The final Major of the 2018 PGA Season is on deck as the PGA head to St. Louis, Missouri for the 100th PGA Championship. The PGA Championship is being played at the Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri. The PGA Championship was played here back in 1992, with Nick Price winning by 3 strokes over Nick Faldo, John Cook, Gene Sauers and Jim Gallagher.
Bellerive CC was designed in 1897 by Robert Trent Jones. Rees Jones redesigned the course completely in 2005. They played the BMW Championship 3 years later in 2008, which are very strong course attributes to use for your research this week.
Bellerive CC measures at a distance of just under 7400 yards and plays as a Par 70 golf course. The greens here at Bellerive CC are extremely large, actually they are some of the largest you will see all year on the PGA Tour. They are made up of Bentgrass but should be relatively slow this week as they are calling for some rain, which will slow down the course.
There are plenty of hazards to be aware of at Bellerive with 76 bunkers and 16 water hazards. The way they have the bunkers and water hazards spaced out, they are at or near the large greens, which force accuracy on the approach shots.
The PGA Championship will all get started on Thursday morning, August 9 and run through Sunday, August 12, 2018.
Top Bet at the PGA Championship – Dustin Johnson 12/1
It is really hard to argue the fact that Dustin Johnson is the best golfer in the world. Normally, under regular circumstances, you wouldn’t find DJ under single digit odds but this week because it is a major and because the entire top list of “Who’s Who” is playing, we get DJ at a bit of inflated odds.
DJ is #1 on tour in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee, which is a must here at Bellerive Country Club. DJ has the distance to make up for the 7400 yards and Par 70 and if his putting is back up to normal, which ranks him 14th on tour, he will be really tough to beat.
DJ is coming off a 3rd place finish at WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and a win the week before at the RBC Canadian Open. DJ has won 2 of the past 5 tournaments he has played in and this week, he could make it 3 out of 6 this week in St. Louis, Missouri.
Top Longshot at the PGA Championship – Francesco Molinari 30/1
This really isn’t one of those big number long shots but at 30/1, Francesco Molinari is a steal. Molinari has won 3 tournaments and placed 2nd in 2 tournaments in his last 7 tournaments overall….yet the guys STILL is not getting the respect he deserves from the online sportsbooks.
Molinari is 7th on tour in Strokes Gained: Off The Tee and 16th on tour in Approach Shots. If his approach game is on this week and he plays like he has over the past two months, I don’t know that anyone in this tournament can beat him.
Top Fade at the PGA Championship – Jordan Spieth 20/1
I am a big fan of Jordan Spieth but this week, I don’t think he sets up good for Bellerive CC. I expect he will struggle, mainly with his putting. Spieth just hasn’t looked good putting lately and with these greens being so big, averaging 7600 square feet, there will be plenty of opportunities for scoring on the greens. The problem is if he can’t sink those putts on the greens, he can’t score, and in turn, then he can’t win! This is why Jordan Spieth is our top fade of the week!