The 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson begins Thursday morning at Trinity Forest Golf Club in Dallas. Bill Moore and Ben Crenshaw designed this links-style course, which features a par of 71 with one par-5 on the back nine. Last year, Aaron Wise steamrolled the competition at the Bryon Nelson, firing 23-under and handily beating Marc Leishman by three strokes. Eight golfers shot better than 15-under. Wise is back again for the 2019 Byron Nelson and listed at 21-1, while Leishman is going off at 29-1. The entire field is chasing Brooks Koepka, who has won two of the last four majors and is listed at 7-1 AT&T Byron Nelson odds. The first 2019 Byron Nelson tee times are on Thursday morning at 7:50 a.m. ET, with former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo in the field and starting at 2:40 p.m. ET. Before you lock in any 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson picks and PGA predictions, you should listen to what the golf model at SportsLine has to say.
SportsLine's prediction model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed four of the last eight majors entering the weekend and called Tiger Woods' deep run in the PGA Championship despite being a 25-1 long shot. The model has been spot-on early in the 2018-19 season. It was high on champion Rory McIlroy at the 2019 Players Championship, projecting him as one of the top two contenders from the start. It also correctly predicted Brooks Koepka's (9-1) victory at the CJ Cup earlier this season. Additionally, it correctly called Bryson DeChambeau's (9-1) seven-shot victory at the 2019 Omega Dubai Desert Classic. Anyone who has followed the model is way up.
Now that the 2019 Byron Nelson field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. One huge shocker the model is calling for: Wise, the defending champion and one of the top Vegas favorites, doesn't even crack the top 10.
Wise broke through for his first career PGA Tour victory at this event last year after carding all four rounds in the 60s at Trinity Forest. Last year's champ enters the Byron Nelson 2019 full of confidence after back-to-back finishes in the top 20 at the Masters and the Wells Fargo Championship, two tournaments with extremely challenging fields.
However, the 22-year-old has failed to win a tournament since his triumph at last year's AT&T Byron Nelson, and he's missed the cut in four of his last nine starts on the PGA Tour. His troubles can be directly attributed to his inability to find the fairway off the tee. He enters this week's event ranked 122nd in driving accuracy percentage (59.77), which could cause trouble at Trinity Forest. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in this loaded 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson field.
Another surprise: Charles Howell III, a colossal 50-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
Howell is No. 10 in the FedEx Cup standings and won the RSM Classic earlier this season after firing four rounds of 68 or better. He also had top-five finishes at the CIMB Classic and QBE Shootout. Shortly after the Super Bowl, he drove to a sixth place at the Genesis Open and is fresh off finishing No. 32 at the Masters.
Howell has been extremely efficient this season and ranks third on tour in greens in regulation percentage at 73.77, hitting 717 of them in 972 holes. He's also been effective off the tee and boasts a total driving number of 124, the 15th-best mark of any PGA Tour golfer. He'll let it fly from the first tee on Thursday at 1:30 p.m. ET alongside Leishman and former Masters champion Patrick Reed. Look for him to move up the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson leaderboard early.
Also, the model says two other golfers with massive 2019 Byron Nelson odds of 50-1 or longer will make a strong run at the title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full AT&T Byron Nelson projected leaderboard from the model that nailed the winners of four golf majors.
Brooks Koepka 7-1
Hideki Matsuyama 13-1
Jordan Spieth 15-1
Aaron Wise 21-1
Henrik Stenson 24-1
Patrick Reed 28-1
Marc Leishman 29-1
Branden Grace 31-1
Keith Mitchell 32-1
Sungjae Im 36-1
Kevin Na 48-1
Lucas Bjerregaard 48-1
Rory Sabbatini 48-1
Ryan Moore 48-1
Thomas Pieters 48-1
Thorbjorn Olesen 48-1
Charles Howell III 50-1
Abraham Ancer 55-1
Brandt Snedeker 55-1
C.T. Pan 55-1
Rafa Cabrera Bello 55-1
