PGA Championship: First look at betting odds for Bethpage Black

The PGA Championship is now just a few short weeks away, making its move from August to May. One thing that isn’t changing? The quality of the field heading to Bethpage Black is as good as any you could imagine. Here, we’ll take an early look at some of the wagering favorites.

The PGA Tour’s revised schedule brings us the 2019 PGA Championship in May. In previous years, this event was traditionally held in August. Let me just take a moment to thank the Tour for the changes to the schedule! Golf fans, we are being treated to a major championship much earlier this year. I could not be happier! I am quite sure the majority of golf fans out there agree with me.

*Disclaimer: The handicapping and sports information provided in this article are for entertainment purposes only (In other words: have fun, but be smart. We’re talking about betting on golf here, people).

The second major of the year will be held at Bethpage Black in New York. This difficult course has hosted multiple majors in the past. Specifically, Bethpage hosted the 2002 and 2009 U.S. Opens. The 2012 and 2016 editions of The Barclays were also played at Bethpage Black.

As always, course history is valuable when assessing player picks for any major championship. Due to this fact, the first step in my research process was gathering tournament results from the previous Tour events held on this course which I noted above. Additionally, I evaluated the current form of the players that are currently scheduled to be in the field at the 2019 PGA Championship.

Now for the fun part! Let’s get into my picks for this year’s PGA Championship! All of my picks below will have the player’s current odds to win listed on Oddsshark.com.

Tiger Woods (+900)

The 2019 Masters champion has played Bethpage Black multiple times in the past. Tiger finished in a tie for 6th at the 2009 U.S. Open and 38th at the 2016 Barclays, both of which were held at Bethpage. For me, Mr. Woods previous course history is nowhere near as important as his current form. His last 6 tournament results are: 20th, 15th, 10th, 30th, 5th, and 1st at the Masters.

In my opinion, greens in regulation is extremely important at Bethpage Black. Tiger is currently first on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation.

Additionally, I think it’s clear that Mr. Woods is highly motivated to win this event. Doing so would place him at 16 major wins, just two behind Jack Nicklaus.

Bubba Watson (+3300)

Many golf fans will likely say that Bubba’s only chance to add to his major totals is to win more green jackets at the Masters. I disagree. I think if a major is held at a course that fits Bubba’s game he can win a major other than the Masters.

Bubba has performed rather well at Bethpage Black previously. Bubba finished 13th at the 2016 Barclays and in a tie for 18th at the 2009 U.S. Open. He also finished in a tie for 10th at the 2012 Barclays.

Bubba has performed well in 2019. Watson finished 4th at the Waste Management Open in February of this year. He followed that up in March with a 4th place finish on a very difficult course at the Valspar Championship. My gut tells me that Bubba is going to play well at the 2019 PGA Championship. I am backing him with confidence.

Ryan Moore (+10000)

Ryan Moore has always been a player that plays well at classical golf courses. Having stated that, it should come as no suprise that Moore has performed well at Bethpage Black in the past. Moore finished 7th at the 2016 Barclays and in a tie for 24th at the 2009 United States Open.

As far as current form goes, Mr. Moore has been somewhat inconsistent this year. He has a 2nd place finish at the 2019 Safeway Classic and finished 3rd at the 2019 Valero Open. However, he also has four missed cuts this season. In my opinion, Ryan Moore is not the type of player that will have a run of 10 to 15 straight cuts, so I am not concerned. I think Moore presents outstanding value at +10000.

These three guys are – obviously – just a handful of the players we’ll see tee it up at next week’s PGA Championship. We’ll have plenty more, including a little more action, as we get closer to the event at Bethpage Black. As always, good luck!