Patrick Cantlay Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

BMW Championship: Odds that Patrick Cantlay tops the leaderboard after Round 1, weekend

By Chelena Goldman | Last updated 8/16/23

It's no secret that Patrick Cantlay is going up against incredible odds this week as he aims for the elusive "three-peat" at the BMW Championship. It's been more than a decade since the last golfer won one event in three consecutive years, and almost 20 golfers have had the opportunity since then and failed. What are the chances the Long Beach, Calif. native beats the odds?

One day before the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs tees off, DraftKings has Cantlay listed at 10-1 odds to top the leaderboard at the end of the weekend. What are the chances he bests the big guns Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm and wins his third straight BMW Championship?

This week, Patrick Cantlay will try to win the BMW Championship for a third year in a row.

Cantlay is the 19th instance of a player having an opportunity to win a PGA Tour event a third straight time since the last 'three-peat,' Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic…
— Justin Ray (@JustinRayGolf) August 15, 2023

If this year's performance is anything like last year's, even the first round of the competition won't give us an exact idea of how Cantlay will perform. He is currently listed as a 16-1 long shot at DraftKings to top the leaderboard at the end of the first round on Thursday, but you may recall that he didn't have the early lead in last year's competition. Keegan Bradley was the leader after Round 1 in 2022, while Cantlay didn't even crack the top 10.

Plus, even after Cantlay took the one-stroke lead over the weekend and carried it into the final round, he almost bumbled it by bogeying two out of three holes and falling behind competitor Scott Stallings. Stallings won't be a factor this year since he didn't make the playoffs, but the tough 50-man field could test Cantlay just as heavily whether he gains a lead or not.

Cantlay is definitely worth keeping an eye on this weekend at the BMW Championship. He and Max Homa are scheduled to tee off for Round 1 at 10:54 a.m. ET on Thursday.

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