For this week’s 2022 LOTTE Championship, legal Canadian and US sportsbooks think experience is the greatest teacher. The winner futures markets favor the defending champion of the event, Lydia Ko.
She’ll face a talented field of competitors starting Wednesday in Hawai’i. How Ko and others used the extra week of rest will play a part in the outcomes of wagers on this tournament.
2022 LOTTE Championship details
For 2022, the LOTTE is one of those rare instances in which an LPGA event doesn’t begin on a Thursday. This event begins on Wednesday, April 13. There are still just four rounds, however, meaning the final round will decide a winner on Saturday, April 16.
The Golf Channel will carry time-shifted coverage of all four rounds. The schedule for those broadcasts is the same each day, running from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. EDT. The course for this event is the Hoakalei Country Club in Ewa Beach.
This is the 10th iteration of the event which began in 2012. The LPGA Tour canceled the event in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Brooke Henderson and Michelle Wie have each won the event twice. Henderson is the only competitor to win this event in consecutive years (2018 and 2019).
Henderson is in the field again in 2022, along with 2017 champion Cristie Kerr. Along with Henderson and Ko, three other current Rolex top 10 golfers should compete this week as well. They are Danielle Kang, Inbee Park, and Atthaya Thitikul.
Ko will try to match that feat and prevent Henderson from winning the purse here in three of the past four events. Sportsbooks like Ko to replicate Henderson’s feat.
Sportsbooks high on a Ko repeat
There are a lot of reasons for Canadian and US sports betting apps to love Ko this week. Since she won this event last year, she has nine top-10 finishes and another win, for starters.
Ko has top other 10 finishes in this event in 2013 (tied for ninth) and 2017 (tied for runner-up). Thus, she’s finished in the top 10 here in three of her five appearances. She will be seeking her second win of 2022, claiming the Gainbridge LPGA back in January. Ko also finished tied for 10th at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions that same month.
BetMGM, the LPGA’s official sports betting partner, has Ko atop its winner futures market at +900. Right behind her is Henderson at +1000, followed by Thitikul (+1400) and a trio of golfers at +1600. Those Celine Boutier, Kang, and Park.
Henderson definitely deserves her position as well and might be able to take advantage of Ko’s cooling off since January. Henderson boasts four top-10 finishes in six events so far this season, albeit without any wins. Additionally, she tied for 10th in her first time playing in this event in 2016.
What’s more, Henderson has the tour’s best scoring average at 68.826 currently. She also ranks in the top five of the tour in birdies (112) and strokes gained total (2.56).
While Ko comes in as the champion, it’s easy to make a case for going with the slightly longer odds on Henderson. Then again, if previous indications of the LPGA season prove prescient, the winner of this event will be someone outside of the top five contenders.
