2020 PGA Championship: The favourites + 3 long-shots who could win

Here are our picks for the favourites and a few long-shots for the 2020 PGA Championship that tees off tomorrow at Harding Park in San Francisco.

We know why people read these posts. It’s not really to understand who are the favourites at the upcoming major in question – they’re pretty obvious this week. But it’s for the long-shots. the dark horse picks that everyone else may have overlooked.

We’ll start with the three favourites anyway, plus a few golfers you shouldn’t discount this week. Then, and only then will we launch into our long-shot picks for the 2020 US PGA Championship.

You can always scroll down of course.

Embed from Getty Images

3 FAVOURITES

Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka
Without a doubt, these two are the favourites to win this event.

Brooks Koepka comes into the event chasing his third straight PGA Championship and his fifth major in four years. Three weeks ago, that proposition looked unlikely after Koepka missed two cuts with putting problems and relinquishing his world number one ranking. Now six in the world and with another major to concentrate on, Koepka finished in a tie for second place last week after he couldn’t quite catch Justin Thomas down the stretch.

Justin Thomas didn’t play the 2019 PGA championship but finished T6 in 2018 after winning in 2017. Thomas has racked up eight PGA Tour wins since that victory along with a stack of solid, but not amazing major finishes. Thomas is the world number one ranked golfer right now after victory last week and a second-place a few weeks earlier. Thomas is hot right now and primed for a second major title.

Rory McIlroy had an astonishing 2019/20, but his form has cooled somewhat since the restart. A T32 and T47 in the last few weeks is almost as bad as a missed cut for Rory, but his love for this golf course has many assuming he will be thereabouts on Sunday this week. McIlroy tore apart Harding Park and everyone else when he romped to victory at the WGC Match Play in 2015. Rory hasn’t won a major since 2014 but this golf course will suit his game.

Don’t discount Jason Day, Bryson DeChambeau, Xander Schauffele and Jon Rahm.

3 LONG-SHOTS

Embed from Getty Images

Daniel Berger isn’t exactly a household name but he could be after this week if he keeps his current form going. Berger is now 20th in the world after racking up six top-10 finishes in his last seven events including five top-5s and a win at the Charles Schwab Challenge in June. If you want form, this is your guy.

You may not know much about Chez Reavie but you wanted real long-shots right? Quietly rising to 36th in the world, American Reavie has his finger in the consistency button with results getting better and better. A couple of top-25s preceded a solid T6 finish last week – all in good fields. A T3 and a T14 in his two major appearances last year shows the big events don’t daunt him anymore.

It’s only a matter of time before Abraham Ancer features in a major golf championship and we wouldn’t be surprised if it was this week. The 2018 Australian Open champion has been putting together some decent, but not amazing results. Ancer has finished top-25 in four of his last five tournaments. Last week’s T16 was only scarred by a second-round 75 meaning he finished six shots behind Thomas. One to keep an eye on this week.

Other long-shots we couldn’t fit in: Ryan Palmer, Richy Werenski.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *