We've mentioned it before, but these major championships are great weeks to dig down into the prop board, and it's no different with the 2019 PGA Championship.
Majors have a much wider array of options available than a normal tour week. And with those extra options, there are usually a couple spots where we can take advantage.
Here are two props that have caught my eye.
Top Japanese Player: Hideki Matsuyama -350
This a lot of juice to lay, but I feel comfortable with Hideki on a ball-strikers course over Shugo Imahira and Satoshi Kodaira.
Hideki's game is suited for Bethpage, while Imahira and Kodaira aren't good fits at all. Both are much better fits on short, tight courses where distance isn't important. Their best results in the United States are at Harbour Town and Waialae respectively. Both courses are in the 7,000-yard range and don't ask golfers to use the driver all that much.
Bethpage is an entirely different course off the tee, and only Hideki is truly equipped to deal with it.
Top Thai Player: Jazz Janewattananond over Kiradech Aphibarnrat (+150)
I just like betting Jazz. He's been a joy to watch over the past couple years during the late-night Asian Tour coverage.
We'll take him head to head over Aphibarnrat here for a couple reasons. Jazz has been playing well overseas this season with a win and 6 top-10 finishes in 11 starts. He's also been solid tee to green against European Tour competition, ranking 15th on that tour. On a course as tough as Bethpage Black, the tee to green game is where I'll go.
Meanwhile, Aphibarnrat hasn't been playing anywhere near as well as the results suggest. He's battled a knee injury, and it's shown in his ball striking. In nine starts on the PGA Tour, he's gained strokes only once with the approach, which is putting a lot of stress on his short game. Last week at the Byron Nelson, he put on one of the best putting displays we've seen this season, gaining 14 strokes. That's unlikely to be replicated this week.
Overall, I'm fairly certain this bet will be over by Friday, since I doubt both will make the cut, but for me, it's a lot closer to a coin flip than the line suggests.
