As a North Carolina native, Ben Griffin is a Bermuda grass expert. Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Golf best bets: Long shots to target for the Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches

We're coming off a strong week in golf long shots in which we nailed Justin Lower to finish top 20 (+500) and top 40 (+140) and Harry Hall to finish top 40 (+125). Let's run it back with two bombs we're targeting with outright and finishing position bets for this week's Cognizant Classic in the Palm Beaches. 

Ben Griffin (+10000 FanDuel)

As a North Carolina native, Ben Griffin is a Bermuda grass expert. He's gained strokes putting in five straight starts on golf courses with Bermuda greens, and he led the field in putting in his last start on Bermuda at The American Express. 

Last season, Griffin finished T21 at the Honda Classic, T14 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T35 at the Players Championship while gaining strokes on the greens in all three starts. The 27-year-old clearly loves southeastern golf courses with this grass type, so we're expecting another solid week from Bermuda Ben. 

Top-20 finish: +360
Top-40 finish: +120

Adrien Dumont de Chassart (+50000 FD)

This is a bit of a Hail Mary, but we love the upside. Adrien Dumont de Chassart earned his PGA Tour card for the 2024 season but has struggled to find his footing thus far. The rookie has three missed cuts and hasn't finished better than T60 in five starts, and his statistics page is a sea of red. 

De Chassart is 500/1 for a reason, but this is the same player who rattled off 12 straight top-10 finishes and two wins between the NCAA and Korn Ferry Tour last summer. He was a three-time Big Ten Golfer of the Year, a three-time All-American and set the school record for the lowest career scoring average at Illinois. After graduating, he won his KFT debut at Thornblade Club in South Carolina, which has the same grass type as the Bermuda grass found at PGA National. 

This is a supremely talented 23-year-old who's going to pop up and contend at some point. Why can't it be this week?

Top-20 finish: +1100
Top-40 finish: +300

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