Hero World Challenge Predictions: Make it Matsuyama

• Albany Golf Course stages the event once again

• Tiger Woods is tournament host but won’t be playing 

• Scottie Scheffler is the defending champion

Hero World Challenge 2025 Odds

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Hero World Challenge 2025 Predictions

• Hideki Matsuyama each-way (1/4 1-2-3-4) at +1800 with bet365

• Justin Rose to bt Alex Noren in 72-hole match bet at -110 with bet365

• Andrew Novak for Top 10 at +138 with BetMGM

Hero World Challenge 2025 Intro

While the RSM Classic two weeks ago wrapped up another season on the PGA Tour, there’s one more chance to see some of the biggest names in golf in action before the calendar flips to 2026.

The Hero World Challenge, staged at Albany in The Bahamas, is a standard 72-hole strokeplay event but with a field size of just 20.

But think of it in terms of quality not quantity.

World No.1 Scottie Scheffler leads the field and is one of eight players on show who contested September’s Ryder Cup.

In addition, the field boasts US Ryder Cup skipper Keegan Bradley, along with European vice-captain Alex Noren. 

Tiger Woods is the tournament host but, unfortunately, won’t be swinging a club due to his latest operation.

Albany Golf Course is a par 72 measuring over 7,400 yards and features the little-seen combination of five par 3s and five par 5s.

Designed by Ernie Els, it’s a flat, exposed, links-style course and features plenty of bunkers among the dunes.

Last 5 Winners of the Hero World Challenge

Course Notes

• Albany Golf Course is a par 72 that measures 7,449 yards

• There are five par 3s and five par 5s, with three of each on the opening nine

• The greens are covered in Bermuda grass

• Rickie Fowler owns the 18-hole record, firing a 61 in the final round in 2017

• Temperatures are set to be around 80 degrees with winds fairly modest 

Favorites to Win The RSM Classic 2025

Scottie Scheffler (+160) at bet365

Like many of the game’s greats, Scheffler has his favorite courses, ones where he has repeated success. And Albany is certainly on the list as he’s played this tournament four times and has two wins and two seconds. Although he underwhelmed in the Ryder Cup and this is his first start since, Scheffler’s last five strokeplay starts show three wins, a third and a fourth. He’s on a streak of 15 straight top 10s. His odds are super-short but justifiably so.

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Robert MacIntyre (+1000) at bet365

It’s fair to say that the Scot is on a high after playing his part in Europe’s Ryder Cup win at Bethpage. MacIntyre returned home a week later and won the prestigious Alfred Dunhill Links Championship and followed that with a pair of top 10s in the Abu Dhabi Championship and DP World Championship. He’ll be sharper than many in this field and, on a track that suits, he looks a good bet to improve on the seventh place he posted on debut last year.

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Cameron Young (+1100) at bet365

Like plenty in the field, Young is making his first strokeplay start since September. But the New Yorker will surely be in good spirits after his excellent Ryder Cup debut saw him finish as joint-top scorer for the beaten Americans. A month earlier he’d finally captured his first PGA Tour title when winning the Wyndham Championship by six. At Albany he has a highly promising third on debut in 2022 but had to settle for 15th and 13th (out of 20 remember) in the last two.

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Matsuyama to Double Up

Hideki Matsuyama threatened to have a huge year when he shot the lights out to win the season-opening Sentry with 35-under back in January.

But he never really kicked on from there, 21st at The Masters and 16th in The Open indicative of form which was decent but nothing more than that for a player of his level.

While many of his rivals here have rested, Matsuyama has been busy and recent form suggests he could be ready for another breakout win.

The 11-time PGA Tour champion was 20th in the co-sanctioned Baycurrent Classic in Japan and then improved to seventh at the Genesis Championship in South Korea.

Most recently he returned home to post a top five in Japan’s best known event, the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament, his short-game looking on point (9th Putting Average, 7th Scrambling).

He hasn’t played this course since 2018 but his four appearances in the event have yielded a win in 2016 followed by a fifth 12 months later. 

Back Matsuyama at each-way odds of +1800 (1/4 1-2-3-4) with bet365.

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Rose to Beat Noren

Let’s try and add to our strong 72-hole match bet record by tipping Justin Rose to beat good friend Alex Noren in a -110 pick ‘em at bet365.

Rose has a residency at Albany and previously he’s talked about this as a ‘home’ game.

While not yet turning that local knowledge into a win, Rose’s record here in his last five starts shows a third, two fifths, an eighth and a ninth.

Noren has played the the event twice but Rose shot lower both times.

The Swede had a purple patch in the summer when winning twice on the DP World Tour and finishing third in the Wyndham Championship.

But he’s cooled a little since, not managing a top 15 in his last four starts.

Rose, who won two points out of three in Europe’s Ryder Cup triumph and captured August’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, was 16th in the recent DP World Tour Championship and, with his extra course knowledge, gets the nod.     

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Novak for Top 10

Andrew Novak is worth a punt at +138 for a Top 10 which equates to finishing in the top half of the 20-man field.

Seventh out of 156 in the RSM Classic last time, Novak has had an excellent year and can cash in against rivals who may be short of sharpness.

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How to Watch the Hero World Challenge 2025

• Tournament: Hero World Challenge 2025

• Location: Albany GC, Albany, BAH 

• Date: Thursday, December 4 - Sunday, December 7

• How to watch: Thursday-Friday 1.30 p.m.-4.30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), Saturday noon-2.30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 2.30 p.m.-5 p.m. (NBC), Sunday 11.30 a.m.-1.30 p.m. (Golf Channel), 1.30 p.m.-4.30 p.m. (NBC). And all four days on Sky Sports