Last Sunday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka dueled in an exciting back-and-forth affair for the title. Thomas emerged victorious with a three-stroke win over Koepka and three others, and the two are listed as +1000 co-favorites at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com to take this week’s PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park.
Koepka is the two-time defending champion of the PGA Championship but bogeyed two of the last three holes in the St. Jude Invitational a week ago, including a double on No. 18 to put himself into a four-way tie for second behind Thomas. The other three golfers who tied with Koepka were Daniel Berger, Tom Lewis and Phil Mickelson.
Thomas won St. Jude by finishing strong, with birdies on two of the last four holes and six overall in the final round. He shot his best round on the last day with a 65, matched only by Berger among golfers who finished within the Top 20.
Berger won the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club in mid-June over Collin Morikawa in a playoff, and last week’s performance was his best since then. Morikawa won the Workday Charity Open a month later, and both he and Berger are listed at +3300 at online sports betting sites to win the PGA Championship.
In between Thomas and Koepka and Berger and Morikawa are a number of big names that may be worth wagering on as well. Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy are the next golfers on the betting board behind the two co-favorites at +1400. Rahm won the Memorial Tournament three weeks ago at Muirfield Village Golf Club, but he missed the cut at last year’s PGA Championship at Bethpage. McIlroy tied for eighth last year at this event.
After Rahm and McIlroy on the PGA Championship odds are Bryson DeChambeau (+1600), Xander Schauffele (+1800), Dustin Johnson (+2200), Patrick Cantlay (+2500), Webb Simpson (+2800) and Tiger Woods (+3000). This is the first time ever that the PGA Championship is the first major tournament of the year, and Woods is a four-time winner of the event (1999, 2000, 2006, 2007). He will be playing in a group with Thomas and McIlroy to start Thursday.