We’re just under 24hrs away from the USPGA Championship beginning which gives us a chance to put together a few bigger priced runners who can go well this week and land some place money or even snatch the title as the likes of Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem and YE Yang have done in recent years.
The good news going into this tournament is that with Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy teeing it up the players a little further down the market are bigger than they might normally be. Some of the players 50/1 and higher are top quality so bookmakers could well rue offering big prices on them this week.
As with the main outright preview I’m looking for good drivers of the ball, the longer the better but pure drivers. Those who have gone well on Pete Dye designs are favoured and being good around the greens is another thing I’m looking for as well. I’ve found four players I like.
The first player to have caught my eye is Martin Kaymer. Kaymer won this tournament in 2010 on this very course and has since won the Players Championship on a Pete Dye design. The German looks to be coming back into some nice form and that bodes well for him here. The return of Rory McIlroy has taken some of the attention away from him effectively defending his title too.
Kaymer is a solid all round player and after finishing fourth in France and in the top 12 at The Open he looks to have put that meltdown in Abu Dhabi behind him and if he starts well here he might not go away.
Matt Kuchar led the field at halfway in this tournament on this course in 2010 and having improved significantly and become more established in that time he is likely to put up another bold show here. We know Kuchar enjoys Pete Dye designs having won the Players Championship and the Heritage in the past and he also has a number of other good finishes in tournaments where Dye courses are used.
Kuchar is extremely straight off the tee and he’s one of the better scramblers around too so there isn’t a real weakness to his game other than he’s not the longest and he sometimes doesn’t find what he should when he’s bang in contention but you don’t have the number of high finishes he has without being a good golfer and he looks a huge price this week.
Two of the bigger events on Pete Dye courses in a PGA Tour season are the Players Championship and the Heritage and Kevin Kisner has lost in a playoff in both of them in 2015 so he’s a man who clearly enjoys the test he is given whenever he sets foot on a Dye track. That is no surprise because he’s a very strong all round golfer without a real weakness in his game.
He doesn’t hit the top 10 of many stats on tour but he isn’t outside the top 30 of many key stats either which highlights his all around game. It might be that a major is beyond him at this stage of his career but we’ve seen other lesser players land this title so I think given how well he goes on these sort of tracks he’s worth a sheckle or two this week.
Another player who goes well on the Dye tracks is Luke Donald and with him just starting to show some of his best form I’m going to take him this week. The wind is meant to blow on the opening day which will do him no harm as he’s one of the best in the wind and although he isn’t the longest he is usually pretty straight off the tee and his short game and iron play is usually bang on when he’s on song. Donald has been in the doldrums for a while but signs of life have been apparent in recent times and I’ll take a chance on him this week too.
Back M.Kaymer to win USPGA Championship for a 1/10 stake at 67.00 with Coral (1/4 1-6)
Back M.Kuchar to win USPGA Championship for a 0.5/10 stake at 67.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-6)
Back K.Kisner to win USPGA Championship for a 0.5/10 stake at 126.00 with Bet365 (1/4 1-6)
Back L.Donald to win USPGA Championship for a 0.5/10 stae at 126.00 with Stan James (1/4 1-7)
