The Ocean Course at Kiawah island is looking to be a seriously tough challenge for the top 156 players from the PGA tour. The course is long, but due to its links nature there'll be an emphasis on accuracy and being able to play in windy conditions. This means that players will both have to perform off the tee as well as in the short game around the greens. We've already looked at a few notable longshots for the PGA Championship and some of them will include here in our best bets as well.
While the course is officially longer than in any other Major championship before at 7876 yards, it plays shorter than it's official yardage due to it being a links course by the sea. Ball are bound to have lots of roll, both in the fairway and in shots towards the greens.
Since it'll probably be the toughest tournament of the year that'll test the players skills to their very limit, this is what we're looking for in our best bets:
- Players who can play through the conditions and perform over all four rounds without big mental errors. It'll be windy, and when playing by the sea it's always worse, so our winner will have to withstand this and remain level headed even when things aren't going his way.
- Hit it long, straight and low. Being able to control drives off the tee in the wind will be crucial for success and our winner needs to be able to set himself up with scoring opportunities.
- Creativity. Players will need to be creative in their approach to the greens due to the hard grounded links course where they're bound to see more roll than usual.
Our PGA Championship picks:
We're including some of our previously mentioned longshots for our best bets and adding a few more, these are our PGA Championship picks:
Our favorite: Jon Rahm +1400, we recommend a bet in the range of half a unit.
While our initial pick here was going to be Dustin Johnson, he had to sit out last week at the Bryon Nelson due to knee pain. On the back of this news, his odds went from +1100 to +1800. While it might come back to haunt us, we still can't get ourselves to include him in our betting card as it's impossible to judge just how much his knee will affect him. Put a little extra on DJ if you want, but Rahm has all the skills needed to perform and he's been playing well over recent months.
Best outsider picks:
Compared to the odds available, these are our top picks of players next in line.
Viktor Hovland +2200, half a unit recommended.
He's been amazingly consistent throughout the year and has tied for 3rd twice since last month's US Masters. Don't be surprised if he puts it all together this week, you might have to shop around a bit to find the highest odds but it's worth the trouble. William Hill currently has him at +2200.
Daniel Berger +3000
Finished of the Byron Nelson in Dallas very hot and rose up the leaderboard throughout the weekend all the way to top 5. He plays well on all kinds of courses and if he can continue his form we're looking at him in contention for a Major win. Even though he's down from his initial odds of +4000, we still consider it a good price and a +3000 payout would be nothing to sneeze at.
Tyrell Hatton +5000, we recommend quarter of a unit.
One of the best short gamers in the field and if he can connect other parts of his game, he could be in for a very successful week. Being from England, he's also well accustomed to links courses and not bound to be distracted by the tricky elements.
Matchup bet: Tyrell Hatton vs whoever you can find offered in your sportsbook. We have a full unit staked at +100 on 3-way bet vs Sam Burns.
All of our partner sites also have a lot more markets available, so if you want to use a welcome offer to place a little more than what's recommended in our best bets, feel free to check out our reviews of best US Sportsbooks.
References
https://www.pgachampionship.com/
