Dustin Johnson is looking to maintain the torrid pace that has earned him top-five finishes in five of his past six tournaments, including his first career major win at last month’s U.S. Open, when he tees off Thursday at the 2016 PGA Championship as a +800 betting favorite at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com.
The 32-year-old American has been a force on the tour in 2016, following up his U.S. Open win with a victory at the Bridgestone Invitational before finishing tied for second at last week’s Canadian Open. That maintained his lead atop the FedExCup standings heading into this weekend’s 98th PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club in Springfield, N.J.
Jason Day and Rory McIlroy, the two most recent PGA Championship winners, sit deadlocked at +900 odds behind Johnson on this weekend’s betting lines.
Day claimed his first career major title at last year’s PGA Championship, kicking off the current trend of first-time majors winners with Danny Willett, Johnson, and Henrik Stenson following up with victories at each of this year’s major tournaments.
Day has been somewhat of a disappointment in this year’s major tournaments, but he has three wins to his credit this season, maintaining his perch atop the Official World Golf Ranking and closely trailing Johnson in second in the FedExCup standings.
McIlroy sits at No. 4 on the rankings and will be gunning for his third career PGA Championship title after claiming victory in both 2012 and 2014.
However, the 27-year-old from Northern Ireland has produced mixed results at major tournaments since winning twice in 2014. McIlroy has recorded four Top-10 finishes since then but missed the cut at this year’s US Open, and finished 17th at last year’s PGA Championship after sitting out the Open Championship due to injury.
Fresh off his victory in his epic duel with Phil Mickelson at this month’s Open Championship, Stenson aims for a second straight major victory at +1400 odds at the sportsbooks.
Jordan Spieth joins Stenson at +1400 but has yet to fully rebound from a devastating meltdown in the final round at this year’s Masters, finishing in a disappointing tie for 37th at the U.S. Open and then ending up in 30th place at the Open Championship.
Mickelson follows at +1800 odds, ahead of Sergio Garcia at +2500, while 2010 PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer trails at +5000, and 2013 champion Jason Dufner is pegged at a distant +8000 on the golf betting odds at the sportsbooks for this week.
Thumbnail photo via Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports Images
