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The 2026 PGA Tour golf season continues, with Fazio Canyons Course at Barton Creek next on tap to host the Austin Championship, beginning this Thursday. Jackson Koivun, Doug Ghim, and Blades Brown headline among Austin Championship bets this week, as John Haslbauer provides his favorite picks among all the golf odds for this tourney. Below, you’ll find the best odds across betting sites for each player.
The 2026 PGA Tour season has reached its penultimate event, as we head to Texas for the inaugural Austin Championship. The Fazio Canyons Course at Omni Barton Creek will take the stage, hosting a professional golf tournament for the first time after an extensive 2022 restoration by Tom Fazio.
Inaugural events on new courses are the trickiest to handicap, as we are far more limited with historical data to model from. It’s a great week to reference comp course history on similar layouts – like TPC San Antonio and TPC Craig Ranch – as well as good old-fashioned recent form. With just two weeks left in the PGA Tour season, this isn’t typically a spot where struggling players find form, so I’m focusing my betting card on the most in-form ball-strikers at the 2026 Austin Championship.
Below, we’ll go through my final Austin Championship bets. Click the odds anywhere in this article to place Austin Championship wagers. For a full breakdown of the tournament and course, visit my Austin Championship preview.
Austin Championship Odds: The Favorites
Find the comparison table at the bottom of this post for Austin Championship odds and the best available prices across sportsbooks in your state. Navigate to my longshots post for more golf DFS picks and considerations.
How I Built My Austin Championship Betting
It remains to be seen exactly how the new Fazio Canyons Course will stand up to PGA Tour competition in this inaugural event. From everything we can gather about the course this week, it seems like it will be less like the pure birdie fests we’ve seen before it on the fall swing thus far. I’m concentrating my card on the hottest players this fall who have established the highest ball-striking baselines in this field.
From a unit allocation standpoint, it’s back to business as usual for my weekly stake at the 2026 Austin Championship.
- Outrights – 3.5U in to pay 25U each
- FRL – 0.5U in to pay out 10U+ each
- Full Tournament Matchups – 1U in to pay out 2U
- Props – 1.5U in to pay out 3U+ each
Austin Championship Bets: Outrights (3.5 Units)
Doug Ghim
My Bet: +2100
Ghim is the only player in this field to have finished top-20 in each of his last five starts, and is second only to Ben James in terms of total strokes gained over that period. That sustained form is no random heater, either. It’s directly correlated with the distance he’s added off the tee and the improved putting baseline he’s established since the middle of the 2026 season. Ghim has now gained strokes on the greens in eight of his last 10 starts, something we never thought was possible from the former Team No-Putt chairman.
He hasn’t broken through for a PGA Tour win just yet, but a trip to Texas may be the final piece he needs to break through. Ghim has finished top-30 in each of his last three starts in Texas, and should feel especially comfortable in this inaugural Austin event, considering he dominated in this city throughout his standout college career at the University of Texas.
It remains to be seen exactly how the Canyons course will play out, but on paper, no one stacks up better than Ghim, the No. 1 player in my model. He’ll be a fixture on my betting card in Austin this week, especially if his hot recent form goes overlooked in favor of the other recent winners who headline this field.
Chris Kirk
My Bet: +3000
Whenever we get to a new course whose playability is put to question, it’s never a bad idea to simply ride the hot hand. Approach play travels everywhere in the game of golf, and Kirk’s approach form is second to none; he ranks 1st in the category over the last 36 rounds, and ranked second in the field in SG: APP just last week at El Cardonal, where he gained over 8 strokes with his irons.
Improvements on the greens have been the difference this fall for the veteran from Georgia. He’s gained a total of 6 strokes putting over his last two weeks, as he continues a stretch of T10, T21, T6, and T12 over his first four starts of the fall. Kirk has won in the state of Texas before (albeit 11 years ago at the Charles Schwab Challenge), but his game should translate well to the Canyons course, which demands quality ball-striking.
Austin Smotherman
My Bet: +4500
Austin in Austin writes itself, doesn’t it? Smotherman may not be from Austin, but he is a Texan who plays out of Dallas. It may be far-fetched to expect Smotherman to win three consecutive starts, but similar logic kept many from cashing in on his heater in Bermuda. The truth is, Smotherman’s game has looked sustainable throughout the fall, as he’s gaining throughout his bag and looks complete from both a ball-striking and short-game perspective.
And it’s not as though Smotherman will be going through the motions this week. At 80th in the FedEx Cup standings, he still has an outside chance to push inside the coveted top-60 to secure a spot in the signature events to start the 2027 season. It is nonsense to me that Smotherman, who’s finished T17, 1st, and 1st in three Fall series starts can be found at odds longer than the likes of Pierceson Coody, Brian Harman, Kristoffer Ventura, and Jordan Smith. So, from a value perspective, Smotherman is a must play for me.
Ben Kohles
My Bet: +5000
Please hold your laughter and ridicule for my naivety in thinking this week will be different for Ben Kohles’ outright prospects. The truth is, I had one spot left on my card, and when I looked around this range of the board, no others have a more compelling case than Kohles.
Forget the Sunday disappointments for a moment, and Kohles continues to rank as one of the most appealing contenders in this field. He ranks 1st in Approach Fit at the Canyons course, and has played excellently in Texas historically, coming closest to picking up a PGA Tour win at TPC Craig Ranch in 2024. Kohles will play from the fairway often at the Canyons course’s wide layout, and it should favor accuracy over distance considering the importance of creating angles into tucked pin locations. My expectations are tempered on Sunday, but at this price, his closing issues have already been factored in.
Luke Clanton
My Bet: +8000
This time two years ago, we were talking about Luke Clanton the same way we talk about Jackson Koivun, Ben James, and Blades Brown today. All young “sky’s the limit” talents who enjoyed immediate success on the PGA Tour in their transition from college. Clanton’s first stint on the PGA Tour included four top-10 finishes over his first eight career starts. It’s been a winding road since then, but he’s proving this fall that the same talent is still there.
Clanton has finished top-35 in each of his last four starts this fall, highlighted by finishes of T7 at the Bank of Utah Championship and T11 at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Ball-striking and putting have been the formula all along for Clanton, who is one of just four players in this field to rank top-20 in terms of both SG: APP and SG: Putting over the last 36 rounds. Ranking 27th in Driving Accuracy over the same span, I believe this is a course where Clanton will be able to continue leaning on those strengths, as he’ll play a high percentage of his approaches from these oversized fairways.
Kensei Hirata
My Bet: +16500
If recent form, SG: APP, and SG: P are the three factors that matter most at Fazio Canyons Course, then Hirata stands out as one of the best values in this field. Hirata has found his stride over the last month, improving week-over-week with finishes of T34, T11, and 4th over his last three starts. His 4th place finish at El Cardonal last week was especially encouraging, as the 2.2 strokes he gained off the tee marked the second-best performance in that category of his career.
Hirata is not a long hitter off the tee, but this is not a course that requires elite distance. More importantly, Hirata is capable of spiking with his irons and putting, which is what this event will boil down to if winds remain down. He’s ranked top-15 in SG: APP and top-30 in SG: P in each of his last three starts, and will carry a high floor at this price if that form continues.
Austin Championship Bets: First Round Leader (0.5 Units)
Ben Kohles
My Bet: +5800
If I’m naive enough to bet Ben Kohles outright, you already know I’m going back to the well in the first round too. Kohles remains one of the most prolific hot starters in the field this week, and his combination of driving accuracy, elite approach play, and hot putting all set up well for ample birdie opportunities in Austin.
Zach Bauchou
My Bet: +5800
I couldn’t quite get behind Bauchou’s outright price this week, but there are no questions about his ball-striking form as we head to Austin. Ball-striking is of premium importance on the Canyons course, which will penalize severely wayward drives and reward those in control of their driver by creating angles into tucked pins. In the FRL market, there’s far less of a premium on Bauchou’s price, and he remains top-10 in this field in Go-Low Percentage.
Trace Crowe
My Bet: +7000
I was bullish on Trace Crowe last week on El Cardonal’s wide-open layout, but a freak triple bogey on the front nine Thursday quickly derailed his tournament. A week later, I remain just as optimistic about Crowe’s FRL potential, as he possesses the spike approach and putting upside to go low here. He just needs to keep the ball on the planet off the tee on Thursday.
Neal Shipley
My Bet: +7000
Shipley remains one of the most underrated drivers on the PGA Tour, but that secret won’t be out for long, as he continues to rank No. 1 in SG: OTT any week Rory McIlroy isn’t playing. Unlike last week’s second-shot setup in Cabo, there is a true edge to be had on the Canyons course for aggressive drivers who can take on fairway hazards and create angles with a wedge in hand. Shipley’s been one of the best players on the PGA Tour this fall, with three top-16 finishes and no missed cuts over five starts.
Luke Clanton
My Bet: +8400
Approach play and putting have been elite for Clanton throughout the fall, and he comes to Austin fresh off a solid T33 showing at the World Wide Technology Championship, where he ranked top-15 in terms of both SG: APP and SG: P. The driver has been boom-or-bust, but the generous fairways at Fazio Canyons Course should help absolve his bad tendencies off the tee.
Austin Championship Bets: Props (2.5 Units)
Full Tournament Matchup: Zach Bauchou > Marco Penge
My Bet: -120
It’s been a tale of two falls for Bauchou and Penge, so much so, I’m surprised to see these two priced in the same head-to-head market. Penge has failed to crack the top-40 in his last three PGA Tour starts, and has been bleeding strokes on approach throughout that stretch. That’s something that can be hidden on a pure driver-wedge birdie fest, but I expect ball-striking form will be of premium importance at the Canyons Course.
Bauchou, by contrast, has been a model of consistency with his ball striking, and would be a weekly contender if not for an ice-cold putter. Despite getting nothing out of his putter this fall, he’s still finished top-35 in five of his last six starts. I like betting on a high floor in matchups, and that’s exactly what Bauchou has shown this fall.
Top-20 Finish: Ben Kohles
My Bet: +200
Kohles may be a lame duck when in contention on the weekend, but he remains a top-20 machine anyway. In five fall series starts, he’s finished T25, T17, T17, T13, and T15. Of course, his level of play has been even better than the final results would suggest, as he’s had some unfortunate late Sunday ejections when in contention. Even so, I’m optimistic about Kohles’ prospects to keep the top-20 train rolling on yet another approach-emphasis course.
Top-20 Finish: Luke Clanton
My Bet: +380
There’s no question the talent is there for 22-year-old Luke Clanton, and I’m sure he’s feeling some extra motivation after seeing the likes of Ben James, Jackson Koivun, Michael Thorbjornsen, and Blades Brown pass him by in the next generation of young American stars. Clanton has been dialed in with his irons all fall, and is one of just four players in this field to rank top-20 in both SG: APP and SG: P over the last 36 rounds.
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Austin Championship Bets: The Card
That’ll do it for this week’s PGA Tour golf bets. Best of luck this week with your own Austin Championship bets, and see you next week for the RSM Classic preview.
