One Bet, $100: Ryan Armour Riding Hot Streak into Workday Charity Open

Backing Ryan Armour at the Workday Charity Open was an easy decision. What type of bet I would place on him was the challenge. It took me a while to make up my mind, but in the end I decided to try for the home run.

With this week’s One Bet, $100 I’m taking Armour to finish in the top 10 at the Workday Charity Open. BetMGM was offering 10/1 odds, and it has the potential to be a monster return.

Last week I swung for the fences and struck out. I took Viktor Hovland to win the Rocket Mortgage Classic and he finished tied for 12^th. It was a decision between him and odd-on favorite, Bryson DeChambeau. The more conservative play would have been DeChambeau, and at 6/1, he won the tournament.

One Bet, $100

I was faced with another decision this week. I could take the safe play and pick Armour at 4/1 to finish in the top 20, or I could swing away. With the slump I’m in, I decided to once again go for the big payday since I feel strongly that Armour can get in the top 10 this week.

Armour’s On a Hot Streak

There are several reasons I like Armour to finish in the top 10 this week. The first is his current play. He’s finished in the top 10 in the previous two weeks, and there’s no reason to think he can’t do that again. At the Travelers Championship two weeks ago, Armour had four rounds in the 60s and finished tied for sixth. Last week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, he was challenging for the lead going into the final round. A 72 on Sunday derailed his chance of winning, though he still finished tied for fourth.

The reason for Armour’s improved play is that he’s healthy once again. Before the COVID-19 global pandemic shut down the tour for 12 weeks, the 44-year-old was trying to play through a pulled neck muscle. The three-month break allowed him to get healthy. He told reporters another facet of his game that’s improved is a grip change he adopted during the break.

“The downtime allowed me to get healthy and implement a few changes that my instructor and I were trying to implement during the course of the season.” Armour said. “But allowing — having those 10 to 12 weeks off allowed me to do it without any repercussions on the golf course and kind of come out with the guns fully loaded to try and attack these golf courses.”

Why Armour will Finish in Top 10

Another reason I like Armour to do well this week is because he loves playing at Muirfield Village Golf Club. In the last two years at the Memorial, which will be played on the same golf course next week, Armour has finished just outside of the top 20.

The course is going to be made a bit easier this week and, if Amour can finish in the top 25 on a harder layout as he has for the past two years, I have faith that he can have an even better performance this week.

Armour also has one stat that I really like; his driving accuracy percentage. He is second on the PGA Tour at 74.2%. When you’re finding the fairway nearly three-quarters of the time, it bodes well for your game and your scoring.

“I’m kind of getting back to what makes me good, which is driving the ball in the fairway, giving myself birdie opportunities and, hopefully, making some putts,” Armour said. “I think out here, as you’ve seen with the restart to golf, we’ve got to make birdies.”