By Charles Jay
You simply could not be playing much better than Rory McIlroy is right now, and that is why he has been listed as the solid favorite to capture the crown at the PGA Championship, which will begin on Thursday at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.
McIlroy, who is +475 in the PGA golf betting odds at Vietbet, is fresh off victories in the British Open and Bridgestone Invitational, and has vaulted himself back into the #1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. He won the PGA two years ago by a margin of eight strokes over David Lynn. He is the new dominant player in the game, and he is ready to go head-to-head with anyone, and that includes Tiger Woods, who surprised everyone by entering this event after suffering what appeared to be a serious back injury that forced him to withdraw at Firestone (where he had won eight times).
Naturally, there have to be some other players in consideration. One of them is Phil Mickelson, who won the PGA in 2005 and shot 62 in the fourth round in the Bridgestone. He is priced at +2800 at Vietbet for this event.
Adam Scott (+1180) was the previous #1 in the world, and with eight top-ten finished already this year, he is likely to contend here, as is Sergio Garcia, a one-time runner-up in the PGA who finished second to McIlroy in both the British and the Bridgestone. He is +1685 to win in the PGA golf odds.
Bubba Watson, the two-time Masters champion, is +3400, and can never be discounted. Rickie Fowler looks like one of those players who is ready to break into the winner’s circle. In fact, he has tied for second in the British and was tied for the runner-up spot at the U.S. Open (with miracle man Erik Compton). he is priced at +2225.
Matt Kuchar (+3400) is another one of those guys who can’t seem to break through in a major. He has chalked up a victory this season, in the RBC Heritage, and he has registered ten finishes in the top ten in 2014. Some people may be giving Jordan Speith (+4000 at Chinese Bookie) a good chance as a longshot, and for those who believe it may be too early in his career to win a major; well, he DID tie for second at the Masters.
Woods is priced at +3800 in the PGA golf betting lines, and that is a departure for someone who almost always commands a lot of attention of sports bettors.
And guess what? The defending champion is fetching a huge price this week. Jason Dufner is +12500 – that’s 125-to-1, and maybe that is understandable, considering that he is hurting at the moment, and hasn’t been playing all that well. Dufner lost a playoff at Colonial back in May, but since then he has missed a couple of cuts and couldn’t do any better than 19th at the Memorial.
He is being bothered greatly by a neck injury, which is the result of an arthritic condition, and he can’t even tell reporters that he has intentions of winning the tournament. What he would like to do is at least play well enough to clinch a spot on the Ryder Cup team. He hopes he can do that at Valhalla, and then he just wants to get some rest.
He is even willing to sit out all the FedEx Cup playoff events if that means he can be ready for Tom Watson’s team that will go off to Gleneagles.
The player Dufner defeated last year in the 2013’s final major, Jim Furyk, is getting some respect from the oddsmakers as he is +3000 in the PGA golf betting odds.
No comments