2023 PGA Championship Betting Preview

The second major of the PGA season arrives this week with the PGA Championship at the Oak Hill East Course in Rochester, New York. And at the Bovada Sportsbook the co-favorites are 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler, with both at +800 odds.

Since winning the Masters in April Rahm has also placed second in the Mexico Open, which has kept him atop the World Golf Rankings. Last year at the PGA Championship Rahm finished well back of the leaders in a tie for 48th place, and his best career finish in the event came in 2018 when he tied for fourth place.

Scheffler has cracked the Top 10 in five of his last seven tournaments, which includes a win in the PLAYERS Championship, and a tie for 10th place at the Masters. Scheffler was a major disappointment at last year’s PGA Championship when he missed the cut.

McIlroy, Koepka follow on tournament odds

Following the favorites on the odds list this week are the usual suspects, with Rory McIlroy at +1400, and Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele, and Patrick Cantlay all at +2000.

McIlroy has won the PGA Championship twice before, in 2012 at Kiawah Island and in 2014 at Valhalla. McIlroy has been off his game lately, though, as he finished in 47th place in his last tournament at the Wells Fargo Championship and missed the cut at the Masters.

Kopeka is getting the best odds of any LIV Golf player this week. Koepka was on top of the leaderboard at the Masters for the first three rounds before stumbling in the final round to finish second behind Rahm. Koepka won back-to-back PGA Championship titles in 2018 at Bellerive and in 2019 at Bethpage Black.

Defending champ Thomas sits as underdog

The defending champion this week is Justin Thomas, who shot a five-under par at Southern Hills last year and defeated Will Zalatoris in a playoff to capture his second career PGA Championship win. Thomas also won the tournament in 2017 at Quail Hollow. Thomas is a +2800 underdog to add a third title this week.

Last week on tour Jason Day announced himself as a contender by posting his first PGA Tour win since 2018; Day won the AT&T Byron Nelson after shooting 23-under par to edge Si-Woo Kim and Austin Eckroat by one stroke. Day won the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in 2015 and he’s listed at +2500 to win this week.

Oak Hill last hosted the PGA Championship in 2013 when Jason Dufner won his first major title. Dufner will not be back at Oak Hill this week due to injury. A few notable finishes from the 2013 tournament include Adam Scott tying for fifth, Jason Day tying for seventh, and Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy tying for eighth.