The PGA Championship heads to Oklahoma as Southern Hills hosts the tournament for a record fifth time.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson will skip the event as his row over the Saudi backed golf events continues but as we would expect at any major, it is a star-studded event.
Tiger Woods will be in the field in just his second tournament since his potentially career ending — or worse — car crash. Like at the Masters, he is very hard to back though. This course looks like it will be a brutal test and not the sort of event that somebody can come into with some rust and expect too much. That has not stopped him being one of the most backed players in the field though at 75/1. According to BetMGM he would be the biggest losing result in the history of the company.
“Tiger Woods (+6600) is our biggest liability to win the PGA Championship. If Tiger were to win, it would be the biggest losing result in BetMGM history. Tiger missing the cut would be a good outcome for the sportsbook.”
– Jason Scott, VP of Trading, @BetMGM pic.twitter.com/9341NuUcdD— GOLF.com (@GOLF_com) May 17, 2022
It is not just Tiger that could struggle here. It is a course that will test every part of a player’s game. Not only will the winner need to drive the ball long and straight, with some small and hard to hit greens they will need to be great at scrambling.
Scottie Scheffler is the favourite and it is easy to see why. There can be little doubt that he is the player of the year so far. His victory at the Masters capped an incredible run with multiple wins that saw him rocket to the top of the rankings. It is hard to pinpoint a weakness in his game and it would be no surprise to see him contend yet again. 11/1 is on the short side but nobody could be blamed for backing him to take home a second straight major.
The shot tracer video you didn't know you needed 🦶 pic.twitter.com/EJMGPp2YSh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 18, 2022
Cameron Smith is an interesting case. Like Scheffler there are not too many weaknesses to his game. His short game can be incredible at times and his good form at Augusta — a course that has definite similarities in terms of how the greens are set up with big run off areas — would suggest he will like it here. Over the first half of the year he has been the best player in the world other than Scheffler, and after his win at the Players Championship a major is just the next step. At double the price of the favourite, he is a much more intriguing price.
Rory McIlroy is without a major since 2014 but this could be a great chance to break that drought. He is far too talented to go that long without a win in golf’s biggest events but there are worries over his form in them. So often he struggles over the first couple of days, playing himself out of things before coming back over the weekend when it is just too late. This is unlikely to be a venue that will produce big comebacks. Birdies are likely to hard to come by so it is going to be a grind.
He can certainly do that, and if the wind gets up as expected, he will like that. He just needs to get that putter going but if he can, 14/1 could look generous come Sunday night. His only start since the Masters was a fifth at the Wells Fargo so it is hard to judge his form, but he seems to be really happy with where his game is at.
Coming off a 2nd and 5th place finish, @McIlroyRory is a popular pick among the experts.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 17, 2022
The PGA Championship has produced a number of big priced winners and we are going back to a favourite pick here with Tyrrell Hatton. He will love the style of this event. He is long off the tee, accurate with his irons and can be one of the very best putters on tour. His temperament can be questioned but he has won some huge events all over the globe. At 80/1 he is very, very backable, particularly in the top 10 or 20 markets.
One player that has seemed destined to win a major for some time is Xander Schauffele. He seems to contend in nearly all of these fields packed with the best players in the world and this week should be no different. He will like this type of event where it is going to be more about saving pars than racking up birdies and eagles. He recently won at the Zurich Open alongside Patrick Cantlay and that will give him confidence as he heads into this tournament with a great chance of picking up a first major.
The PGA Championship often feels like the fourth major in terms of importance, but it can often produce some of the best events. We have a great venue for it and so many players that can win. We haven’t even mentioned the likes of Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas or Dustin Johnson who can all turn up and win at any course on any week.
Not many players will have played here before, and even if they have the course has changed a lot since the last events here. It has all the ingredients for a great tournament but it has a lot to live up to after last year’s incredible run from Mickelson.
