Steve Palmer's Shriners Children's Open predictions and free golf tips

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for the Shriners Children's Open at TPC Summerlin on the PGA Tour.

Where to watch

Live on Sky Sports Golf red button from 2.30pm on Thursday

Best bets

Patrick Cantlay
4pts each-way 7-1 Betfair, Betfred, Hills, Paddy Power

Aaron Wise
2pts each-way 22-1 BoyleSports

Nick Hardy
1pt each-way 66-1Betfred

Rickie Fowler
1pt each-way 60-1 Betfred

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The Shriners Children's Open provides a chance for many members of the defeated Internationals Presidents Cup side to reunite and look back on their plucky Quail Hollow effort. Korean trio Sungjae Im, Tom Kim and Si Woo Kim feature prominently in the Shriners betting.

Cam Davis, Taylor Pendrith, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, K.H Lee and Mito Pereira are also teeing up in Las Vegas this week.

Steve Palmer's top tip

Patrick Cantlay 7-1

The Internationals contingent is strong in Vegas this week, but the United States won the Presidents Cup and an American can boss the Shriners Children's Open too. Only two of the States' Quail Hollow victors have jetted to Vegas, and Patrick Cantlay is much preferred to Max Homa, who has missed his last four Shriners cuts.

Cantlay has teed up in this event four times, winning his maiden PGA Tour title in the 2017 Shriners, a tournament he entered ranked 67th in the world. He came close to a successful title defence, beaten by a shot by Bryson DeChambeau, then Cantlay lost a playoff to Kevin Na for the 2019 edition.

Cantlay co-led after three rounds of his last Shriners start in 2020, dropping to eighth place after a difficult Sunday, so he boasts form figures of 1-2-2-8 and a TPC Summerlin scoring average of 66.6. He is a total of 70 under par for his 16 Summerlin rounds.

Cantlay has never teed up in the Shriners with a better world ranking than he has this week and he has never tackled a Summerlin field missing DeChambeau. The two cocksure Californians have dominated the Shriners in recent years, but only one can make an impression on the leaderboard this time.

Cantlay won the Zurich Classic alongside Xander Schauffele in April, then the BMW Championship on his own in August. The Shriners favourite has also finished second three times this year, including two playoff defeats, consistently contending in regulation PGA Tour events. He won three points from four matches in the Presidents Cup and could be set for further glory on Sunday.

Next best bet

Aaron Wise 22-1

The biggest threat to Cantlay backers may come from Aaron Wise, who is based in Las Vegas and has spent the best part of a month preparing for this tournament at the venue.

Wise was last seen competing in the FedEx Cup playoffs - he finished 15th in the BMW Championship and was the sixth-best 72-hole scorer in the Tour Championship. Those bold efforts followed a second place in the Memorial in June.

Wise will fancy his chances of landing an overdue second PGA Tour title on Sunday at a course he knows extremely well. He finished eighth last year.

Other selections

Nick Hardy 66-1

Rickie Fowler 60-1

Nick Hardy struck his ball superbly last week in the Sanderson Farms Championship, finishing fifth despite languishing 45th in the putting stats, and that tee-to-green assurance makes a PGA Tour breakthrough entirely feasible this week.

Hardy, who performed well in the Korn Ferry Tour Finals at the end of the summer, has gone from fretting about making cuts to hunting a maiden title. The 26-year-old has established himself on the main circuit and is seeing Summerlin for the second time this week.

Hardy missed the cut on his Shriners debut in 2018, but he carded a second-round 69, which was impressive considering he was ranked outside the world's top 2,000 at the time. This week, having finished 14th in the US Open in June, the feisty youngster is ready to make waves.

Complete a four-pronged attack with Rickie Fowler, who started this season with a new coach, new caddie and new equipment. Ringing the changes yielded immediate results, with sixth place in the Fortinet Championship last time out.

Fowler gelled straight away with veteran looper Ricky Romano, he fell in love with his new Cobra irons, and the swing tips provided by Butch Harmon clearly worked. Fowler is back with super-coach Harmon and that could spell trouble for the rest of the PGA Tour. Harmon is based in Vegas, so can spend plenty of time with his pupil this week.

Fowler, a former world number four who regularly contended in Majors, won his last tournament in the Arizona desert and could land his comeback victory in the Nevada desert. He was fourth in the 2018 Shriners.

Players to note

Justin Suh
The Vegas-based Californian has made a poor start to the PGA Tour season, but the Korn Ferry Tour star could bounce back on familiar terrain this week.

Sungjae Im
The defending champion has a heady mixture of course and current form, and will do for many punters this week. One of the main hurdles for Cantlay and Co to overcome.

Tom Kim
The Korean youngster is bursting with self-belief and took great heart from his Presidents Cup debut. A Shriners debut for a rising star.

Si Woo Kim
Victory over Justin Thomas in the Presidents Cup singles did wonders for the confidence of Si Woo, who seems revived by a switch to the broomhandle putter.

Summerlin course guide

Course TPC Summerlin, Las Vegas, Nevada
Prize money $8m ($1.26m to the winner)
Length 7,255 yards
Par 71 - three par-fives; 11 par-fours; four par-threes
Field 144 The cut Top 65 and ties qualify for round three
Highest-ranked players in field (world ranking in brackets) Patrick Cantlay (4), Max Homa (17), Sungjae Im (19), Tom Kim (21), Aaron Wise (36)
Course records- 72 holes 260 Ryan Moore (2012), Webb Simpson (2013), Sungjae Im (2021) 18 holes 60 JJ Henry (2013), Rod Pampling (2016)

Course winners taking part Martin Laird (twice), Ryan Moore, Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im

When to bet By 2.30pm on Thursday

When to watch Live on Sky Sports Golf red button from 2.30pm on Thursday

Time difference Las Vegas is eight hours behind the UK and Ireland

Last week - Sanderson Farms Championship 1 M Hughes (110-1), 2 S Straka (45-1), 3 G Higgo (500-1), 4 D Burmester (66-1), T5 E Grillo (40-1), N Hardy (75-1), K Bradley (35-1), M Hubbard (90-1)

Course type Desert

Course overview The TPC Summerlin has been part of this event since 1992, but the tournament used to be played over several different tracks. Until 2004, it was a five-round affair which was called the Las Vegas Invitational and the Invensys Classic. Then, under the titles of the Michelin Championship (2004-05), Frys.com Open (2006-07) and Justin Timberlake Open (2008-12), it became a four-round, 72-hole event. Prior to 2008, other courses were used in tandem with Summerlin, then it became exclusively staged at Summerlin. It is an easy course and always serves up a birdie-fest. The par-fives (the ninth, 13th and 16th) are straightforward and the 289-yard par-four 15th is driveable. The eighth, a 254-yard par-three, is by far the toughest hole

Story of last year A Sunday masterclass from Sungjae Im meant a four-shot victory over Matthew Wolff

Weather forecast Sunny and hot, with gentle breezes, for all four days

Type of player suited to the challenge Anyone arriving at Summerlin with a cold putter will struggle to stay the pace. Every hole bar the eighth is a solid birdie opportunity in fantastic weather this week and converting putts is a key to success

Key attribute Touch

Spotlight insight Patrick Cantlay has finished in the top two in three of his four Shriners starts

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