PGA Championship 2016 Odds: Vegas Projections for Top Picks in This Year's Field
Who's up for another major?
Thanks to golf's return to the Summer Olympics, the PGA Championship, normally played in mid-August, is on the calendar for a July 28 start, just 11 days after the conclusion of the British Open.
Though Henrik Stenson and Phil Mickelson's brilliant, historic showdown in the final round at the Royal Troon Golf Club this year will live long in the memory, golf's collective attention span will quickly hone in on the Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, for the 98th edition of the PGA Championship.
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Stenson, Mickelson, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and more headline a star-studded field at golf's fourth and final major of the year. As of Monday, Rory McIlroy and Day hold the best odds of winning the PGA Championship, per Odds Shark.
Here's how the rest of the top players in the field stack up, according to the oddsmakers.
| Rory McIlroy | 4 | +800 |
| Jason Day | 1 | +800 |
| Jordan Spieth | 3 | +900 |
| Dustin Johnson | 2 | +900 |
| Henrik Stenson | 5 | +1800 |
| Phil Mickelson | 13 | +2000 |
| Justin Rose | 11 | +2500 |
| Rickie Fowler | 7 | +2500 |
| Adam Scott | 8 | +2500 |
| Bubba Watson | 6 | +2800 |
| Sergio Garcia | 10 | +3300 |
| Branden Grace | 12 | +4000 |
| Brooks Koepka | 18 | +4000 |
| Patrick Reed | 14 | +4000 |
| Daniel Willett | 9 | +5000 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | 19 | +5000 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 15 | +5000 |
| Martin Kaymer | 51 | +5000 |
| Matt Kuchar | 17 | +5000 |
| Zach Johnson | 20 | +5500 |
| Charl Schwartzel | 23 | +5500 |
| Jim Furyk | 22 | +6600 |
| Brandt Snedeker | 21 | +6600 |
| Justin Thomas | 40 | +7000 |
| J.B. Holmes | 16 | +7500 |
It's been a year of firsts so far at the majors. Englishman Danny Willett zipped into worldwide fame with a win at the 2016 Masters, then Dustin Johnson finally put years of torturous close misses behind him with a victory at the U.S. Open.
Stenson set records at the British Open with a four-round score of 264 (-20) to win his first major, so it seems the major-winning performances are only getting more memorable as the season moves along.
Perhaps this trend will continue, and it won't be the obvious candidates like Spieth, Day and McIlroy who will have their day (or rather, weekend) in Springfield.
Of golfers who have yet to win a major, Rickie Fowler has the best odds at plus-2500. It would be quite the turnaround in form if he does pull it off at the PGA Championship.
The 27-year-old Fowler has missed the cut in four of his last nine PGA Tour events. He has just one top-10 finish in that span, a fourth-place showing at the Wells Fargo Open in early May. At the British Open, Fowler finished a disappointing 46th with a four-round score of 290 (+6). Fowler did show in 2015 that he can bring his best game to golf's biggest stages, but his play this year has been far from those lofty marks.
Of course, the tournament could very well go to the sport's best. Day is one to watch, having won the PGA Championship last year and continued his brilliant play for much of 2016. The top-ranked player in the world, Day has to deal with lofty expectations in every tournament he enters, but he remains up for the challenge, per the Guardian's Ewan Murray:
"It’s been a crazy last 12 months.
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I can’t get too complacent with where I’m at. I know that I’m currently ranked the best player in the world but I need to work hard. I need to work harder than I ever have before to keep that spot. I need to work harder than I ever have before to win tournaments, because it’s only getting tougher.
McIlroy too has been sharp this year, save for missed cuts at the Honda Classic in February and the U.S. Open. The Northern Irishman finished tied for fifth at the British Open and has found himself finishing in the top 10 quite often on the PGA Tour this year.
McIlroy's last major win came at the PGA Championship in 2014, at the time appearing prime to run roughshod over the competition for years to come. He could get back to his major-winning ways at the Baltusrol Golf Club's Lower Course.
If you're looking for a less flashy but still supremely skilled golfer to back, PGA.com's T.J. Auclair noted that Bubba Watson has put in excellent, steady work this year and could be due for the third major win of his career:
"Mr. Consistency thus far, Watson hasn't missed a single cut in any of his 13 starts on the PGA Tour this season. He followed up a win at Riviera with a second-place showing in his very next start at Doral. Since then, he hasn't been spectacular, but hasn't been bad either. Baltusrol is a shotmaker's course. Watson -- along with being one of the game's longest hitters -- is also arguably its most imaginative when it comes to shotmaking. That's a dangerous combination and if Watson can put four rounds together, he'll be right near the top, if not on top, come Sunday.
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Of course, Stenson and Mickelson will get much of the early attention due to their recent heroics. Both put in performances that are almost impossible to top, but even a slight drop-off from their ludicrously high level of play at the British Open would have either man in the mix at the PGA Championship.
It's a good time for the golf game. Should one of the top names win, it will feel like an even greater statement in a year that has seen three entertaining majors so far. If another new name comes to the forefront, even if it's an established player, then it will cement the year as an exciting one for its winners.
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