Grant Thornton Invitational 2024 Tips: Kim & Thitikul to get it done

Having each officially finished their seasons a few weeks ago, the PGA Tour and LPGA are back for one final time in 2024, for the second staging of the Grant Thornton Invitational at Tiburon Golf Club’s Gold Course in Florida.

As always, here are our golf tipster Jamie Worsley's Grant Thornton Invitational 2024 tips, as well as his usual comprehensive preview. 

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

The Grant Thornton Invitational is a mixed team event co-sanctioned between the PGA Tour and LPGA. It replaced the QBE Shootout on the PGA Tour last year and represents the first time the premier men and women’s tours have jointly staged an event since the JCPenney Classic in 1999.

The inaugural edition was won by the Antipodean duo of Jason Day and Lydia Ko, who fired a total of 26-under-par to beat Canadians, Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson by one stroke. They return to defend this week.

FORMAT

The three-day event sees 16 pairs – comprising of one PGA Tour and one LPGA player – compete in three different stroke play formats over the three days, which are detailed below:

Round 1: Scramble
Both players tee off and then choose which ball to use for the following stroke. Each player then hits their next shot from that position and this process continues until the ball is holed.

Round 2: Foursomes (alternate shot)
Both players play the same ball, alternating from shot-to-shot.

Round 3: Modified fourball
Each player tees off, but they then switch balls for their second shots and play that same ball until the hole is completed.

THE COURSE

Yardages:

PGA TOUR – 7382-yard par 72; 4x par 3s (175-225 yards) 10x par 4s (350-485 yards) & 4x par 5s (559-600 yards)

LPGA – 6788-yard par 72; 4x par 3s (170-190 yards), 10x par 4s (350-425 yards) & 4x par 5s (485-578 yards)

The Gold Course at Tiburon Golf Club was designed by Greg Norman in 1998 and aside from hosting this event – and its predecessor, the QBE Shootout – it has been the home of the CME Group Tour Championship on the LPGA since 2013.

Like many Florida venues, Tiburon’s Gold Course is flat, with little change in elevation throughout. The majority of holes are framed by towering cypress and pine trees, whilst water is an intimidatingly dominant feature, coming into play on 13 holes.

The fairways are extremely wide and though the bunkering is limited it is well placed, requiring players to show some strategy. However, rough is absent here, with the fairways instead lined by coquina shell waste areas.

The large and undulating bermudagrass greens are predominantly elevated, with most angled and often shallow/narrow in shape. Players will need to be at their best in approach to access an array of challenging pin positions and with steep-faced sod-wall bunkers offering ample protection, the punishment for missing these surfaces can be severe.

Scoring opportunities are plentiful around Tiburon’s Gold Course, which we can see with three of the last four editions of the CME Group Tour Championship being won in scores of -22 or lower. That being said, with all of that water in-play, most of those chances come with an element of risk/reward, which makes it the ideal setup for this more relaxed, quirky event.

THE WEATHER

Conditions are forecast to be sunny and pleasant throughout the week, though players will be tasked with handling some tricky winds in Friday’s opening round, with gusts predicted to hit close to 30mph. However, they are scheduled to soften over the weekend.

KEY STATS

• SG: Approach/Greens-in-Regulation
• SG: Putting (bermudagrass)
• Birdie or Better %

A good birdie-making ability is the key in this event, which will depend on quality into and on these bermudagrass greens.

Lydia Ko was the star of the winning team last year and she is an exceptional iron player and putter, whilst Jason Day has always been strong on the greens. Meanwhile, the runners-up there, Corey Conners and Brooke Henderson are both strong in approach.

THE TEAMS

PGA Tour (World Ranking) / LPGA (Rolex Ranking):

Tom Kim (21^st) / Jeeno Thitikul (4^th)

Tony Finau (26^th) / Nelly Korda (1^st)

Jason Day (34^th) / Lydia Ko (3^rd)

Matthieu Pavon (30^th) / Celine Boutier (8^th)

Sahith Theegala (13^th) / Allisen Corpuz (35^th)

Cameron Young (38^th) / Lauren Coughlin (15^th)

J.T. Poston (33^rd) / Maja Stark (27^th)

Corey Conners (41^st) / Brooke Henderson (25^th)

Akshay Bhatia (29^th) / Jennifer Kupcho (47^th)

Nick Dunlap (32^nd) / Gabriela Ruffels (49^th)

Max Greyserman (39^th) / Andrea Lee (53^rd)

Jake Knapp (87^th) / Patty Tavatanakit (26^th)

Luke List (118^th) / Lilia Vu (5^th)

Rickie Fowler (73^rd) / Lexi Thompson (51^st)

Matt Kuchar (117^th) / Megan Khang (21^st)

Cameron Champ (403^rd) / Mel Reid (404^th)

Grant Thornton Invitational Odds

*Please click on the link above to be taken to the main Grant Thornton Invitational market on betfred.com (or app) for all the live betting prices on this tournament.

SELECTIONS

Market leaders: Tom Kim/Jeeno Thitikul 9/2, Tony Finau/Nelly Korda 9/2, Jason Day/Lydia Ko 7/1, Corey Conners/Brooke Henderson 8/1

6 pts Tom Kim & Jeeno Thitikul win only @ 9/2

I’m going to begin at the top of the betting this week and with one half of the team winning at this course less than a month ago and the other finishing 2^nd to Scottie Scheffler last week, the pairing of Tom Kim & Jeeno Thitikul looks the one to beat in Florida.

Both players arrive here in excellent form. Thitikul has finished no worse than 8^th across her last seven starts, including winning here in the CME Group Tour Championship on her latest outing, whilst Kim has recorded two runner-up finishes in his last three events, which came in the Genesis Championship in Korea at the end of October and in last week’s Hero World Challenge.

Thitikul is nigh on perfect for this test statistically, ranking 1^st in birdies or better, 1^st in greens-in-regulation and 2^nd in putting on the LPGA last season. Kim is also a strong iron player, ranking 3^rd on the PGA Tour over the last six months.

Though Kim has no experience of the course, Thitikul has played here three times, preceding her victory with finishes of 5^th and 10^th in the previous two years. They’re the highest-ranking duo in the competition and I expect them to play like it this week.

2 pts Matthieu Pavon & Celine Boutier each way (1/5 - 4 places) @ 14/1 

The French duo of Matthieu Pavon & Celine Boutier are the fourth-best team in the event according to world ranking positions but are priced as eighth-favourites. Though Pavon’s form of late leaves a little to be desired, Boutier has been playing well and possessing an excellent record here, I’m expecting her and this format to spark her compatriot into life.

Boutier arrives here having finished inside the top 12 in her last six starts, including recording a victory in the Aramco Series – Shenzhen and finishing runner-up in the BMW Ladies Championship. In contrast, Pavon did all of his best work in the first half of the year, winning that breakthrough PGA Tour title in the Farmers Insurance Open and finishing 5^th in the US Open. He was 17^th of 20 players in the Hero World Challenge last week, though he did play his best golf over the weekend and I’m hoping he can keep the improvement coming for this event.

Each of these two players excel with their approach play, with Boutier ranking 6^th and Pavon 53^rd on their respective tours this season. Boutier makes plenty of birdies and alongside Pavon’s generally strong putting, they make a good all-round pairing.

Boutier has experience of this event, finishing 12^th alongside Harris English last year. She’s also amassed a good record here in the CME Group Tour Championship, finishing 3^rd, 10^th, 16^th and 12^th in the last four years. The classy major winner can be the driving force in this team and if Pavon can indeed pick up where he left off in The Bahamas, they’ll be real contenders this week.