May brings us the 2nd major of the year with the 2023 PGA Championship. Oak Hill Country Club will host this prestigious event for the first time since 2013. Scottie Scheffler (+650) and Jon Rahm (+700) are listed as the top 2 favorites to win this year's PGA Championship.
Want to make this week's iconic event even more fun? Check out the 9 bets we've made for the 2023 PGA Championship. Good luck!
Brendan Steele (+100) OVER J.J. Spaun
Steele is a solid 22nd on Tour in strokes gained off the tee and an even more impressive 12th in strokes gained on approaches. He has had quite the layoff as his last start took place at the Waste Management Phoenix Open back in February.
However, he finished 9th at the PGA Championship last year and grabbed a Top 25 finish in 2020. He faces JJ Spaun here who missed the cut last year and has a best finish of 35th in this event.
He has missed the cut in 3 of his last 5 starts and we anticipate his struggles to continue here at the 2nd major of the season.
Rickie Fowler (-120) OVER Talor Gooch
Being ranked 7th in strokes gained on approaches and 11th in strokes gained total has helped propel Rickie into the top 50 in OWGR, a place he was on the outside of for a few years. He already has 4 Top 10 finishes this season and is coming off a 14th place finish at the Wells Fargo Championship.
He did miss the cut here in 2020 but outside of that, he has finished in 36th, 23rd, 12th, and 8th. Gooch is matched up with Rickie in this one and he will be no push over. He has won 2 events on LIV this season and finished a respectable 34th at this year’s Masters.
Last year he picked up his best finish at the PGA in his career when he ended in 20th. The year prior he finished 44th, and the year prior to that was a missed cut. We believe both guys will be playing over the weekend, but Rickie will be the one in contention.
Shane Lowry (-120) OVER Keegan Bradley
Keegan has better numbers across the board statistically when compared to Lowry. Keegan has finished no worse than 48th over his last 3 starts on the season. Lowry was lucky to grab 16th at the Masters before carding a 67th finish followed by a missed cut at the Wells Fargo Championship.
So, we have to ask ourselves, why is Lowry the favorite here? Well, when looking at his recent history at the PGA Championship, we see that he has finished inside the Top 25 in 4 of his last 5 starts with 2 of those being an 8th and 4th place finish.
Bradley has only once finished inside the Top 25. He did so in 2021 with a 17th place finish, the same year Lowry finished 4th. Course history will serve Lowry well here in this matchup.
Top 40 Finish: Abraham Ancer
Ancer has only finished outside the Top 40 once in his last 4 starts at the PGA Championship. In fact, he has a Top 20 and 2 other Top 10 finishes during that stretch.
In the LIV Tour, Ancer has finished inside the Top 40 in 4 straight starts with a tie for 11th back in April being is strongest finish. His current form makes this an auto-bet for us!
Top 40 Finish: Brendan Steele
Last year at the PGA Championship, Steele grabbed his best finish to date at the Major with a 9th place finish. The year prior he struggled after making the cut and finished outside the Top 40 but the year prior, he was able to sneak inside the Top 25.
Steele has had some time off with his latest start being back in February at the WM Open where he did miss the cut. Prior to that, he had back-to-back Top 40 finishes. At almost 2.5 to 1, we love the value we are getting here.
Top 40 Finish: Justin Rose
Justin Rose has missed the cut only 3 times this season after competing in 12 events. In the other 9, he finished well inside the Top 40. He has grabbed a Top 40 finish in 4 straight events.
Here at the PGA Championship, he has 5 straight starts with Top 30 finishes, not just Top 40. He seems to always rise to the occasion at every Major and to get him at plus money here makes this a no-brainer.
Top 40 Finish: Rickie Fowler
Rickie is BACK! He has finished inside the Top 20 in 8 of his last 9 starts this season. He is 2nd on Tour in putts between 20-25’ and is 3rd in par 3 scoring average.
On strokes gained on approaches to the green, he is 7th on Tour. Take out his missed cut in 2020, and you have a Rickie that has finished inside the Top 40 in all 4 other starts.
We love the way that Rickie has turned things around and instead of being around the cut line on Fridays, he is now in contention more times than not.
Top 40 Finish: Shane Lowry
Lowry has struggled a bit in his last 2 starts. He missed the cut at the Wells Fargo Championship and finished a weak 67th at the RBC. However, prior to those 2, he had stayed inside the Top 40 in 3 straight starts.
He is 27th in strokes gained off the tee and 30th in strokes gained on approaches. In his recent history at the PGA Championship, he has been stellar.
His 66th place finish in 2020 was ugly but a Top 5 in 2021 and Top 10 in 2019 made up for that. Throw in a 12th and 23rd finish in 2018 and 2022 and you have a player that seems to always perform well in this event.
Top 30 Finish: Cameron Smith
Cam has yet to finish outside the Top 30 in any LIV event this season. He finished just outside in the Masters with a 34th place finish.
He had a strong outing last year at the PGA where he picked up his best finish there in his career with a 13th finish. We think the reigning British Open champ puts together a nice showing at Oak Hill this week.
