2018 PGA Championship Preview
Jordan Spieth wants to become just the sixth golfer ever to complete the career grand slam. The one event he needs is the PGA Championship and he’ll get another chance this weekend. The 100th PGA Championship takes place at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, MO and surely won’t disappoint.
The Course
Bellerive Country Club is truly a sight to see. A par 72 course playing at 7,547 yards. The par 3’s average at 208 yards, par 4’s at 440, and par 5’s at 508 yards. For the long hitters, those are actually quite manageable distances. It’s toughest hole is the monstrous par 5 8th measuring at 613 yards which has gone under some renovations that’ll help players. There are some scoring opportunities scattered across the course but the most important fairway to hit out of all of them is 18. 18 green will, with out a doubt, be impossible to hit if you do not accurately locate your tee shot.
PGA Championship Odds
Dustin Johnson 12-1
Tiger Woods 12-1
Justin Rose 15-1
Rory McIlroy 15-1
Jordan Spieth 15-1
Rickie Fowler 15-1
Jason Day 15-1
Justin Thomas 15-1
Jon Rahm 20-1
Brooks Koepka 20-1
Paul Casey 20-1
Hideki Matsuyama 25-1
Tommy Fleetwood 25-1
Bubba Watson 30-1
Francesco Molinari 30-1
Patrick Reed 30-1
Xander Schauffele 30-1
Tony Finau 30-1
Sergio Garcia 40-1
Sleepers
Adam Scott. He’s struggled mightily while putting this year but since he’s transitioned to the long putter, it’s only been getting better. He appears outside of the odds list mentioned but could make a run at this tournament. Another sleeper is Tommy Fleetwood. With his amazing final round at this year’s US Open he’s proven that he can play in prime tournaments. He just has to put four rounds like that together as he currently sits at 25-1 odds.
Favorites
Hard to argue with Justin Thomas being a favorite. Coming off a four stroke win at the Bridgestone and he won the PGA Championship a year ago. Dustin Johnson will also be looking to get back into the winners circle after blowing the US Open. DJ who is an extremely long hitter can make Bellerive a rather small course when he strikes the ball well. And even though Tiger is a 12-1 odd to win, don’t expect him to.
One challenge the players do have is the fact that Bellerive hasn’t hosted a major since 1992 so just about all of these players are playing a rather new course. We’ll have to wait and see how well they can adapt to a course with relatively no prior knowledge of the course.
–Brian Berard (@RockyBerard)