Table of Contents
While most of the golf world will be tuned into The Open Championship this week, there’s still meaningful action happening stateside with the 2025 PGA Barracuda Championship. This alternate-field event gives a fresh set of players a rare opportunity to compete for a PGA Tour title, valuable FedExCup points, and a nice payday.
If you’re betting on golf this week but want a change of pace from the links in Northern Ireland, the Barracuda offers an interesting menu of wagering opportunities. For more insight across both events, check out the latest Golf Picks This Week and Golf Results to stay caught up with PGA Tour action. You can also explore our golf betting hub.
Where Is The Barracuda Championship?
The 2025 Barracuda Championship will once again be held at Tahoe Mountain Club’s Old Greenwood Course in Truckee, California. The event has been staged here since 2020 and is known for its Modified Stableford scoring format, which rewards aggressive play and birdie runs over par-saving strategies.
How To Watch The Barracuda Championship?
Golf Channel will provide exclusive coverage of the Barracuda Championship throughout the weekend, with streaming available via Peacock and PGA Tour Live on ESPN+.
What Is The Barracuda Championship Payout?
The winner of the 2025 Barracuda Championship will take home $720,000 and 300 FedExCup points. While this is considerably less than a regular Tour stop, it’s a huge opportunity for lower-ranked players to secure Tour status.
Who Won The Barracuda Championship 2024?
Nick Dunlap rose to the top and captured the 2024 Barracuda Championship. He finished 2 strokes ahead of Vince Whaley, while Patrick Fishburn was 3 off the pace. It was his second PGA Tour win after he triumphed at the AmEx as an amateur in January of last year.
The Barracuda Championship Odds
Check out the latest Barracuda Championship odds:
PGA Odds | PGA Odds |
---|---|
Kurt Kitayama (+1800) | Vince Whaley (+2000) |
Ryan Gerard (+2200) | Emiliano Grillo (+2500) |
Cameron Champ (+2500) | Rico Hoey (+2500) |
Pierceson Coody (+2500) | Max Homa (+2500) |
Lee Hodges (+2800) | Kevin Roy (+2800) |
Patrick Fishburn (+3000) | Ryo Hisatsune (+3500) |
Erik Van Rooyen (+3500) | Beau Hossler (+3500) |
The board is wide open this week, with no player shorter than +1800 and a slew of names bunched in the +2500–3500 range. That reflects the nature of this alternate-field event, where big names are mostly absent. If you’re looking for help narrowing things down, our best handicappers have you covered.
The Barracuda Championship Favorites
The following golfers are considered the odds-on favorites to win the Barracuda Championship, according to the top sports betting sites:
Kurt Kitayama (+1800)
Kurt Kitayama enters the 2025 Barracuda Championship as the favorite at +1800, and for good reason. The 32-year-old is fresh off a strong T-5 finish at the John Deere Classic, where he shot all four rounds in the 60s and ended the tournament at 16-under. That performance followed a T-51 at the Rocket Classic and a missed cut at the RBC Canadian Open, but overall, his recent form is trending in the right direction, especially in softer fields like this one opposite The Open. With most of the world’s top talent teeing it up at Royal Portrush this week, Kitayama won’t have to battle many elite names to contend.
Statistically, Kitayama’s profile is built for contention. He ranks 17th on the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee this season, gaining 0.456 strokes in that category and averaging 315.9 yards per drive. His biggest liability is on the greens, where he’s lost nearly 0.4 strokes per round, but a decent putting week is all he needs to separate himself in this limited field. He’s also gained strokes around the green and on approach recently, including a +0.510 mark in SG: Approach over his last five starts. If the irons stay sharp, he can give himself enough birdie looks to overcome his putting woes.
Kitayama’s 2025 season has been inconsistent. He’s played 17 events and made just 9 cuts. That includes just a pair of top-10 finishes, but again, we have a weaker field this week. The Byron Nelson and John Deere were both relatively weak fields and Kitayama finished near the top of the leaderboard. This Stableford scoring format will also benefit aggressive players, and Kitayama fits the bill.
Given his combination of recent form, solid driving, and consistency in weak fields, Kitayama deserves his place atop the odds board. While he’s yet to register a win in 2025, this is arguably his best shot all year. If he can keep the driver hot and find just an average putting week, he has a real chance to break through with a victory at Tahoe Mountain Club this weekend.
Emiliano Grillo (+2500)
Emiliano Grillo rolls into the Barracuda Championship riding high after a runner-up finish at the ISCO, where he carded rounds of 65-66-68-67. That was easily his best showing of the year, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. The Barracuda field is one of the weakest we’ll see all season, and Grillo suddenly looks like one of the most dangerous players in it.
What really stands out with Grillo is how dialed in he’s been with his irons. Over his last five starts, he’s gained nearly a full stroke per round on approach, one of the best clips in this field. His off-the-tee numbers are solid, too, and overall, he’s gained more than 1.2 strokes per round during that stretch. If you’re building a model for success in a birdie fest at elevation, that ball-striking combo is exactly what you want.
Putting has always been the question mark with Grillo, but there’s reason to believe it’s trending in the right direction. He held it together for all four rounds at the ISCO, which is saying something considering how much pressure he was under on Sunday. He’s not going to win any putting contests, but if he’s even average on the greens, his tee-to-green game gives him a real shot.
He’s made eight of his last nine cuts, posted five top-20s this season, and now has a ton of confidence coming into an event where experience and consistency could be enough to get it done. The +2500 odds offer tons of upside, too.
Max Homa (+2500)
Max Homa hasn’t had the smoothest 2025 season, but he arrives at the Barracuda Championship coming off one of his better showings. Homa finished T-15 at the John Deere Classic – his best result since the Masters in April – and he’ll look to build on that in a significantly softer field this week in Tahoe. While he’s missed seven cuts in 17 events this year, Homa has enough upside to warrant a flier at +2500 in this kind of field, especially given how pedestrian the rest of the board looks behind the favorites.
The stats, admittedly, aren’t flattering. Homa ranks outside the top 120 in every strokes gained category except putting, where he’s 99th. His ball-striking has fallen off this season, with his approach play particularly struggling, ranking 169th on Tour with a -0.819 strokes gained mark. That said, the putter has come alive in recent weeks, and his strokes gained: putting average over his last five starts (+0.497) is a major bright spot.
What Homa does bring is experience and pedigree. He’s a six-time PGA Tour winner who’s faced down elite fields, something very few players here can claim. That veteran savvy could prove valuable at the Barracuda, where a more patient, strategic approach often wins out over raw talent, especially under the modified Stableford format.
The Best Barracuda Championship Betting Value
The following golfers are our top value plays for the Barracuda Championship:
Pierceson Coody (+2500)
Pierceson Coody heads into the 2025 Barracuda Championship looking to bounce back after a missed cut at the John Deere Classic. He shot 70-70 in Silvis, failing to make the weekend, but that came on the heels of a solid T16 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and a T25 at the Byron Nelson. Though his results have been mixed this season, Coody’s upside is clear. When he puts it all together, he’s shown the ability to climb leaderboards, particularly on courses that reward distance.
From a strokes gained standpoint, Coody’s profile is intriguing. He ranks among the longest hitters on the PGA Tour, averaging 308.1 yards off the tee and gaining +0.666 strokes in that category this season. That kind of power can give him an edge in a Modified Stableford format like the Barracuda, where birdies are gold and bogeys aren’t nearly as punishing. His putting has also been a strength, gaining +0.473 strokes per round with a solid 24.31% birdie conversion rate.
While he’s still chasing his first career top-10, Coody’s combination of distance and streaky putting gives him sleeper appeal. He’s made just five cuts in nine starts this season, but with two finishes inside the top 25 in his last four events, his recent form is trending in the right direction. If the irons cooperate and he capitalizes on the easy scoring opportunities in Reno, Coody has the skillset to contend.
Vince Whaley (+2000)
Vince Whaley heads to the Barracuda Championship on the heels of a quietly solid stretch, including a T-32 at the Rocket Classic and a T-52 at the RBC Canadian Open. While he hasn’t had any great finishes recently, Whaley’s numbers suggest he’s trending in the right direction. He’s gained strokes off the tee in each of his last five starts, averaging +0.320 in that category, which is typically a sign his driving is dialed in. His total strokes gained average of +1.057 over those five events ranks among the best in this field.
What really makes Whaley intriguing this week is his track record at the Barracuda. He finished runner-up here last year, and that kind of comfort level can go a long way at an alternate field event like this. Whaley’s also putted extremely well in 2025, gaining +0.207 strokes with the flatstick, which ranks 4th on the PGA Tour. If his irons cooperate even a little, his ceiling is higher than most in the mid-tier range.
He’s also quietly one of the more well-rounded players in the field, ranking top 100 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, Around-the-Green, Putting, and Total. For a guy with limited buzz this week, Whaley looks like a sneaky strong bet to contend again at an event where he’s already proven he can hang with the best.
The Best Barracuda Championship Longshot
Patrick Fishburn (+3000) heads to the Barracuda Championship following a strong showing at the ISCO, where he shot 66-69-67-70 to finish T-8 at 18-under. That was his best result in months and a much-needed rebound after a string of missed cuts and early exits. If he can carry that momentum west, he could be a real factor in a field this thin.
Fishburn’s driving remains his calling card. He ranks 44th on the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee this season, and his 0.751 SG OTT average over his last five events reflects how reliably he’s setting himself up off the tee. He’s also averaging over 305 yards per drive, which puts him among the longest players in this Barracuda field.
The rest of the bag has been more of a rollercoaster. Fishburn’s approach play and putting both rank outside the top 95 on TOUR, and he’s lost strokes in total over his last five events (-0.778 SG: Total). Still, in a weakened field where ball-striking can separate quickly, Fishburn’s power gives him a path to leaderboard relevance if he can just roll a few putts in.
The Barracuda Championship Predictions
My Golf pick for this tournament is Pierceson Coody at +2500. He’s a young player with plenty of upside who’s trending in the right direction.
He hasn’t been lighting the world on fire this season, but he’s made three of his last five cuts and posted top-25 finishes at both the Byron Nelson and Charles Schwab. Coody gained strokes in every category at the Schwab and looked solid tee-to-green despite fading to T-70 at the John Deere. His recent form – combined with his ball-striking profile – makes him a sneaky-good fit at a volatile event like the Barracuda.
Even though Coody hasn’t broken through yet, this field is full of players in similar boats: inconsistent resumes, brief flashes of brilliance, and plenty of missed weekends. But Coody separates himself a bit with his raw talent and SG profile: he’s averaging +0.675 SG: Total over his last five starts, driven by above-average off-the-tee and putting metrics.
With the Modified Stableford scoring format rewarding aggressive play styles, Coody’s ability to score in bunches could give him a real shot to claim his first PGA Tour win.
Bet: Pierceson Coody (+2500)
The Barracuda Championship Winners
The following is a list of the most recent Barracuda Championship winners:
Year | Winner | Margin of Victory |
---|---|---|
2024 | Nick Dunlap | 2 points |
2023 | Akshay Bhatia | Playoff |
2022 | Chez Reavie | 1 point |
2021 | Erik van Rooyen | 5 points |
2020 | Richy Werenski | 1 point |
2019 | Collin Morikawa | 3 points |
2018 | Andrew Putnam | 4 points |
2017 | Chris Stroud | Playoff |
2016 | Greg Chalmers | 6 points |
2015 | J. J. Henry | Playoff |