The PGA Championship signifies the last chance for golfers to notch a Major win this season and an interesting opportunity for bettors. In what is expected to be one of the most competitive fields of the season, all eyes are on Dustin Johnson to see if the No. 1 golfer in the world can cash as the favorite.
Justin Thomas is the defending champ here and won at Firestone last week, so he’s in good form. However, he’ll be pushed by Rory McIlroy, who has played well but struggled on Sundays this season.
Of course, everyone is wondering whether Tiger Woods can breakthrough. He is coming off a rough weekend at Firestone but his strong showing at The Open was an encouraging sign. He’s been so close to that elusive win this season, placing second at the Valspar Championship, fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, fourth at the Quicken Loans National and sixth at The Open. Could this be the spot where he finally gets the victory?
Understanding The PGA Betting Odds
Before you get to betting on golf, it’s important that you understand how the betting lines work. If you’re new to golf betting, this is a quick rundown. If you’re a seasoned bettor, you can look beyond this section.
When you take a look at the PGA betting odds, you’re going to see betting lines like this:
Tiger Woods +500
Jordan Spieth +800
Justin Rose +1800
When you see a plus sign in front of the odds, such as +500 or +800, what that means is you’ll win that amount if you bet $100. In this case, $500 or $800. At the same time, if you happen to see a minus sign in front of the odds, such as -125, that indicates the amount you’d have to bet $100. You might see that type of line in a head-to-head matchup.
The smaller the number, the bigger the favorite. For example, +500 is smaller than +1800 or -800 is smaller than -400. And going in the other direction, the bigger the number, the bigger the underdog.
PGA Championship Futures
The most common way to bet on the PGA Championship is by betting the futures. The futures and the odds to win the tournament are basically one and the same thing. When you see the PGA odds on the board, you’ll see all of the players participating and then you’ll also see odds next to their name. The logic is quite simple: if you bet a player and he wins, you win your bet. If they finish anywhere except for first place, then you lose.
There are a couple of strategies that are important to note here. For one, if you’re betting on the player to win outright, you can hit a big payday. Even the favorites will pay 10/1 or more – depending on the trends – and that’s juicy. At the same time, since the odds pay out so well that you can take a flier on a few golfers. If you put $10 on a golfer that’s 10/1, 30/1 and 50/1, all it takes is for one of them to hit for you to cash in a big payday.
2018 Odds to Win the PGA Championship
Dustin Johnson +1400
Rory McIlroy +1600
Jordan Spieth +1600
Justin Rose +1800
Rickie Fowler +2000
Tiger Woods +2000
Justin Thomas +2200
Jon Rahm +2200
Jason Day +2500
Francesco Molinari +2500
Brooks Koepka +2800
Tommy Fleetwood +3200
Patrick Reed +3200
Henrik Stenson +3500
Alex Noren +3500
Phil Mickelson +4000
Bubba Watson +4000
Sergio Garcia +4500
Paul Casey +4500
Hideki Matsuyama +4500
Bryson Dechambeau +5000
Xander Schaufelle +5000
Tony Finau +5000
Matt Kuchar +6000
Adam Scott +6000
Marc Leishman +6000
Kevin Kisner +6000
Brandon Grace +6000
Webb Simpson +6000
Louis Oosthuizen +7000
Patrick Cantlay +7000
Ian Poulter +7000
Daniel Berger +7000
Tyrrell Hatton +8000
Brian Harman +8000
Charley Hoffman +8000
Kevin Na +8000
Zach Johnson +8000
Jimmy Walker +8000
Russell Knox +8000
Field (Any Other Player) +400
Bet on the PGA Championship Props
If you’re not sure who will win the PGA Championship outright, there are a number of other betting options that you can opt for that can still give you a piece of the action.
If you’re looking for a safety net, one good strategy to examine is the Top 5 or Top 10 results. Let’s say you want to bet on Tiger Woods but you’re not sure if he’ll win the event outright. If you bet him to win, then you lose if he finishes anywhere else but first place. That’s a small window of opportunity. However, you can bet him to place in the Top 5, which means if he finishes anywhere in those top five spots, you win your bet. The same option is available for Top 10 too.
The difference is important to note, though. While you gain a bigger window of opportunity, you also lose in terms of the payout. If you bet Woods to win outright and he does that, you’ll earn a bigger payday than if you bet him to finish in the Top 10. It’s a give and take.
You can usually find props for players to make the cut too. Again, that gives you an even bigger margin of error as making the cut is much easier to do than winning the tournament. At the same time, you will earn a much smaller payout if you’re right on this bet than if you’re right on the prop to win outright.
Betting on the PGA Championship Matchups
Another way to bet on the PGA Championship is to bet the matchups. The oddsmakers will post golfers in head-to-head matchups and you’re able to decide who you think will have the better result.
The benefit of betting this type of prop is that you don’t have to predict a winner. All you have to do is figure out who will have the better result between the two players in the prop. The downside is that your payout will be much smaller than predicting the winner.
A good way to handicap this type of prop is to look at two things: current form and course history. If one player in the matchup has finished in the Top 10 in four straight events and is playing really well right now, that’s a good sign to bet them in this spot. At the same time, if one of the players has missed the cut multiple times recently, that would be someone to a void. In terms of course history, that’s another telling sign.
If a player has won at the course before and come close a number of other times, that’s a great sign for bettors. Certain courses – either based on length, style or other things – play well for certain players. Some courses are built for big drivers or accurate putters. That’s why sometimes, the same players do well there over and over. That’s why you want to keep an eye on the course history as that could be a telling sign for who to be at this year’s event.