The 2020 PGA Championship is going to truly test the best players in the world. And if previous setups are any indication, some will fall early and hard.
But who might contend for the Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday afternoon?
There's so much talent at the top of the board and you can make the case for a host of guys, but our staff is going with these three as their favorites:
PGA Championship Outright Bets
Josh Perry
Patrick Cantlay 30-1 (Bet now at BetMGM)
Cantlay is a player we all expect to win a major at some point in his career. And he's starting to round into form after what looked like a poor WGC result at the start. He shot 8-under on the weekend and now heads to the friendly confines of California where the UCLA grad should feel right at home. Cantlay doesn’t have a hole in his game, and he’s ready to contend.
[Bet now at BetMGM. CO, NJ, IN and WV only.]
Reid Fowler
Patrick Cantlay 30-1 (BetMGM)
The form is there for California-native, ranking 20th in strokes gained tee-to-green since the return. And it’s not just his stats which make him live, it’s his ability to bounce back when the game isn’t there on Thursday (or Friday).
Last week’s early-round golf from Cantlay was putrid, losing 5.3 strokes to the field, but he found something on Saturday and Sunday by going 8-under, gaining 6.5 strokes total (fourth highest on the weekend) and finished T-35 after being 5-over at the end of Friday’s round.
Any major will test the mental fortitude of a golfer, and Cantlay showed us last week and last year at Augusta that he has what it takes to compete and contend.
[Bet now at BetMGM. CO, NJ, IN and WV only.]
Collin Wilson
Gary Woodland 50-1 (DraftKings)
There are plenty of boxes to check in a statistical breakdown of TPC Harding Park. The biggest indicators of success on this course is Driving Distance, Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and SG Approach. Woodland checks those boxes, ranking 28th in driving distance and 12th in approach.
There is plenty of familiarity for the Kansas Jayhawk on this course, finishing runner up in the 2015 WGC-Cadillac Match Play. Woodland loves the West Coast, winning last years US Open at Pebble Beach and finishing top 20 in five of the last seven PGA events at Torrey Pines.
[Bet now at DraftKings. CO, NJ, PA, IN and WV only.]
Jason Sobel
Justin Thomas 11-1 (FanDuel)
Tiger Woods did it in 2006 and 2007. Rory McIlroy mirrored him in 2014. And now it’s Thomas’ turn to parlay a WGC title into a PGA Championship win the very next week.
I rarely, if ever, pick a player to go back-to-back, but JT is brimming with confidence right now and his relationship with fill-in caddie Jim “Bones” Mackay is only going to keep improving. Every player should be motivated to win any major, especially the first one in more than a year, but with Thomas’ lineage — his grandfather and father were both PGA professionals, this one just might mean a little more, as he alluded to after his 2017 victory.
“As a kid growing up, being a golf fan, you want to win all the majors. You want to win any major. For me, the PGA definitely had a special place in my heart.”
