The fourth and final major of the year, the PGA Championship, begins on Thursday morning. The field consists of 156 golfers, and the event will be hosted by Bellerive Country Club in Town and Country, Missouri. Bellerive is not on the PGA Tour schedule each year and is instead reserved for the major rotation: This will be the third time it has hosted a major, hosting the 1992 PGA Championship and 1965 U.S. Open before this week.
After two straight majors favoring links play and accuracy over distance, the PGA Championship is definitely the major that favors bombers the most. Justin Thomas got the first major of his stellar, young career last year at Quail Hollow Club, and other recent winners include Jimmy Walker, Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Jason Dufner, and Keegan Bradley. Majors require precise all-around games, but those winners have all had adequate distance off the tee.
Dustin Johnson leads the field with 8-1 odds to win the tournament, followed by McIlroy (12-1) and Justin Thomas (14-1); the latter is rounding back into form to defend his title, taking down the WGC-Bridgestone last week. Rory is a two-time PGA Championship winner, and DJ's game is so tailor-made for this specific major it's hard to envision him not getting one in his career.
Jason Day, Brooks Koepka, and Jordan Spieth are all 20/1, Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose are 22/1, and Tiger Woods, who owns four PGA Championship victories, is sitting at 28/1. Other fan favorite Phil Mickelson is down the board at 100/1, and he already has a title under his belt in 2005.
Here are the full odds as of Monday morning. Stay tuned for all of our golf content this week regarding the PGA Championship!
