Kokrak to do the locals proud

There is a locally based Wells Fargo Championship outsider who may have snuck under the guard of most punters because his course form does not show up in the usual places.

Jason Kokrak is his name and the North Carolina-based golfer is the focus of this week’s Rags To Riches as one goes in search of another bet that could cop a monster payout.

The unfortunately named Kokrak – one would bet that he got teased throughout his formative years – is trading at odds of 61.00 with 888sport and Unibet to take out the Wells Fargo Championship, which will take place at the Quail Hollow Club in his home city of Charlotte, North Carolina.

Kokrak has six professional victories under his belt but he is waiting to break his PGA Tour duck. He was in contention to do just that in last year’s Wells Fargo Championship as he was placed in the top 10 going into the final round only for his world to fall apart with an eight-over-par 80 on Sunday. Derek Ernst won the tournament in a play-off after finishing eight under par alongside David Lynn. It was a missed opportunity for Kokrak, whose 50th position disguises how well he played the first 54 holes of the competition.

That is excellent news for value punters because most people are going to skip over Kokrak based on his raw Wells Fargo Championship form figures even though there is a school of thought that one should respect all locally based golfers, irrespective of their recent and course statistics.

Kokrak was born in North Bay, Canada but he is an American who went to college in Cincinnati and now lives about 10 minutes from the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte. Kokrak plays the Wells Fargo Championship’s track frequently and its characteristics suit his golf game. Kokrak is a heavy hitter off the tee who ranks seventh on the PGA Tour for driving distance so the Quail Hollow Club layout’s length plays to his strengths. Kokrak has performed really well on a sufficient number of long courses – for example, Bay Hill, Congressional and Liberty National – for one to think that he plays his best golf when being powerful is an advantage.

With the recent wave of first-time winners on the PGA Tour, Kokrak is rapidly climbing the list of the best golfers not to have won a title. Kokrak has participated in 14 PGA Tour events this season, registering two top 10s and another six top 25s. He had last week off after finishing 12th in the RBC Heritage so he should be in good mental and physical condition going into his local PGA Tour competition.

Inside the Wells Fargo Championship top 10 after round one, round two and round three of last year’s edition, Kokrak is desperate to do well in front of his family and friends and his recent performances have not been all that far away from the standard needed to break through for his first big win.

While Rags To Riches followers will get stuck into the odds of 61.00 about Kokrak winning the Wells Fargo Championship, one should not ignore some of the exotic markets concerning him, particularly in light of his regular high finishes.

Kokrak is available at odds of 7.00 with several bookmakers, including Boylesports and Sportingbet, to make the Wells Fargo Championship top 10 and he is trading at odds of 3.60 with Bet365 to reach the top 20. Seven top-20 placings out of 14 PGA Tour starts this term suggest that Bet365 is wrong to be quoting Kokrak at 3.60 for such a result.