We are all set for the golf’s second major of the year as the top players in the world head to the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky for the USPGA Championship starting on Thursday 16 May. We select 4 players to take on the bookmakers.
THE COURSE
The Valhalla Golf Club has hosted the PGA Championship on three previous occasions, first in 1996 when Mark Brooks got up for the victory, then in 2000 Tiger Woods beat Bob May in a playoff. In 2014 it was Rory Mcilroy who won with a score of -16. The course has undergone changes since then, but long hitters will be favoured as the fairways are generous while wild shots can be severely penalised with the rough reportedly thick this week and plenty of trees alongside the generous fairways.
MARKET LEADERS
Scottie Scheffler won the Masters going away 5 weeks ago and he has been in excellent form with 4 victories and a runner-up finish in his last 5 starts. He is coming back from a short break though for the birth of his child and while I was happy to take him at a similar price in the US Masters I am going to try and beat the world number 1 this week.
Rory McIlroy is second favourite at 15/2 and he ticks a lot of boxes having won here the last time the PGA was played at the Valhalla Club and he is also coming off an excellent victory last week at Quail Hollow at the Wells Fargo Championship. Rory had also teamed up with countryman Shane Lowry to win the Zurich Classic two weeks previously. The big news this week is he has filed for divorce but the news broke over the weekend and if anything had a positive influence over his game.
Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka are at 14/1 and 16/1 respectively (at the time of writing). Schauffele went well last week at the Wells Fargo where he was a victim of a brilliant Rory McIlroy and Brooks Koepka who has won this Tournament three times in 6 years, is coming off a victory in LIV Golf Singapore.
Fellow LIV player Jon Rahm is also 16/1 and you can get 22/1 and better the balance.
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SELECTIONS
Rory Mcilroy each way at 15/2
As mentioned above, Rory is in excellent form coming off back-to-back victories. He is also a past champion at this course and has a good record in the PGA in general having finished Top 10 in the last two years. He looks cherry ripe to break his major drought this week and the majority of my budget will be on him.
Ludvig Aberg each way at 22/1
Aberg makes his PGA Championship debut, but he showed at The Masters with his runner-up finish to Scheffler that he is certainly not going to be overwhelmed by the occasion. I was seriously impressed by his course management at The Masters and being so long off the tee will certainly assist him this week. Reports are that his knee which has been giving problems (and saw him withdraw from the Wells Fargo) is in good shape and I expect him to be right there down the stretch.
Collin Morikawa each way at 30/1
Morikawa finished 3rd in The Masters and was a bit disappointed to have tailed off after looking likely to contend. He was 16th last week and was the previous winner of this Tournament back on debut in 2020 and has some solid PGA Championship form since then. Morikawa is a player I feel is back on the rise and I want him on side this week.
Jason Day each way at 75/1
Day is my roughie for the week and his career certainly seems to be back on the up. He won this Tournament in 2015 and had a run of 8 consecutive Top 25 finishes at one point. He has started to catch the eye in recent events and was 4th last week and he looks worth an interest at current odds.
There are plenty of other betting markets available on the PGA Championship such as Top LIV player where Koepka and Rahm are trading as 7/2 favourites and Top Past Champion where Rory McIlroy tops the boards at 14/10.
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