The 2023 US PGA Championship: Steve Rawlings' pick of the specials

Steven Rawlings
17 May 2023
3 min read

Lucas Herbert - fancied for a high finish at Oak Hill

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The 105^th US PGA Championship is now just days away, so Steve's had a good look at Betfair's side markets, and he's picked out six bets ranging from 5/6 to 33/1

Reed and Herbert value to record top-20 finishes
Wire-to-wire winner a sporting wager at 15/2
Read my US PGA Championship preview here?

Pieters the play for Top Belgian

Top Belgian - Back Thomas Pieters

There are only two Belgians in the field at this year's US PGA Championship and having once coupled up to win the World Cup of Golf back in 2018, the pair are arriving at Oak Hill from two very different angles.

Having defected to the LIV Golf Tour, Thomas Pieters' form is ordinary at best since he made the contentious move.

In six LIV events, he's never bettered 16^th and he will have been disappointed by his 48^th placed finish at the US Masters back in April but the six-time DP World Tour winner and Ryder Cupper may be far better placed to contend this week.

Thomas Pieters in Wales.jpg

Three steady, consecutive 67s in Oklahoma last week saw him post his joint- best finish on the rebel Tour and the combination of consistency without being in the thick of it makes for an ideal prep for a major championship.

In stark contrast, Thomas Detry needs to lift himself after blowing yet another chance to win on the DP World Tour and given it occurred in his homeland, the hangover might not have cleared by Thursday.

Derty missed the cut on the only other occasion he played in this event, and he looks worth taking on.

Outsiders can land top-20 finishes

Top 20 Finish - Back Patrick Reed & Lucas Herbert

Two of my three Find Me a 100 Winner picks - Patrick Reed and Lucas Herbert - are trading at industry best pirices for a top-20 finish with the Betfair Sportsbook and I'm happy to play both.

Reed has finished sixth in the Open Championship, second at the Dubai Desert Classic and fourth at the US Masters on the three occasions he's played outside the LIV Golf Tour since he signed up, so he clearly gets motivated when competing in deeper fields.

The 7/2 on offer about Reed cracking the top-20 looks more than fair and so too does the 17/2 about Herbert, who's finished inside the top-20 in two of his last three major starts.

My third Find Me pick, Adrian Meronk, is priced up at 11/2 to finish inside the top-20 and while that's a reasonable price, I'd rather play him in the Top Continental European market where he's an industry-best 25/1 with three places up for grabs.

Adrian Meronk in Ras Al Khaimah.jpg

The US Masters winner, Jon Rahm, who's looking to become the first Spaniard to win the PGA is the odds-on favourite, with Norway's Viktor Hovland second best at 4/1 but it's wide open after that and I'm very surprised to see the bang-in-form Pole on offer at as big as 25/1.

Wire-to-wire winner price could look big

Wire-to-wire winner

It's difficult to make a case for the 15/2 about there being a wire-to-wire winner being an outstanding price but all the major winners (including senior majors) at Oak Hill have been up with the pace throughout and two of the last six US PGA Championships were won wire-to-wire.

It's a sporting wager that will definitely still be live on Friday morning and if we happen to get a couple of fancied players tied for the lead after round one the 15/2 will look huge.

An #OddsOnThat selection at 33/1

Brooks Koepka, Cameron Young & Tony Finau to all to Finish in the Top 10

And finally, it was interesting to see that Joel Dahmen (see below tweet) feels Oak Hill won't play as long as suggested and the fact that he mentions Brookline is big boost to one of my pre-event picks, Matt Fitzpatrick, who won the US Open there last year, ten years after he'd won the US Amateur at Brookline.

Tracked down @Joel_Dahmen and @GenoBonnalie for this week's official PGA Championship preview.

-an "eclectic" leaderboard
-finding nemo
-garbage plates
-low expectations
-curling
-more:pic.twitter.com/blwyz9xHS9
-- Dylan Dethier (@dylan_dethier) May 16, 2023

However, if it does transpire that length has a huge advantage, looking at the many #OddsOnThat options, the very last one listed - Brooks Koepka, Cameron Young & Tony Finau to all to Finish in the Top 10 (Incl. Ties) at 33/1 looks a sporting bet.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

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