2019 PGA Championship Golf Odds, Preview and Prediction

The 2019 PGA Championship is just a few days away. The tournament for the Wanamaker Trophy will be held from May 16-19, 2019 at the Bethpage Black Golf Course in Farmingdale, New York.

This year marks the 101st playing of the tournament which was born in 1916. This is the first time since 1949 that the PGA Championship will be held in May. The PGA Championship has been played as the last major of the year and held in the month of August.

We already did a preview of the 2019 PGA Championship last month but with the tournament days away, let’s revisit the oddsboard and take a look at the changes, if any to the list of favorites to win Golf’s next major.

Here are the odds to win the 2019 PGA Championship. Odds taken from Bovada as of 5/12/19:

Oddsboard Shake-Ups

The first shake-up in the oddsboard was Brooks Koepka moving up to +1000 from +1200 in our last preview and the only reason I can think of for this move up the oddsboard was that Koepka’s first three rounds in his last tournament played, the Zurich Classic of New Orleans last April 28th, yielded scores of 67, 68 and 63 respectively. He faltered with a 74 in the final round to finish 22nd in the tournament. Let’s not forget too that Koepka is the defending Wanamaker Trophy winner and has three Top 5 finishes in six starts at the PGA Championship.

Speaking of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, that tournament was won by Ryan Palmer and Jon Rahm. During the tournament, Rahm and Palmer shot 64-65-64 and 69 to finish the tournament at -26 or three strokes better than the heralded pair of Tommy Fleetwood and Sergio Garcia. The victory in Louisiana is one of the main reasons why Rahm climbed the oddsboard this week.

I’m not sure why Tony Finau moved up because he was just a T60 in the just concluded Wells Fargo Championship which was won by Max Homa. Finau was also a cut in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans but finished a strong T5 in the Masters Tournament in Augusta.

Phil Mickelson was cut in the Wells Fargo Championship but was a T18 in Augusta, his best finish since winning the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am last February. Mickelson won his only PGA Championship in 2005 at the Baltusrol Golf Club.

Who Are The Favorites?

Other than these four, there were no major shake-ups in the oddsboard since we last checked. Tiger Woods remains as the golf betting favorite at +700 while Dustin Johnson is next at +900 and Rory McIlroy tied with Koepka at +1000.

Woods won the Masters in Augusta last month, claiming his first Majors win since 2008. On the other hand, Johnson is the world’s #1 ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings but only has one major title- the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont Country Club. Meanwhile, McIlroy is without doubt the hottest golfer in 2019 with eight Top-10 finishes this season including a win at THE PLAYERS.

Justin Thomas finished T6 in last year’s PGA Championship while Francesco Molinari won the Arnold Palmer Invitational last March and was 3rd in the WGC-Dell Match Play also last March.

Who Wins?

In our last preview, we picked Tiger Woods to win the 2019 PGA Championship but with the tournament getting nearer, I’m a little concerned because he hasn’t played competitive golf in a month. Sure, you’d say that after all his injuries, Woods needs all the rest he can get to recuperate after that incredible Masters run. And sure, he’s won 15 majors, there’s no reason for him not to be ready for the 2019 PGA Championship.

After a little research, I found out how tough a course Bethpage Black has been. In two major tournaments held there, only six players finished under par. As for Tiger, his last start at Bethpage was in the 2012 Barclays where he finished 1-over par and 11 strokes behind Nick Watney who won the tournament.

That said, I think Tiger’s decision to rest since winning the Masters could backfire in a challenging course like Bethpage. Meanwhile, after finishing T21 at the Masters, Rory McIlroy’s final preparation for the PGA Championship was at the Wells Fargo Championship where he finished at T8, his fifth Top-10 finish in his last six tournaments played. I think Rory McIlroy enters the PGA Championship in better form and with better betting value at +1000, I will go with the #4 ranked played in the world from Northern Ireland.

So yeah, because of what happened and what didn’t happen in the past month, I’m going with Rory McIlroy as my final pick for the 2019 PGA Championship. If you decided to stick with Tiger Woods, I won’t blame you though .

Place Your Bet Here

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