12 Jun 2019
The PGA Championship will celebrate its 100th anniversary this week when the world’s best golfers tee up at Bellerive Country Club for the fourth and final Major of 2018.
With the weather forecast in St Louis set fair and wind conditions looking benign, there could be low scores on offer, suggesting it will be a form player lifting the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday evening.
For the US contingent, the PGA Championship represents the final opportunity for automatic qualification onto Jim Furyk’s Ryder Cup team. The likes of Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau and Matt Kuchar will all need a strong showing to secure enough points to guarantee themselves a seat on the plane to Paris in September.
Meanwhile the European Tour pack will be hoping that Francesco Molinari’s win at Carnoustie marks the end of the recent American dominance on the Major circuit.
Here are five players to watch this week:
Justin Thomas (USA)
As the defending champion, having won his maiden Major at last year’s event, Thomas is rightly amongst the favourites to be in contention on Sunday. The 25-year-old arrives at Bellerive on the back of a win at the WCG Bridgestone Invitational – his eighth victory of the season – and currently sits second in the FedEx Cup rankings. A 2018 average driving distance of 313 yards and scoring average of 69.2 make the Kentucky native an attractive choice for the win at 12/1.
Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
Popular Englishman Fleetwood continues to enjoy an upward career trajectory and has finished all of this year’s Majors and WGC events inside the Top 20. He tied the US Open course record with an incredible 63 earlier in the summer and looks a cert to make his Ryder Cup debut this Autumn. Currently at 22/1, it’s surely a matter of when and not if he breaks his Major duck.
Hideki Matsuyama (JAP)
At just 26 years old, Matsuyama is already considered to be Japan’s finest golfer. Despite missing the cut last month at Carnoustie, Matsuyama has demonstrated a fondness for the US parkland courses and has been in contention at the PGA Championship over the past two years, tying for fourth and fifth respectively. Add in a couple of US Open career Top 10s and it’s no stretch to include the popular ball striker as one who could be right in the mix on Sunday afternoon. Worth a look at 50/1.
Bubba Watson (USA)
Since switching golfball supplier earlier this year, Watson has enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence, recording three PGA Tour wins in 2018 including the WGC Dell Matchplay in March. The two-time Masters winner came close to a PGA Championship win in 2010, losing in a play-off to Martin Kaymer at Whistling Straits. If his temperament is right he’ll look good value each-way at 50/1.
Kevin Kisner (USA)
Kisner demonstrated he’s got the game for the biggest stage with a second-place finish at The Open last month. The American tied for 7th at last year’s PGA Championship and currently sits 27th in the Official World Golf Rankings, in no small part thanks to his .627 Stokes Gained Putting (7th on the PGA Tour). The 30-year-old would need to go up another gear to be in with a chance of securing the title, but 80/1 seems extremely attractive to place.
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