For only the second time in 2024, the best players in men’s golf will compete at the same tournament — the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville. The tournament is run by the PGA of America, not the PGA Tour, so players currently on the LIV Golf series who have qualified for this major will be in action.
The tourney headliners are Scottie Scheffler (+450), Rory McIlroy (+750) and Brooks Koepka (+1400), as all three enter the event coming off wins.
Scheffler won the Masters last month and added a victory the following week at RBC Heritage. The world’s No. 1-ranked player has been off since then, as his wife Meredith gave birth to the child that received plenty of attention while Scheffler was winning at Augusta National.
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With Scheffler out of the way at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship, McIlroy dominated at a course he loves at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. McIlroy returns to a course this week where he has a happy memory, as he won the 2014 PGA Championship last time it was contested at Valhalla.
Koepka has won three PGA Championships in his career, including last year at Oak Hill in Rochester. The five-time major winner now plays on LIV and won its most recent tournament in Singapore.
I’m going to bypass outright bets for all three of those players and turn my attention to other players who have the game to conquer a par-71 track that measures 7,609 yards.
Xander Schauffele (+1400, BetMGM) | BetMGM offer
If you look at Schauffele’s stats, you would think he's a consistent PGA Tour winner with a breakthrough at a major championship. However, the California native hasn’t won since the Scottish Open in July 2022 despite showing the all-around game to be in the mix most weeks.
Last week, he held the final-round lead at the Wells Fargo Championship before losing to McIlroy by five strokes. Schauffele also was the player to beat on the weekend at The Players Championship in March before being caught by Scheffler.
I usually don’t bet on Schauffele to win tournaments, but I like where his game is even though he’s not finding the winner’s circle. If he was able to close at The Players or at Wells Fargo, he would be priced closer to 10/1, so I don’t mind this price at all.
Schauffele has finished top-five in a major six times and has an additional six top-10 finishes in 27 starts. This year, he has eight top-10 finishes, including an eighth-place finish at last month’s Masters. Now is the time for Schauffele to add a major title to his resume.
Cameron Young (+4500 with seven places, BetRivers)
I’m going to offer three more players in this article that I am betting to not only win but also to finish in the top seven at one-fifth of their outright odds, which is offered at BetRivers. The first is Young, who I wrote about as a Masters bet last month. He finished tied for ninth at Augusta and now has five top-nine finishes in the last eight majors he’s played in.
Young came very close to winning the PGA Championship two years ago at Southern Hills in Tulsa. His ability to hit the ball long off the tee will make him a contender in most majors, including this one at Valhalla. Being able to flirt at the top of the leaderboard in these majors makes the bet to get him with seven places attractive, but he also has the ceiling to break through and win.
Sam Burns (+6600 with seven places, BetRivers)
While the pregnancy of Scheffler’s wife became a prominent storyline at the Masters, another baby watch was overlooked as Burns would’ve left Augusta if his wife went into labor. It wasn’t mentioned much because Burns missed the cut at the Masters and then finished 44th the next week at RBC Heritage before his son Bear was born on April 22.
Burns returned to action last week at Wells Fargo and had a very respectable tied-for-13th-place finish. I really like the price on him at a Valhalla course that will demand strong off-the-tee play, which we’ve seen him display in the past over his five PGA Tour wins in the last three years.
Will Zalatoris (+7000 with seven places, BetRivers)
Zalatoris was another one of my picks for the Masters, where he finished tied for ninth along with his college teammate Young. Zalatoris now has seven top-nine finishes in his last 10 majors, including a playoff loss at the 2022 PGA Championship in which Young finished third.
I’m going to take another shot at Zalatoris, like I usually do in majors, but at a much bigger number than I expected. Part of the reason for the drift on him is he withdrew from the Byron Nelson two weeks ago because of a flare-up in his back. He played last week and struggled last Sunday, shooting an 80, but that’s another reason for an inflation in his odds.
Zalatoris’ major record speaks for itself. Health concerns have created an opportunity to buy him at a discounted price.