An intriguing field of 20 golfers is set to tee it up at the 2023 Hero World Challenge, which gets underway at the Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas on Thursday. It's not an official PGA Tour event, but it does count towards points in the Official World Golf Ranking. Tiger Woods is set to return to the course after last teeing it up at the Masters seven months ago. The Hero World Challenge 2023 field will also feature big names like Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. 

Hovland is the back-to-back defending champion of this event and he's the 4-1 favorite according to the latest 2023 Hero World Challenge odds. He's followed by Scheffler (9-2), Max Homa (8-1) and Collin Morikawa (8-1) on the PGA odds board. Matt Fitzpatrick (16-1), Thomas (16-1) and Cameron Young (16-1) are the other golfers going off below 20-1. Woods is among the intriguing longshots at 80-1.

We simulated the 2023 Hero World Challenge 10,000 times, and there are some MAJOR surprises. Join SportsLine here to see the model's shocking projected leaderboard.

Our proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, the model is up more than $9,000 on its best bets since the restart, nailing tournament after tournament.

McClure's model predicted Jon Rahm would finish on top of the leaderboard at the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions and The American Express. And at the 2023 Masters, the model was all over Rahm's second career major victory heading into the weekend. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the third round, but the model still projected him as the winner. It was the second straight Masters win for the model, which also nailed Scottie Scheffler winning in 2022.

In addition, the model included Nick Taylor in its best bets to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. That bet hit at +7000, and for the entire tournament, McClure's best bets returned nearly $1,900. McClure's best bets also included Jason Day (17-1) winning outright at the 2023 AT&T Byron Nelson and Rickie Fowler (14-1) finishing on top of the leaderboard at the 2023 Rocket Mortgage Classic.

This same model has also nailed a whopping 10 majors entering the weekend! Anyone who has followed it has seen MASSIVE returns!  Join SportsLine now to see the model's shocking RSM Classic picks from 10,000 simulations!

The 2023 Hero World Challenge is not an official PGA Tour event, but it does count towards points in the Official World Golf Ranking. Hovland enters the Hero World Challenge as the two-time defending champion, becoming the first player since Woods (2006-07) to successfully defend his title. Albany Golf Course, designed by Ernie Els, is set to host the Hero World Challenge for the eighth time. 

One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2023 Hero World Challenge: Collin Morikawa, a two-time major champion and one of the top favorites, struggles this week and doesn't even crack the top five! Morikawa secured a victory at the Zozo Championship in his last start, but he's never finished better than T-5 at the Hero World Challenge. He's also struggled with his putter this season, ranking 97th in putts per round (29.01), 102nd in one-putt percentage (39.23%) and 114th in strokes gained: putting (-0.109). 

The model has also examined where Tiger Woods finishes. Woods has won the Hero World Challenge five times in his career, most recently in 2011. The 15-time major champion has 82 career victories on the PGA Tour, but he'll be shaking off the rust after not playing a professional round of golf since the Masters in April. Woods' last win on the PGA Tour came at the 2019 Zozo Championship. 

Also, the model is targeting THREE golfers with odds of 20-1 or longer who will make surprising runs at the title! Anyone who backs these golfers could hit it BIG. You ABSOLUTELY need to see who they are before locking in any picks! 

So who wins the Hero World Challenge 2023, and which HUGE longshots make a serious run at the title? ... Join SportsLine right now to see who you can bank on to win, and see which longshots make a run at the title, all from the model that's nailed 10 majors, including this year's Masters and Open Championship!