PGA Championship 2024 Betting Predictions

The second golfing major of the year, the 2024 PGA Championship will take place between May 16th to 19th at Valhalla in Kentucky.

So far, the big topic up for debate and the one that will get everybody talking is the fact that quite a few LIV golfers have been invited to participate.

As you may or may not know, the normal PGA doesn’t allow LIV players – those that ‘defected’ to the new Saudi League.

However, while it’s called the PGA Championship, it’s not run by the PGA. Instead, it is organised by the PGA of America, which is a separate entity.

That has opened the door for the likes of Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, Dustin Johnson, Martin Kaymer, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed and Cameron Smith to all tee off.

While certainly not arch enemies, there has been a lot of back and forth between players from the opposing leagues so who will come out on top in Louisville later this week?

PGA Championship 2024 Odds

We’ll start with the obvious and that is Scottie Scheffler goes to Valhalla as the favourite, no doubt on the back of his win in The Masters in April.

Next up in the betting markets for the PGA Championship is Jon Rahm.

This is a bit of a surprise given that Rahm has never won the PGA Championship or ever come close, with one top-5 finish as his best performance.

Considering he also tied for 45th place in the most recent Masters, and hasn’t had an LIV win this year, he’s going to need a boost in form to seriously contend.

Rory McIlroy is reasonably good value as a golfer who has won this tournament twice. And while his second win may have been 10 years ago, it was at Valhalla which bodes well for his chances.

Brooks Koepka can never be written off as a four-time major champion and will always challenge, especially given his most recent win in the LIV Golf Singapore event.

Player	Odds
Scottie Scheffler	4/1
Rory McIlroy	7/1
Xander Schauffele	12/1
Brooks Koepka	14/1
Jon Rahm	16/1
Ludvig Aberg	16/1
Collin Morikawa	25/1
Bryson Dechambeau	25/1
Max Homa	25/1
Joaquin Niemann	30/1
Patrick Cantlay	33/1
Wyndham Clark	35/1
Tommy Fleetwood	35/1
Cameron Smith	40/1
Cameron Young	40/1
Justin Thomas	40/1
Viktor Hovland	40/1
Tyrrell Hatton	45/1
Jordan Spieth	50/1
Sahith Theegala	50/1
Byeong Hun An	50/1
Sam Burns	50/1
Hideki Matsuyama	55/1
Min Woo Lee	55/1
Jason Day	60/1
Will Zalatoris	60/1
Dustin Johnson	60/1
Tony Finau	60/1

(*Odds from Betfred on 15th May 2024)

Predictions For Winner & Places

The great thing about golf is that there are so many players taking part in any given tournament that bookmakers tend to extend their places to make betting more attractive.

Generally they start off paying out to around six places but frequently, this can go as high as 10 places.

That means you can take a punt on a player who might not win but could still be there or thereabouts on the final round.

For my money, that golfer is Wyndham Clark. With current odds of 30/1, and on much better form than some of his rivals on shorter odds, Clark could be in with a shout of sneaking into the places.

He won the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February, was second in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, and most recently tied for third in the RBC Heritage.

ittedly, Scottie Scheffler, has been cleaning up this year but if you’ve already assumed he is going to win, you could do worse than Wyndham Clark for a top 8 spot.

Of course, most of those tournaments don’t include LIV golfers and Clark did miss the cut for the Masters but nobody’s perfect!

Alternatively, Rory McIlroy is also in sold form and while his odds are a lot shorter, choosing him or Brooks Koepka for a place could be a safer option.

How Much Money Does The Winner Get?

For quite a few years, the winner of the PGA Championship took home around $1,980,000.

But each year since 2021 the prize money has increased and now stands at $3,150,000.

The winner also gets the Wanamaker Trophy, which is nearly 2.5 feet tall and weighs 27 pounds.

The trophy is returned each year and the winner keeps a smaller replica version.

How Are The Players Picked?

With a maximum of 156 golfers allowed to take part in the PGA Championship, whittling down the numbers is always the biggest problem.

So to make it easier, there are a huge number of rules in place to determine who gets one of the coveted spots.

Former PGA Champions, winners of the last five Masters, five U.S. Opens, five Open Championships and the last three The Players Championships all automatically qualify.

The list also includes the top three on the Official World Golf Ranking International Federation Ranking List as well as the current Senior PGA Champion.

There are other auto qualifiers such as of the most recent United States and European Ryder Cup Teams who are ranked the top 100 of the Official World Golf Ranking.

But, going back to what we mentioned at the start of this article, the PGA of America also reserves the right to invite additional players, which in this case is 15 of the LIV golfers.

For the PGA Championship 2024, the full field of golfers is here, should you want to check out who made the cut.