2016 PGA Championship Odds Preview: Dustin Johnson Leads Betting Lines

American Dustin Johnson’s win at the U.S. Open earlier this year has vaulted him into favorite status to earn his second major victory in the PGA Championship this weekend.

Johnson was a co-favorite at the British Open and finished ninth earlier this month at Royal Troon in Scotland, and he has never placed higher than fifth at the PGA Championship. However, he is still listed as +800 chalk (bet $100 to win $800) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Johnson’s main competition is expected to come from another pair of previous major winners in Irishman Rory McIlroy and Australian Jason Day, who is the defending champion.

McIlroy finished in a tie for fifth behind winner Henrik Stenson at the British Open, while Day tied for 22nd. However, neither was anywhere close to the Swede Stenson, who finished 20 under par, with only American Phil Mickelson within striking distance.

Stenson appears to have some value at +1400 on the odds to win the PGA Championship, and Mickelson does as well at +1800. Mickelson won the PGA Championship in 2005, while Stenson’s top finish was third and tied for third in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Other golfers in the mix to win at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, New Jersey, this week include American Jordan Spieth (+1400), Spaniard Sergio Garcia (+2500) and Englishman Justin Rose (+2800). Of that group, only the 35-year-old Garcia has failed to win a major during his career. Garcia’s best finishes in the PGA Championship came in 1999 (second) and 2008 (tied for second).

Spieth is having a disappointing 2016 after posting his best results in every major a year ago. The 22-year-old Dallas native won the Masters and U.S. Open, tied for fourth at the British Open and placed second at the PGA Championship in 2015.

This year, his best finish in a major came at the Masters, as he placed second in an event he definitely should have won. Spieth blew a five-stroke lead on the back nine in losing to Englishman Danny Willett and did not finish better than 30th in the U.S. Open or British Open.

Willett is a +6600 long shot to win the PGA Championship on the golf odds for this week at the online sportsbooks.