It’s already time for the second golf major of the year with the 2021 PGA Championship returning to The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island for the first time since 2012.
The last time the tournament was held at the picturesque South Carolina course was back in 2012 when a 23-year-old Rory McIlroy beat the field by eight strokes for his first of two career PGA Championships.
Nine years later and McIlroy enters Thursday with the shortest odds in the field at +1200 as he goes for his fifth major. The Northern Irish superstar has been playing well this year with five top-20 finishes, including a win at the Wells Fargo Championship earlier this month.
The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island is an incredibly long course where wind can be a factor on certain holes. At 7,876 yards, it’s going to favour those who can bomb it off the tee yet if fairways are missed this course can cause plenty of problems.
"I feel like there's a 66 and an 80 every day … which is exciting for a major."
Players are ready for this week's challenging Pete Dye design. pic.twitter.com/29NatT5oJK
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) May 19, 2021
Joining McIlroy near the top of the outright winner odds is the standard crew of contenders with Jordan Spieth at +1500, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm sitting at +1600, while the polarizing Bryson DeChambeau is slightly longer at +1800.
If you feel like fading the favourite and instead want to look outside the top-tier contenders, there’s plenty of value to consider in an open field.
Below are a handful of dark horse contenders that have solid value, plus some other prop bets to consider for the 2021 PGA Championship.
Xander Schauffele +2200
The timing seems right for Schauffele to finally break through and pick up his first win since January of 2019. Since winning that Sentry Tournament of Champions he has 10 top-three finishes, including a T3 at The Masters in April. His 129th-ranked driving accuracy is a cause for concern at this course but he also ranks fifth in eagles and birdie average and third in scoring with an average round of 69.775. Schauffele is a popular pick this week.
Corey Conners +6000
The Canadian has been among the most consistent on tour, missing the cut just once in the past eight months. Conners is ranked 12th in strokes gained off the tee and eighth in strokes gained from tee-to-green in 2021. He hasn’t missed the cut since The Genesis Invitational in February and has four top-10 finishes since then, highlighted by a T8 at The Masters and T4 the following week at the RBC Heritage.
Abraham Ancer +5000
Ancer is on a roll. He also missed the cut at The Genesis Invitational but his worst finish since then was a T26 at The Masters. He finished fifth at the Valspar Championship and second behind McIlroy at the Wells Fargo Championship. One of Ancer’s biggest strengths is driving accuracy and that should work out to his advantage this weekend. Don’t be shocked if Ancer is in the mix come Sunday.
Sam Burns +6000
The 24-year-old has been playing terrific golf lately. After missing three straight cuts in March he has gone T39 at the RBC Heritage, T4 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, he won the Valspar Championship and was runner-up at the AT&T Byron Nelson this past weekend.
BONUS BETS…
• Corey Conners to finish top 20 (+240) If you don’t think the Listowel, Ont., native can win the whole shebang, Conners can at least help you have a profitable weekend with a low score. That’s a tempting price for Conners, who has 11 top-20 finishes since October.
• Jon Rahm to finish ahead of Bryson DeChambeau (-138) Both are top-tier contenders but DeChambeau is the more volatile of the two. Even though he bombs farther than anyone on tour, if he sprays a few drives we could see him playing from treacherous areas too often and he’ll fall behind the pack.
• Louis Oosthuizen to finish top 20 (+240) Pros have raved about the greens at this course and Oosthuizen can putt with the best of them, ranking first in total putting and strokes gained putting. The South African is averaging the 16th-lowest score in 2021. If you put an outright bet on Oosthuizen his odds are +8000.
• Viktor Hovland to finish as top European (+550) The 23-year-old Oslo, Norway native has +2200 odds to win the tournament. McIlroy (+333) and Spain’s Jon Rahm (+350) are the only Europeans with shorter odds than Hovland, who is coming off-back-to-back T3 finishes.
• No hole-in-one all tournament (+100) Is this betting against fun? Absolutely, but with only three par-3s on the course even money is tasty. The 197-yard eighth hole would appear to present the best opportunity for one depending on the pin location.
Odds to win tournament via Bodog
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