Ben Coley's golf betting tips: Genesis Championship preview and best bets

Golf betting tips: Genesis Championship

5pts win Sungjae Im at 9/1 (General)

1pt e.w. Kota Kaneko at 66/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,7)

1pt e.w. Kazuma Kobori at 70/1 (Sky Bet, Paddy Power 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)

1pt e.w. Sean Crocker at 75/1 (Coral, Ladbrokes 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7)

1pt e.w. Wenyi Ding at 200/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

0.5pt e.w. Pablo Larrazabal at 300/1 (bet365, Betfred 1/5 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook | Free bets

The DP World Tour has long since expanded beyond Europe and, with a calendar which runs from December to November, travelling far and wide for somewhere to play is part of the deal. Even the sunnier parts of southern Europe would struggle to squeeze in a full-field event this late into autumn and so having been in India last week, it's off to Korea for the Genesis Championship for the end of what you might call the 'regular' season.

At the head of the Race to Dubai, the deeply impressive Eugenio Chacarra has added a third dimension to what had appeared to be a Patrick Reed versus Rory McIlroy shootout, and he's the only one of the trio who simply refuses to take a week off. Still, like many hardened fans, I find myself more intrigued by the more immediate issue of who exactly will earn full status for the 2027 season, which begins next month.

Last year's renewal threw up one of the most remarkable survival stories in memory, as Jordan Gumberg holed out for eagle on the final hole to keep his card. Gumberg went on to win the Hainan Classic in the spring, an event he wouldn't have been able to play in had he not retained Category 10 status, so his entire career changed on one shot. Whether we witness anything remotely similar must be in doubt, but what isn't is that there is a lot on the line, especially now that 'full status' is in effect limit to the top 100 having gone down to 115 last year.

Im the pick of the favourites

Such concerns don't apply to the favourites, Si Woo Kim and SUNGJAE IM.

Two years ago, their compatriots Byeong Hun An and Tom Kim fought out the finish of the tournament proper while Marco Penge and Ricardo Gouveia were scrapping for points, and Presidents Cup duo Kim and Im may benefit similarly from being free from distraction as they each seek to end long spells without silverware.

Both played here last year and Im, my sole selection, held the halfway lead before capitulating over the weekend. Kim's progress was much more serene but 21st place was unspectacular and, this time, he hasn't prepared as well. Kim was good at the Presidents Cup and his form over the past 12 months has been excellent, better than Im's in fact, yet the idea of taking 7/1 about a player who can be hopeless with the putter makes no appear at all.

Im warmed up with a play-off defeat in Macau at the weekend, where he was unfortunate not to win after his birdie-birdie finish was matched up Wang Wei-hsuan's chip-in eagle and subsequent victory in extra holes. He was my headline pick for the PGA Tour event in Japan a week earlier and has been playing very well for some months now, including when the star man for Geoff Ogilvy's beaten side at Medinah.

There remain ongoing issues with his approach work but even they've shown signs of improvement lately and all things considered, 9/1 about the man I'd make the most likely winner looks more than fair. It's five points shorter than last year, but Hideki Matsuyama, Adam Scott, Ben An, Laurie Canter, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen and one or two more high-calibre players made it a significantly stronger field and he's playing much better, too.

Back then, Im's seventh place in Macau had represented his first top-10 finish since the Masters. Twelve months down the line, he arrives with form figures of 5-10-9-2, the sting in the tail from Sunday only likely to sharpen his focus. He looks the one to be on among the favourites.

Kan-do attitude

We only have one renewal's worth of DP World Tour form to look at and firm conclusions are hard to draw, but it's interesting that the top three drivers in strokes-gained terms were Joel Girrbach, Kim and Francesco Laporta, each of them accurate. That does look to be a good starting point given how difficult these fairways were to hit but this isn't a short course and there were a handful of big-hitters inside the top 10 as well.

KOTA KANEKO falls into the former category and looks one of the best each-way bets.

Part of the logic here is undoubtedly that there are parallels between the nature of courses in Japan and Korea and this Japanese youngster should therefore feel comfortable here, despite not having taken part in the tournament last year.

He's certainly found comfort on the DP World Tour quickly, establishing himself as a very promising rookie at the start of the season before he broke through with victory in Austria, where he was excellent under the gun on a packed leaderboard until an understandable wobble on the 72nd hole.

That was on a course where accuracy counted for a lot along with his short-game skills and it came after second place in the Soudal Open at Rinkven, which could be a handy guide. Former champion Nacho Elvira was runner-up here alongside Laurie Canter, who also has a top-10 in Belgium, and it's another tree-lined course where you have to keep it in play off the tee.

Kaneko had previously been 19th in the China Open where two accurate, veteran ball-strikers dominated and I particularly like ninth place in Turkey, where Mikael Lindberg triumphed in 10-under. Again, we're talking tree-lined golf with difficult scoring, and impressive winner Lindberg was the 54-hole leader here last year.

More recently, Kaneko has started to emerge from a summer slump and after some promising signs at Wentworth and another cut made in France, he was 30th in Delhi last week, ranking seventh from tee-to-green and second with his approaches. There's scope for more off the tee with more drivers in hand and those irons have continued to fire often enough despite a patchy set of results since he won.

Clearly, we need a big step forward from his putter but Kaneko was the Tour leader in the early stages of the season and after a closing 68 on a difficult day in Delhi (67 was the low score), he could be ready to contend again under ideal conditions here in Korea.

Elvira and Lindberg would be the two most interesting each-way options from slightly further up the betting, both having caught the eye lately. Elvira was second in the tee-to-green stats last week and this habitually strong putter could challenge for a second title of 2026, while Lindberg is another spring champion like Kaneko whose game looks to be returning to that sort of level.

However I'm not mad on the prices in either case and prefer to chance SEAN CROCKER, one of the handful of players who went a shot lower than Kaneko in the final round of the DP World India Championship.

That made it successive top-15 finishes for the American, a quality ball-striker who has so far failed to deliver on his immense potential despite becoming a DP World Tour champion four years ago.

Crocker's exemption for that has long since expired and at 103rd in the Race to Dubai, he's one of those who comes here with eyes on 99th-placed Eddie Pepperell, who has elected not to play. To pass him, Crocker needs something in the region of a top-40 finish but he'll be aiming higher than that, having turned his game around of late.

We can give him some grace for a difficult summer owing to the arrival of his first child and we have to excuse a poor first try at this course too, but for my money he's a similar player to Canter, to the extent that he has a matching seventh place at Rinkven to his name, and he's also a highly accurate driver for one of his undoubted strength.

That ought to make Woo Jeong Hills a suitable course and whereas he'd missed nine cuts in 12 a year ago, managing just one top-50 finish during that months-long spell of poor golf, this time he's made seven in nine and been 13th and 15th the last twice.

Crocker really started to catch the eye when carding back-to-back rounds of 64 in Crans, he added another in Spain recently, and a 67-67 weekend in India was hugely encouraging at a course which just isn't for him.

Considering the circumstances, making the cut on the number and then climbing as high as 15th ought to be a massive boost to his growing confidence and if the putts continue to drop, he looks primed to salvage his status.

Sticking with the idea that accuracy off the tee is a good starting point, the most accurate driver on the circuit is next.

That man is KAZUMA KOBORI, a youngster whose potential may be limited by the fact he's one of the shortest hitters around. That said, he's really improved his iron play during this second season on the DP World Tour and, as an occasionally deadly putter, more chances ought to fall his way.

So far, so many of them have come on tree-lined courses where keeping the ball in play is the first requirement. He's gone close at both Eichenried and the Belfry, also played well at Torino and El Prat, and is another with form from this year's Turkish Open.

As with Crocker, Kobori did miss the cut here last year but his form was worse coming in and he putted horrendously, unable to capitalise on what was some excellent ball-striking, particularly with his irons.

His quiet run in September reflects a downturn on the greens but the last five times he's gained strokes putting he's been inside the top 30 and that club really ought to warm up again soon, perhaps before he returns closer to home for the events in Australia which mark the beginning of the 2027 season.

That he was in Japan last week is a possible plus – a couple of last year's contenders had played the Japan Open beforehand – and Kobori was third at halfway before fading, enough to suggest that he remains close to the levels which have seen him go very close in similar fields and at similar courses to this.

Wen you're smiling

Regular readers will know that, at big prices, Matteo Manassero has been a regular selection of late. That's because he's a proven winner whose iron play and chipping are among the very best on the DP World Tour, meaning we're a neutral driving week and a step forward from his putting away from him potentially doing something big.

He was just outside the top 10 at 300/1 in the Irish Open recently, further demonstration of his potential, and a mid-pack finish last week saw him again produce some of the best iron play in the field. Manassero is a winner in Singapore and Malaysia, he's been second at Fanling in Hong Kong, and for those with patience there could be some mileage in persevering with a player who is 98th in the Race to Dubai standings.

My worry is that Manassero's driver will find him out and it's improvements with that club which have WENYI DING on my radar.

I was at the Belfry watching this young Chinese player work through some issues on the range, accompanied by his enthusiastic father and his caddie. It was clear then that Wenyi was having troubles off the tee and that explains a rough summer during which he really struggled.

Then came victory for China alongside his teammates in the Asian Games team golf event, where he was in contention individually too, before Wenyi returned to the DP World Tour to significantly improve his driving stats in the Open de Espana, ranking 11th on the way to a midfield finish.

Though unable to build on a promising start there, it was much more like it and so was last week's 23rd in Macau, where he produced four sub-70 rounds for 23rd. Yes, that was at a lower level than this (Im was 9/2, rather than 9/1), but I see a fine talent who is turning the corner and can still be backed at huge odds.

The fact that his best performances this year came in Turkey and Hainan, the latter won by Gumberg, is potentially of note and he played well at Rinkven too, so this might just be the right kind of course. He didn't play here last year but did catch fire elsewhere and, notably, has this time elected to play in Korea rather than closer to home in Hong Kong.

Hopefully, that decision pays off and he'd be my favourite bet in terms of potential upside.

Wenyi's veteran compatriot Ashun Wu was never outside the top five in Macau and, somewhat interestingly, he'd played that same golf course just prior to winning his latest DP World Tour title last year.

Whether lightning can strike twice we'll see, but this is an accurate driver with a deadly short-game, and I thought last year's missed cut offered a form of promise. He shot 76 in round one, but round two saw him improve by seven shots on what was just his second start after a break of three months.

This time he's been 20th in France (his best yet at Le Golf National), 46th at an unsuitable course in Spain and then fifth in Macau, and we saw flashes of his best approach play in the former, so this veteran is another outsider who made the shortlist. As with Manassero, I just worry that his driving isn't a strength even if he does find more fairways than the Italian.

Instead, I'll take a real chance on PABLO LARRAZABAL salvaging his card, which would require finishing second at worst.

Nine wins over a span of 15 years confirm Larrazabal as one of the finest DP World Tour stalwarts of his generation and in some ways it would be just like him to pull this off, having first emerged in France back in 2008 when causing a massive upset as a qualifier.

Since then he's always kept his head above water but he's way down at 165th in the standings this time having endured a miserable campaign. It goes without saying that he will need a big step forward to get competitive regardless of his need and anyone backing him has to be accepting of that fact.

However, there are some small signs that he might just do it. Firstly, having missed 10 of his first 11 cuts, he's made six of the following 11. Secondly, his approach play has started to improve, such that he's gained strokes in his last three starts. And thirdly, while he missed the cut in India last week, he came home in 33 on Friday, making five birdies in nine holes.

I'm not convinced a tough test like this is perfect at this particular time but he does have a fine record in Asia, with eight top-10s in China, one here, one in Japan and four in Malaysia, and last year saw him perform similarly to Wu, improving on a nightmare start to shoot an excellent 68 in round two.

That wasn't enough to make the cut, but this gritty, prideful operator is worth a speculative go in the hope that his finishing flourish in Delhi can provide a springboard to something truly special.

Posted at 20:00 BST on 19/10/25

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