.

Bet: 2.5 units to win 312.5 units

Do Not Bet

Jaclyn Lee (+200000)

Lee WD’d after her caddy tested positive for COVID-19. Lee currently is not infected, and hopefully, that remains the case. Lee battled a wrist injury in 2019 and returned to the tour on a medical exemption at the Marathon Classic, over a year after her previous start on the LPGA Tour.

Full Odds

+1000 INBEE PARK

+1000 NELLY KORDA +1400 LEXI THOMPSON +1400 MINJEE LEE +1600 SEI YOUNG KIM +1600 BROOKE HENDERSON +2000 NASA HATAOKA +2200 ANNA NORDQVIST +2800 MORIYA JUTANUGARN +2800 CARLOTA CIGANDA +3300 GEORGIA HALL +3500 STACY LEWIS +4000 YU LIU +4000 JENNY SHIN +4500 ARIYA JUTANUGARN +5000 JODI EWART SHADOFF +5000 AUSTIN ERNST +5000 BRITTANY ALTOMARE +5000 CHARLEY HULL +5000 CELINE BOUTIER +5500 LIZETTE SALAS +5500 IN GEE CHUN +5500 ALLY MCDONALD +5500 HANNAH GREEN +5500 SOPHIA POPOV +6000 JESSICA KORDA +6000 SUNG HYUN PARK +6600 JENNIFER SONG +6600 YEALIMI NOH +6600 MI HYANG LEE +7000 KATHERINE KIRK +7000 KRISTEN GILLMAN +7000 MEGAN KHANG +8000 CHEYENNE KNIGHT +10000 AMY OLSON +10000 MEL REID +10000 ANDREA LEE +10000 MIRIM LEE +11000 MINA HARIGAE +11000 LEONA MAGUIRE +11000 GABY LOPEZ +11000 NANNA KOERSTZ MADSEN +11000 ASHLEIGH BUHAI +12500 ANGELA STANFORD +12500 MARIAH STACKHOUSE +12500 ANNE VAN DAM +12500 CHELLA CHOI +12500 ALENA SHARP +12500 CHRISTINA KIM +14000 HINAKO SHIBUNO +14000 XIYU LIN +14000 CRISTIE KERR +15000 PERRINE DELACOUR +15000 ANNIE PARK +15000 JENNIFER KUPCHO +16000 BRITTANY LINCICOME +16000 SARAH SCHMELZEL +16000 NICOLE BROCH LARSEN +17500 EMMA TALLEY +17500 PERNILLA LINDBERG +17500 SANDRA GAL +17500 SU OH +17500 BRONTE LAW +20000 MARIA FASSI +20000 JEONG EUN LEE +22500 MARIA FERNANDA TORRES +22500 PAJAREE ANANNARUKARN +22500 HARU NOMURA +22500 KELLY TAN +25000 CYDNEY CLANTON +25000 SARAH BURNHAM +25000 GERINA PILLER +25000 PORNANONG PHATLUM +27500 MORGAN PRESSEL +27500 MADELENE SAGSTROM +27500 LINNEA STROM +27500 JING YAN +27500 MATILDA CASTREN +30000 LINDSEY WEAVER +30000 CAROLINE HEDWALL +30000 BRITTANY LANG +30000 YUI KAWAMOTO +30000 JAYE MARIE GREEN +35000 CHARLOTTE THOMAS +40000 STEPHANIE MEADOW +40000 DANA FINKELSTEIN +40000 WICHANEE MEECHAI +40000 PATTY TAVATANAKIT +40000 ESTHER LEE +40000 HAEJI KANG +40000 HEE YOUNG PARK +50000 RYANN OTOOLE +50000 HALEY MOORE +50000 LAUREN STEPHENSON +50000 AYAKO UEHARA +50000 ALBANE VALENZUELA +50000 JENNIFER CHANG +50000 BRYNN WALKER +75000 ELIZABETH SZOKOL +75000 SARAH KEMP +100000 NA YEON CHOI +100000 KLARA SPILKOVA +100000 SARAH JANE SMITH +100000 TIFFANY JOH +100000 MIN SEO KWAK +100000 MEGHA GANNE +100000 JIWON JEON +125000 LINDY DUNCAN +150000 JULIETA GRANADA +150000 GIULIA MOLINARO +150000 JENNY COLEMAN +200000 JILLIAN HOLLIS +200000 MUNI HE +200000 JACLYN LEE +200000 MAIA SCHECHTER +250000 TIFFANY CHAN +250000 ELIZABETH NAGEL +250000 NATALIE GULBIS +250000 LAURA DAVIES +250000 SUZUKA YAMAGUCHI