This weekend holds professional golf’s final major of the year, the PGA Championship.
The PGA Championship is being played at Bellerive Country Club this year, which is located just outside of St. Louis, Missouri. The course boasts wide fairways and large greens, which favors long ball hitters. The course has been hit hard by a hot, dry spell, and the course is not in the greatest shape going into the tournament. The plan is to keep the greens slower to prevent additional stress on the greens, making low scores possible as aggressiveness will result in fewer mistakes.
The weather forecast calls for lots of heat on Thursday and Friday’s rounds, with a milder weekend, but changes of rain and thunderstorms. Wind is expected to be minimal, adding to the chance to be aggressive for the players.
The field consists of the world’s top golfers, as expected, competing for the purse of $10.5 Million Dollars. The odd-on favorite to win is Dustin Johnson at 8-1. He is the current world number 1 golfer and can drive the ball just about the farthest on tour, giving him easier approach shots and bolstering birdie opportunities. Rory McIllory, Justin Thomas, Jason Day and Brooks Koepka round out the oddsmakers top 5 to win. Other stars in the field include Justin Speith, Rickie Fowler, Justin Rose, Hideki Matsuyama, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. I expect a competitive event!
I am adding some fun to the tournament by participating in a FanDuel fantasy competition. In the golf majors this year, I have bet a total of $43 and won a total of $27, for a loss of $16, or -37%... Based on this, I would not try to duplicate my picks as I am an amateur! Regardless, here are my picks:
Enjoy the tournament!
Brian