What should you bet in the PGA Tour’s ISCO Championship? Four bets to consider

There’s a $4 million purse on offer this week at the ISCO Championship, the PGA Tour’s annual event in Kentucky.

A field of 156 golfers will begin the event, which runs from Thursday to Sunday at Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville and will award $720,000 to the winning golfer.

There’s also money to be made for those following along with the event.

With sports gambling now legal in Kentucky, plenty of people will have an eye on what action to take at the ISCO, which has been contested in the commonwealth since 2018.

Here are four bets to consider for this week’s ISCO Championship.

Odds listed as of Wednesday morning. Odds listed from shortest to longest.

Kevin Roy to win the ISCO Championship

One of the top pre-tournament choices to win the ISCO, 35-year-old Kevin Roy enters the event on a strong run of form. He’s logged three straight top 20 finishes on the PGA Tour, including consecutive top 10 performances over the last two weeks at the Rocket Classic (tied for eighth) and the John Deere Classic (tied for third).

Roy finished just one shot out of last week’s playoff to decide the John Deere, closing with a final round 65 (-6) in Illinois. Roy is one of four players in the ISCO field that finished inside the top five at the John Deere.

He was also near the top of the leaderboard for most of the Rocket Classic, as he was tied for the lead in that event following the first round.

A rookie on the PGA Tour this season, Roy also finished in a tie for sixth in March at the Puerto Rico Open, which, like the ISCO, is an opposite field event on the tour schedule.

One of the keys to Roy’s likely success at Hurstbourne this week is his trending form when it comes to strokes gained on approach to the green. Over his last few starts on tour, Roy has ranked among the best players in this metric. He’s also posted strong numbers when it comes to strokes gained tee to green.

That will matter at Hurstbourne, which, at just over 7,000 yards, is set to be one of the shortest courses on the PGA Tour this season. The course will also feature some of the smallest greens on tour, further placing a premium on approach play.

For the season, Roy ranks 39th on tour in strokes gained on approach to the green and 28th in strokes gained total. Compared against other players set to tee it up at Hurstbourne, Roy is fourth and and first in those statistics, respectively.

It’s all adding up to make Roy a sensible selection to collect his first PGA Tour win.

Bet: Kevin Roy to win the ISCO Championship.

Odds: BetMGM (+1800, meaning you’ll win $1,800 on a $100 bet or, to use horse racing parlance, 18-1), DraftKings (+1800), bet365 (+1900), FanDuel (+2000).

Jackson Suber to finish in the top 10 at the ISCO Championship

For many of the same reasons that Roy presents as an appealing option to win the ISCO, 25-year-old Jackson Suber projects as a player who will be in contention this week.

While Suber is coming off a missed cut at last week’s John Deere Classic, he previously put together consecutive top 20 showings at the RBC Canadian Open (tied for 18th) and at the Rocket Classic (tied for sixth). Suber has also fired 10 straight rounds of sub-70 golf on tour, even counting last week’s event.

The one area of Suber’s statistical profile that jumps off the page just so happens to be strokes gained on approach to the green, where Suber ranks ninth on tour this season. He’s the top player in the ISCO field, by quite a margin, in this metric.

While it remains to be seen which kind of player profile Hurstbourne favors as a PGA Tour event, Suber also has plenty of firepower off the tee if needed: He ranks in the top 50 on tour this season in average driving distance (306.2 yards).

Bet: Jackson Suber to finish top 10 at the ISCO Championship.

Odds: bet365 (+425), BetMGM (+500), DraftKings (+550), FanDuel (+550).

Cooper Musselman to make the cut at the ISCO Championship

There’s always a local angle to play at the ISCO, and this year we’re rolling with the standout Kentucky golfer from last year’s event.

In 2024, Cooper Musselman — a Louisville native who played high school golf at Saint Xavier and college golf at Kentucky — was the only player with connections to the commonwealth to make the cut at the final ISCO played at Champions at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville. Musselman finished in a tie for 31st at last year’s event.

Now, the 30-year-old Musselman is back for more. He secured one of the four spots in the ISCO reserved for Monday qualifiers after firing a 66 (-6) a few days ago at the University of Louisville Golf Club in Simpsonville.

Musselman has played seven events this season on the Korn Ferry Tour, the developmental tour ranked below the PGA Tour. He made the cut three times, including in his most recent start in late June (tied for 28th at the Memorial Health Championship).

Musselman is one of five former Saint Xavier golfers competing in this week’s ISCO, with Hurstbourne located just 10 miles from the Louisville high school. The others are Drew Doyle (who also Monday qualified into the ISCO), Brendon Doyle (Drew’s older brother), Daniel Iceman and former UK golfer Stephen Stallings Jr.

Bet: Cooper Musselman to make the cut at the ISCO Championship.

Odds: DraftKings (+150).

ISCO Championship to be decided in a playoff

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.

Three of the last four editions of the ISCO Championship have been decided in a playoff, including the last two tournaments. England’s Harry Hall won last year’s event from a rare five-man playoff.

Aside from Scott Piercy’s three-shot victory in the first ISCO Championship (then known as the Barbasol Championship) in 2015, the event has been decided by one shot or in a playoff in each of the eight editions of it since.

Part of this has to do with the setup used at Keene Trace: It was a birdie-fest that involved a bunch of, usually, unproven players trying to score as low as possible while holding their nerve down a closing stretch of holes that featured plenty of potential hazards.

Hurstbourne is making its debut as a PGA Tour venue this week, and it remains to be seen how the closing stretch of holes — the par 4 16th, par 3 17th and par 4 18th, which features a dramatic dogleg left shape and will play nearly 500 yards — will be dealt with by players.

But something that remains the same is, come Sunday evening, the top of the ISCO leaderboard will probably be littered with players attempting to win their first PGA Tour event. Nerves will be aplenty.

The last two events on the PGA Tour have been decided in a playoff, and it feels like there’s a good chance it could be three straight.

Bet: ISCO Championship to have a playoff/winning margin for ISCO Championship to be a playoff.

Odds: bet365 (+275), BetMGM (+350), DraftKings (+360).

PGA Tour ISCO Championship

When: Thursday through Sunday

Where: Hurstbourne Country Club in Louisville (Championship Course)

TV: 4-7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, and 5-7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Golf Channel).

Tickets: Visit iscochampionship.com

This story was originally published July 9, 2025 at 7:45 AM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription