As the 97th PGA Championship prepares to tee off on the shores of Lake Michigan at Whistling Straits in Sheboygan, Wisconsin bettors are grappling with returns from injuries, returns to form and possible returns to dominance. Starting with the last first, Jordan Spieth’s bid for the first-ever calendar year Grand Slam in golf came up one agonizing shot short of a playoff at the Open Championship in July. Only one golfer – Ben Hogan, 62 years ago – has ever won three professional major championships in a single season and Spieth has been installed as the odds-on favorite in sportsbooks to add the PGA Championship to his Masters and U.S. Open titles in 2015.
The 21-year old Texan is already on pace to turn in one of golf’s greatest seasons and he has shown that he is never out of a championship these days. He has demonstrated the ability to win wire-to-wire (the Masters), to make fewer mistakes than his competitors (the U.S.Open), and charge up the leaderboard on the final day (the Open Championship). He has whatever style is required to get the job done.
The player returning to the course from injury is none other than the world number one, Rory McIlroy. The Irish links king tore up an ankle in a neighborhood soccer game a month ago and was forced to skip the Open Championship as a result. The PGA Championship marks his first competitive play since then and even if his recovering foot can withstand the pressure of 300+-yard drives there are questions as to McIlroy’s short game sharpness in competition. Oddsmakers have their doubts. 18bet has posted #1 McIlroy as a decided underdog in his opening round match against #2 Spieth, with whom he is paired on Thursday and Friday.
【18bet: 2015 PGA Championship 1st Round Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 12, 1:00 a.m. (GMT)
Do not be too quick to count a recovering McIlroy out. He has won two of the last three PGA Championships and is still the defending champion. When this tournament was last played at Whistling Straits in 2010, he finished just one stroke behind and has not been shy about professing his affection for the links-like layout.
The winner of that 2010 PGA Championship was Martin Kaymer. That was Kaymer’s first major championship and it propelled him to become the number one player in the world. But it was too much, too fast for the German maestro and he tumbled out of the Top 50 before coming back to capture last year’s U.S. Open in commanding fashion. His return to the elite of golf and his track record have made him a popular pick at Whistling Straits when looking for potential winners beyond the top two.
Two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson is drawing support as well. His big-hitting game seems well-suited for a Whistling Straits course that architect Pete Dye designed to often appear like target golf on steroids. At SBOBET, the sportsbook is matching the long-balling lefty against the best Australia has to offer at the moment, Jason Day. Day has been consistently on the leaderboard at major tournaments in the past few years and recently took home the Canadian Open title. He has flashed enough recent form to be granted favorite status in the opening round:
【SBOBET: 2015 PGA Championship Matchup Odds】
※ Current Odds Date & Time: August 12, 1:00 a.m. (GMT)
SBOBET has also paired two of the best American golfers in its wagering in Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson. Neither has won a major championship but have each tantalized backers in their near misses. In 2014 Fowler finished in the Top 10 of all four majors and Dustin Johnson has built a legacy of near misses in the big tournaments. His unfortunate misadventures began at Whistling Straits in 2010 when he was leading the tournament until grounding his club in what he thought was a waste area but was declared a bunker, costing him a two-stroke penalty.
American Zach Johnson has not been drawing much attention despite his triumph in the Open Championship in July. He has only played one tournament since and struggled to break par at Firestone South in the Bridgestone World Golf Championships in Akron, Ohio. Veteran Jim Furyk is coming to Wisconsin from the other direction mentally. Last week Furyk dominated play at the Bridgestone until firing a desultory two-over par 72 on Sunday. Since 2011, Furyk has held the lead after three rounds 10 times – more than any other player – and failed to win a single tournament.
And then there are the holders of the Wanamaker Trophy as former PGA Champions who are looking to rekindle form this week. Chief among them is Tiger Woods who has missed the cut in his past two majors. Even his staunchest supporters are having difficulty making the case for his contention this time around. Die-hards point to his most recent outing at the Quicken Loans Championship two weeks ago where Woods actually haunted the leaderboard for a spell before a horrendous round on Saturday tossed him aside. Smart bettors can never throw Woods out of consideration, however.
Phil Mickelson is another titan of the links not easily dismissed. His struggles on the course have not been quite as pronounced as his long-time rival Woods but Mickelson has not won a tournament since 2013. The 45-year old Mickelson does still make cuts in the majors and has finished at least third in a major every year since 2009 so his backers can still paint a picture where he dials up the old magic.
As for outside chances – how about Adam Scott? The Australian with the glorious swing has only won one of the last 16 majors but finished in the Top 15 fourteen times. The PGA Championship will be the last major in which he will be able to compete with the Scotty Cameron Futura X Long putter he has wielded with such effectiveness. Long putters will be banned in 2016 and Scott may have extra incentive to retire the outlawed club in a blaze of glory.
