PGA Championship: Head-to-Head Matchups And First Round Picks

• The PGA Championship starts Thursday with hundreds of head-to-head betting matchups available like Patrick Cantlay -1.5 (-122) against Tiger Woods +1.5 (-108).
• Other matchups include Patrick Reed (-110) versus Matthew Fitzpatrick (-110), and Tyrell Hatton (-135) facing Jordan Spieth (+133).
• First-round betting odds are also available with recent hot starter Tony Finau sitting at +4000 to lead after the first day.

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The golf world has been patiently waiting for this weekend’s PGA Championship for over a year, and now it is finally here.

Fans and bettors alike have been going crazy this week in anticipation of 2020’s first major tournament, with analysis, breakdowns, and expert picks coming from every angle.

Oddsmakers are taking advantage of the excitement by offering hundreds of betting lines regarding almost every aspect of the tournament.

While betting on the overall winner is the most popular medium for most bettors, there is some incredible value in the head-to-head matchups created by the sportsbooks.

The first day of play features some stellar groupings, as players face the challenge at TPC Harding Park.

This week’s Featured Groups at the @WGCFedEx:

Bryson DeChambeau
Rickie Fowler
Jon Rahm

Jordan Spieth
Rory McIlroy
Webb Simpson

Justin Thomas
Collin Morikawa
Hideki Matsuyama

Brooks Koepka
Viktor Hovland
Patrick Reed pic.twitter.com/RTu8nbKJ4U

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) July 27, 2020

Some of the best odds for the first round of the tournament offer huge lines that can start off the event with a win for bettors.

Tournament Head-to-Head Matchups

These bets will place two golfers against each other to see who will have the better final score at the very end of the tournament.

The first featured match-up sees almost even odds for Patrick Reed to play better than Matthew Fitzpatrick.

While Reed hasn’t been playing to his full potential since the restart, he hit it much better in his last event at the St. Jude, despite his weak finish. Even while playing under his best, Reed still finished T10 at the Memorial a few weeks ago and has only missed the cut twice in his seven events since the hiatus.

On the other hand, Fitzpatrick’s value is incredibly inflated due to his high finishes in his last two tournaments. Fitz has only found himself in these positions due to some extremely hot putting, which does not look to be sustainable for long.

The next head-to-head includes the player with the most attention anytime he comes close to a golf course, Tiger Woods.

As with all other betting lines for Tiger, he is being extremely overvalued. Tiger just barely made the cut at the Memorial and was noticeably hurting towards the end of the final round.

Meanwhile, Cantlay looks as strong as ever after finishing off the final two days of the St. Jude shooting 65 and 67. Besides a wayward 79 on the final day of the Memorial, Cantlay hasn’t shot worse than a 73 in any single day of golf since the break.

While everyone will be rooting for Tiger, the smart golf bet here is to fade the Big Cat against a young star.

Jordan Spieth will be looking to complete the career grand slam of golf this weekend, needing a PGA Championship win to go with his other three major championship trophies. Unfortunately for Jordan, he hasn’t been playing championship-level golf for quite some time.

Spieth played well to get a T13 finish at the Memorial, but consistently puts up scorecards covered in marks. Watching Jordan play a round is like watching a heart monitor with how many ups and downs he seems to endure.

While Jordan could still put together a good finish, it will be hard to find a spot above Hatton, who has been stellar since the break. Hatton has two top-five finishes in his three events since the Tour returned, and has a game that projects to play well on a long course like TPC Harding Park.

First Round Bets

Betting on the first round of a major tournament can seem a bit arbitrary. Rarely does the leader after Thursday hold on throughout the weekend, but with some analysis, it is possible to hit on some big odds.

After looking at the options available via the online sportsbooks, two golfers sit with great value to lead the field after 18 holes.

Tony Finau has come out of the gate firing on all cylinders in almost every event since the hiatus. In his seven events since the break, Finau has shot two first-round 66s, and a 65, with his worst Thursday round just a 70.

Finau had the lead at both the Memorial, and 3M Open before late-round collapses.

The other choice goes to Daniel Berger, who won the first event back on the tee earlier this Summer in June.

Berger has finished first, tied second, and tied third in three of his four tournaments since the break and could come out swinging Thursday.

For this first round 3-ball grouping, Colin Morikawa is getting great odds to beat Henrik Stenson and Zach Johnson.

Morikawa has been one of the best stories since the return of the game and has shown he has what it takes to be a force to reckon with on Tour for years to come.

Morikawa also has the benefit of playing this course more recently and more often than the majority of the field. TPC Harding Park has not hosted a PGA Tour event in over five years. Morikawa played this course over a dozen times just a few years ago as a member of the Cal Golden Bears golf team.

While Stenson has the potential to play well this weekend, it will only be his second tournament back since the hiatus after a T35 at St. Jude. Zach Johnson has also not looked anything close to special in his rounds since the restart.