The 4th and final major of the golf calendar is the US PGA Championship beginning on Thursday the 9th and ending on Sunday the 12th of August. The tournament will be played at the Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis in Missouri. As with the Masters and the U.S. and the British Open the US PGA is an extremely popular betting event with all the top golfers in the field.
What Betting Markets are available?
There are often many markets offered for golf betting, especially for the four “Majors”. Of course there is ante-post outright betting with each way options, there are also match bets, player group betting, margin of victory spreads and many specials. Here we look at some of the markets available with odds and recommended bets.
To win Outright
The market everyone is most familiar with and often offers great value opportunities. Each way is a place 1,2,3,4,5 at 1/5 of the odds. Please note that “Rule 4” applies in golf betting – if you do not know what “Rule 4” is then please see our Golf Betting Guide.
Leading the market is Dustin Johnson @ 9.00 (World No. 1)
Jordan Spieth (World no, 8) and Rory McIlory (World no. 7) are both @ 13.00
Justin Rose (World no. 2) and Tiger Woods (World no.50) are both @ 17.00 with *Rickie Fowler (World no.9) @ 19.00.
The rest of the field runs from *Justin Thomas (World no.3) @ 21.00 to Zachary J Jonson (a PGA qualifier) @ 501.00
Former champions who are competing in 2018 with their odds listed are as follows:
Rory McIlroy @ 13.00, Tiger Woods @ 17.00, Justin Thomas @ 21.00, Jason Day @ 26.00, *Phil Mickelson @ 51.00, Jason Dufner @101.00, *Keegan Bradley @ 101.00, Jimmy Walker @ 126.00, Jason Martin Kaymer @ 126.00, Padraig Harrington @ 151.00, Yang Yong-Eun @ 251.00, Vijay Singh @ 301.00, Davis Love III @ 301.00, John Daly @ 501.00 Shaun Micheel @ 501.00 Rich Beem @ 501.00.
(Recommended Bets)
Top 5, Top 10 and Top 20 Finish
In this market you select which player or players you think will finish in the top 5, top 10 or top 20. Please see a list of some selected golfers with their odds for Top 5 finish, (top 10) and [top 20]:
Dustin Johnson @ 3.20 (1.73) [1.40] Rory McIIroy @ 3.40 (2.10) [1.53] *Justin Thomas @ 4.00 (2.25) [1.67]
Jason Day @ 5.00 (2.87) [1.91], Justin Rose @ 5.00 (2.75) [1.91], Rickie Fowler @ 5.00 (2.75) [1.91], Tiger Woods @ 5.00 (3.00) [2.10] and Tommy Fleetwood @ 5.00 (3.00) [2.10]
Sergio Garcia @ 9.00 (6.00) [3.50] *Phil Mickelson @ 10.00 (6.00) [3.50]
Margin of Victory
In this market you simply choose how many shots the winner will win by:
Playoff @ 3.40
*1 shot @ 3.50
2 shots @ 4.50
3 shots @ 5.50
4 or more shots @ 4.33
Will a playoff decide the winner? *Yes ＠ 3.40 No @ 1.30
Top (nationality) player
In these markets the bookmakers have placed the players in groups by nationality so you can bet on which player of different nationalities will finish highest for example “Top United States Player” (Dustin Johnson @ 6.00) and “Top European Player” (Rory McIlroy @ 5.00). Other markets available are:
Top Asian (*Hideki Matsuyama @ 3.50)
Top South American (Joaquin Niemann @ 1.91)
Top Great Britain and Ireland (Rory McIlroy @ 3.00)
Top Continental European (*Francesco Molinari and Jon Rahm @ 4.33)
Top Rest of the world (*Jason day @ 4.33)
Top Scandinavian (*Henrik Stenson @ 2.37)
Top Australian (Jason Day @ 1.91)
Top Australasian (Jason Day @ 2.00)
Top English (Justin Rose @ 3.25)
Top Irish (Rory McIlroy @ 1.22)
Top South African (Louis Oosthuizen @ 2.10)
Top Spanish (*Jon Rahm @ 1.80)
Top Swedish (Henrik Stenson @ 2.10)
Top Japanese (Hideki Matsuyama @ 1.61)
Top South Korean (Byeong-hun An @ 2.75)
Tournament Match Bets DNB (DNB means “Draw No Bet”)
In this market you choose which player will finish the tournament higher – if they are level at the end of the tournament you can get your original stake returned.
Some selected and recommend bets from this market follow:
*Jordan Spieth @ 1.61 vs Patrick Reed @ 2.20
Rory McIlroy @ 1.80 vs *Justin Thomas @ 1.91
Jason Day @ 1.80 vs *Rickie Fowler @ 1.91
Please note that some online bookmakers limit bets to singles only while others will allow accumulators with a limited stakes.
Tournament threesomes
In this market the bookmakers select three golfers and you choose one of them to finish the highest these follow:
Bill Horschel @ 2.75 Shane Lowry @ 2.75 *Brandt Snedeker @ 2.62
Tournament Group Betting
In this market the bookmakers select six golfers and you choose one of them to finish the highest these follow:
Beau Hossler, Brendan Steele, *Jason Dufner, Jami Lovemark, Ollie Schneiderjans and Pat Perez @ 5.00
Brian Haman, Charl Schwartzel, Daniel Berger, Emililano Grillo, *Keegan Bradley and Matthew Fitzpatrick @ 5.00
First Round Markets
1st Round Mythical 2 Balls DNB
The bookmakers have also chosen match bets for Round 1 (“mythical” means the bookmakers make the matches) and will also offer this market for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds of the tournament, some examples are:
Tiger Woods @ 1.62 vs *Phil Mickelson @ 2.20
*Justin Thomas @ 1.73 vs Jason Day @ 2.00
*Dustin Johnson @ 1.67 vs Brooks Kopeka @ 2.10
To be leading after the 1st Round
This market is simply who will win the first round. Some selected participants with their odds follow:
Dustin Johnson @ 13.00,
*Justin Thomas @ 21.00, Rory McIlroy @ 21.00,
Brooks Koepka, Jason Day, *Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose are all @ 26.00
Tiger Woods @ 29.00
Specials
Of course there are special bets offered for a bit of fun:
Hole in One During Tournament Play @ 1.83
Two or more holes in one during tournament play @ 3.50
Hole in One During Round 1 @ 5.50, Round 2 @ 5.50, Round 3 @ 10.00 Round 4 @ 10.00
*An Albatross during Tournament play @ 15.00 (Par 5 holed in 2 shots)
Wire to wire winner @ 13.00 (Wire to wire means to lead at the end of round 1, 2, 3 and win)
Some tips and advice about golf betting
In golf betting you can find excellent value bets if you learn more about the outsiders – for example if you can learn which players preferences are in terms of:
- Weather conditions
- Course types
- Course Locations
- Par 5s or Par 3s
- Shot strengths (putting, driving, approach)
Consistency (through a round, over 2 rounds, over 4 rounds) should also me measured as a golfer’s form is always fluctuating – that is it goes up and down, hits peaks and troughs and so if you can follow a few golfers you like by recording their results every week you can see patterns as to when players are playing well and reaching top form and you can see when they are losing their form.
At the moment Justin Thomas is in very good form while Rory McIlroy is very inconsistent from round to round and Jordan Spieth’s form is much lower than last year which is why Justin Thomas will be backed by us. Rory McIlroy is Irish and so the Irish will heavily back him, this is why his odds are lower than they should be in reality – so another thing to consider when betting on golf is that the odds often misrepresent the golfer’s form and chances so it is sensible to consider the players’ reputation, form, consistency, evaluated chances and the odds as well as any other factors you can determine. We hope you enjoy the tournament and good luck with your betting!
