PGA Championship Golf Predictions and Betting Odds
PGA Championship Dates at Bethpage State Black Course
This year’s PGA Championship will take place from May 16th to May 19th, 2019.
If you are a casual golf fan you might be wondering if it’s August already. That’s because the PGA Championship had been played in that month and as the final major of the golf season for several decades. However, its move to May was one of a handful of major PGA Tour changes to the 2018-19 schedule and going forward. It’s the first time the PGA Championship will be held in May since 1949 back when it was a match-play tournament. It switched to stroke play in 1958.
Bethpage State Park’s Black Course is one of the best-known public courses in the United States and can be one of the toughest depending on how tournament organizers set up the par 70 that measures 7,432 yards. Bethpage Black hosted the 2002 U.S. Open, always the toughest tournament in golf, and Tiger Woods won at just 3 under. It hosted again in 2009 and Lucas Glover was the winner at 4 under. It most recently hosted the Barclays event in the FedEx Cup playoffs in 2016 and Patrick Reed won at 9 under. It probably won’t play that easy but likely not as tough as the U.S. Opens held at the course.
The PGA Championship, like the U.S. Open and British Open, rotates courses annually. The PGA usually has the best field in all of golf and in fact every member of the world’s Top 100 is entered. That has never happened before in a major. The winner claims the Wannamaker Trophy, plus a lifetime exemption into the tournament among other perks.
PGA Championship Betting Favourites
Tiger cost every sportsbook on the planet money when he won the Masters last month, his first major championship victory since 2008 and his 15th major overall – three shy of Jack Nicklaus’ record. The casual golf bettor tends to bet Tiger to win, and he’s the +800 favourite at Sports Interaction this week. Woods has won the PGA Championship four times, one shy of the record held by Nicklaus and Walter Hagen (his in the match-play era). Tiger’s last PGA Championship title was in 2007 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Woods was a runner-up to Brooks Koepka last year at Bellerive outside St. Louis. Koepka (+900) finished at 16 under, two ahead of Tiger. The last time someone repeated in this tournament was Tiger in ’07. Koepka was one of only a few big names who played last week in Texas, finishing tied for fourth at the Byron Nelson. Koepka, Woods and Francesco Molinari (+2200) will play together the first two rounds.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is +1000 to win his first PGA Championship and Rory McIlroy is +1100 to win a third. He did in 2012 & ’14. McIlroy was T10 at the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage. Struggling Jordan Spieth is +2900 to complete the career Grand Slam.
To learn more about wagering on the PGA Championship, check out our guide to betting on golf.
Canadian Golfer Odds
No Canadian has won this tournament. Corey Conners is +16600 this week as he plays the course a first time. Adam Hadwin is +23200. He was 64th at the 2016 Barclays. Hadwin is -111 head-to-head vs. Conners (-125).
2019 PGA Championship Predictions
Not high on Tiger this week as he might be rusty not having played a competitive round since the Masters. Take McIlroy and Jason Day for Top 10s, but the winner is Rickie Fowler at +1900. He’s way overdue for a major and was T7 at the 2016 Barclays at Bethpage Black.
