Some of the best players in the world reconvene in the Bahamas for the 2023 Hero World Challenge at the Albany Golf Course & Resort. And joining them is tournament host and the greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods! Will he contend for the win after a long layoff? As always, here is your early deep dive on the 2023 RSM Classic and a preview of how to bet.
2023 Hero World Challenge Preview
The Field
As mentioned in the introductory paragraph, Tiger Woods makes his return to professional golf at the 2023 Hero World Challenge. Tiger Woods has not played since withdrawing after the second round of the 2023 Masters. He was limping badly at Augusta National before he withdrew, and shortly thereafter, he underwent another surgery on the ankle that he damaged in his 2021 car crash.
He’s healthy enough now to make his return to play in the event he hosts in the Bahamas. And considering that the walk at Albany isn’t tremendously taxing, he should be able to get around for 72 holes without much resistance. And if he can prove to shake off the course rust quickly, a respectable showing should be in order.
Also in the field is two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland. Not only does Hovland have great vibes with his two victories at Albany, but he’s arguably the best player on the planet right now. His 2023 has included a FedEx Cup title and a stellar Ryder Cup performance, and he found himself in contention at both the Masters and PGA Championship. There are huge expectations for Hovland in 2024. The expectations will only grow should he add another victory in Albany.
Other notables in the field include Scottie scheffler, Max Homa, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, and Will Zalatoris, who finally returns from the back injury that plagued him in early 2023.
For the full field, click here.
The Golf Course
The Albany Golf Course and Resort first opened in 2010. Ernie Els designed the golf course with consultation from the Greg Letsche Golf Design company. Situated 10 minutes from the Nassau airport, the golf resort is perfect for tourists as well as for visiting professionals looking to stay and play there. Players such as Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Tiger Woods, and disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried also own or formerly owned property at the resort.
Ernie Else drew inspiration from some of the most recognizable tracks around the world. His overall concept was to try and recreate a firm and fast place like Royal Melbourne, running through windswept sand dunes with very little rough and native waste areas flanking the fairways. He recreated the 13th at Muirfield (where he won the 2002 Open Championship) with the Par 3 second hole by carving the green into the sand dune. Most of the greens at Albany GC are turtleback shaped, similar to that of Pinehurst (another sand dune golf course – sensing a theme here?).
However, the piece of property he picked had absolutely none of the natural features required to recreate those places. The property originally was all rock and is almost completely flat. The golf course required significant land alteration. This included grinding up the rocky terrain to manufacture sand dunes and plant native species of vegetation in sandy waste areas.
The golf course is wall-to-wall Bermudagrass, and it plays best when the wind is up, and it is firm and fast. Wind ultimately determines where the scoring winds up. Typically, the winning score is between -15 and -20.
Betting Strategies
There aren’t any past strokes gained or ShotLink data to parse through. That makes it difficult to preview and handicap the 2023 Hero World Challenge properly. As such, gamblers must look at more simple and rudimentary stats to determine how the golf course plays and what types of golfers to target. Here are a few relative facts and statistics about the Albany Golf Resort.
1. Overall, the fairways are pretty generous at the golf course. Most are around 40-50 yards wide. There’s also no rough off the fairway. Instead, each fairway is flanked by sandy waste areas. While players can still get great contact on the ball, it’s definitely encouraged to keep your ball in the fairway as much as possible. Because the overall field driving accuracy rates are high, it’s a slight penalty to be spraying it off-the-tee.
2. As mentioned above, most of the greens at Albany are turtle-backed in nature. And overall, they’re quite small. The average size of each green at Albany is roughly 4,500 square feet. That’s smaller than average. And surrounding each green are tight bermuda lies and collection areas. Premium ball-strikers can separate themselves from the field with elite iron play. It’s also important to be adept at chipping off of tight lies onto the green. Otherwise, you might experience what Sam Burns did in 2021:
Thought I was never going to finish this hole😂 https://t.co/2SiKufjmdl
— Sam Burns (@Samburns66) December 6, 2021
3. The greens are TifEagle Bermuda. There are several golf courses on the PGA Tour that feature this strain of bermuda on the putting surfaces during tournament play. They include the following:
- Sea Island (RSM Classic)
- Bay Hill (Arnold Palmer Invitational)
- PGA National (Honda Classic)
- Kapalua (Sentry Tournament of Champions)
- Port Royal Golf Course (Bermuda Championship)
4. Albany Golf Resort plays as a Par 72 and is about 7,400 yards long. There are five Par 5’s, two of which are over 600 yards long. There are also five Par 3’s. All of them range between 180-215 yards in length. There are two drivable Par 4’s (if the wind cooperates). And half of the Par 4’s overall are 470 yards or longer.
As such, players who hit their longer irons well do quite well at Albany Golf Resort. And that’s evidenced by several past winners. Viktor Hovland, Jon Rahm, Henrik Stenson and Hideki Matsuyama are premium long iron players. These types of players are a good preview of what to expect at the 2023 Hero World Challenge.
Lastly, it doesn’t look like wind will be a significant factor this week. Winds are expected to blow between 10-20 MPH all week. And Albany is prepared to handle these wind speeds because of how slow the greens can run. This likely will maximize the advantage tremendous ball strikers have even further because most of the shots into the greens will come from longer ranges.
