Betting Breakdown: Best Bentgrass putters in the Canadian Open

The 2024 Canadian Open starts on Thursday, which means another week of putting on Bentgrass greens. 

This week at Hamilton Golf and Country Club marks the third straight week that an event on the PGA Tour schedule features Bentgrass greens. 

It goes without saying that you can’t win golf tournaments without making putts. 

But after looking at the last two times this event was played here (2012 and 2019) it seems like you really have to catch a hot putter to contend on this course. 

In 2019, six of the top seven names on the leaderboard gained at least three strokes putting during the event (5.83, 9.07, 7.66, 7.27, 8.24, 3.18, 5.84) and the same could be said for 12 of the top 14 names. 

Meanwhile, in 2012, five of the top six names on the leaderboard gained at least three strokes (7.00, 9.43, -3.06, 3.75, 6.33, 5.62). 

So with Bentgrass putting at a premium this week, I thought no better time than to head on over to RickRunGood.com and dive into all of the Bentgrass data we could find. 

I’ll even run a quick model and give a few names at the bottom. 

Let’s get to the numbers. 

BEST IN 2024 

The PGA Tour has already made several stops at courses that feature Bentgrass. Here are the players in this field that have putted best in those events. 

Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes has enjoyed some success on the greens in the two weeks he’s played in Bentgrass events. Unfortunately for the Canadian, he hasn’t gotten any good results from the performances. 

However, in 2019, he finished inside the top 20 at this event and was above field average in every facet of the game. If he can find some ball-striking this week, he stands to be in a good spot as he’s gained with the putter in six straight tournaments. 

Davis Riley, last week’s winner of the Charles Schwab Challenge, also appears on this list. Last week, he gained over five strokes in putting on his way to his second PGA Tour victory. He also gained three strokes in putting at the CJ Cup, where he tied for 30. 

BEST SINCE 2020 

I like larger sample sizes, so let’s open things up to four years. 

Alex Noren is a name to keep an eye on this week. If you look at the strokes gained numbers for everyone in this field’s last 36 rounds, only Rory McIlroy has gained more than Noren. 

The Swede has made the cut in 17 straight events and finished in the top 25 in eight straight. 

Maverick McNealy is also a name to watch. After a slow return from an injury that kept him out an extended time, McNealy is trending in the right direction and has made 11 of his last 12 cuts with five top-25s. 

FINISHING WITH A MODEL 

I promised a model, so let’s run a model. 

I jumped on rickrungood.com and kept it simple: 50 weights on SG: Tee to Green (last 36 rounds) and 50 weights on SG: Bentgrass (career).

Here are my top 10 golfers 

Alex Noren 

Maverick McNealy 

Rory McIlroy 

Mike Weir 

Seamus Power

Shane Lowry 

Tommy Fleetwood

Kevin Dougherty

Mark Hubbard 

Ryo Hisatsune

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It's nice to see Presidents Cup captain Mike Weir make an appearance on this list. 

Weir enters this week on the heels of a T14 at last week's Senior PGA Championship. His best finish at this course is 10th in 2003. 

Finally, it warms my heart to see the likes of Mark Hubbard and Ryo Hisatsune on this list too. 

Hubbard has been a staple on my betting cards for a while, and Hisatsune has very quickly become one of my favourite up and coming international players in the world. 

With distance not a requirement this week, I wouldn't be stunned to see either of my guys put their names near the top of the leaderboard.