PGA betting: Two players to back top-20 for the PGA Championship
The PGA Tour’s second major of the season — the PGA Championship — is here. Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, is a par-70 that runs 7,394 yards. It should be a challenging course with narrow landing areas from the tee with deep, wall-lined bunkers and narrow greens. Becasue it’s a rotating event, we don’t have previous information to use. However, it is a major, which means it's a difficult course with a strong field. The players who are consistent and have a solid all-around game will excel.
Here are two players to bet in the top-20 market who also can win outright.
Patrick Cantlay
Top 20 -115
Top 10 +190
Top 5 +360
To win +1800
Ball-striking will hold heavy importance this week. Players who can bomb it past mid-fairway traps or play precision golf will put themselves in good position to contend. Cantlay is eighth in the field in ball-striking and fifth off the tee. Cantlay enters the week second in strokes gained total behind only Scottie Scheffler, who has two wins this year. Cantlay is close. A win is coming. He finished third in The Genesis Invitational and third in the RBC Heritage.
The previous sentiment was that Cantlay couldn’t contend in the stronger-field events. However, he has flipped the script on that notion, with a 14th in the U.S. Open, T8 in the Open Championship and, more recently, a T14 at the Masters. As one of the better ball-strikers on tour who has gained strokes putting in back-to-back events, he could be riding a wave of momentum into this week.
Sungjae Im
Top 20 +130
Top 10 +300
Top 5 +650
To win +3500
With names such as Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, and Jon Rahm, it’s tough to consider other names in the mix to contend. However, Im is a bit of an underrated player. The South Korean golfer is playing some great golf right now, with six straight top-20 finishes, four of which were top-10s, including a T6 in The Players Championship in March. Although he lacks the distance compared to some of the top names, Im is fourth in the field for accuracy. I'd much rather have precision than a bomber who has no control. Also to his benefit, Im is strong with his short game, ranking top-25 around the green.
The one worry is that Im doesn’t have a particularly great history in stronger-field events, with a couple of top-20s but not really in the mix to win. However, he also hasn't had this strong of a consistent top-20 stretch since July last year, when he had four runner-up finishes in six events. He has found a rhythm again.
