PGA Championship Preview – who are the favourites?
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Odds and preview ahead of the PGA Championship on Thursday
This year’s PGA Championship will be the first golf major of 2020, taking place at the TPC Harding Park near San Francisco.
With a purse of $11,000,000 on the line, it’s set to be an enthralling contest, with the burgeoning rivalry between Bryson Dechambeau and Brooks Koepka set to continue, while Tiger Woods will be looking to secure his 16th major championship.
While Rory McIlroy was world no. 1 earlier in the year, the Northern Irishman’s form has dropped off since then and its worth remembering he’s in the midst of a six-year drought when it comes to majors. Justin Thomas comes into the tournament on a high after claiming the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational last weekend – will he be the one to stop Koepka’s PGA Championship reign?
Here are our four favourites for the tournament.
Thomas won the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational earlier in the week by three strokes, meaning he’s the world number one coming into the PGA Championship. Looking at his career stats so far, you could certainly suggest there’s plenty more to come.
With 13 PGA Tour victories to his name already, there are only two golfers that have reached that number as quickly – Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods.
While his game is not completely error-free, Thomas is perhaps the finest ball-striker in golf currently and if he can carry the momentum from last weekend into the Championship, he could be on course to claim his second major after winning the PGA Championship in 2017.
The last player to claim three PGA Championships in a row was Walter Hagen back in the 1920s, but that’s exactly what Koepka will be looking to do here.
His joint-second place to Justin Thomas at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational suggests he’s in-form and perhaps peaking at exactly the right time, while the chance to make history will no doubt give him all the motivation he needs to give everything here.
While Koepka is only 6th in the world rankings, with four majors to his name and a history in this competition, he’s definitely one to watch.
Knocked off the number one spot by Justin Thomas after just two weeks, Rahm is the up-and-comer among the world’s top golfers at just 25.
While he’s yet to win a major, his impressive victory in July’s Memorial Tournament suggests he has a bright future ahead of him. Rahm has finished at 11th or better in five of his last eight majors and the Spaniard is strongly tipped to win a major in 2020. Whether that’s here or at the U.S. Open Championship at Winged Foot remains to be seen.
McIlroy’s six-year major-less streak belies the kind of consistency that saw him take the world number one spot at the start of 2020, but part of him must wonder why he’s been unable to perform in the biggest tournaments, despite having four majors under his belt already.
McIlroy claims that he’s coming into this tournament and 2020 in general more focused than ever after the enforced break. Will he end his run of winless majors at the PGA Championship?
Either way, he’ll need to improve on his most recent showings, though perhaps he’s simply saving his best for the biggest tournaments.
Who is your tip for the title? Let us know in our twitter poll.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
