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5 dark horses who could upset and win PGA Championship 2018

By David Salituro

AKRON, OH - AUGUST 04: Tony Finau plays his shot from the second tee during World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational - Round Three at Firestone Country Club South Course on August 4, 2018 in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
AKRON, OH - AUGUST 04: Tony Finau plays his shot from the second tee during World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational - Round Three at Firestone Country Club South Course on August 4, 2018 in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) /
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Big names like Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy are big favorites this week at the PGA Championship, but these five players could pull off an upset.

The PGA Championship once billed itself as “Glory’s Last Shot.” While the tournament dropped that nickname in 2013, the same premise remains: It’s the final opportunity of the year for players to make a name for themselves as a major champion.

Players like Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas have already tasted major success. They also go to Bellerive Country Club for the PGA Championship this week as big favorites to add another major to their trophy case.

But for the players this week who come in unheralded and without a major to their credit, they are looking to go under the radar and escape with the Wanamaker Trophy on Sunday.

Bellerive will play long and soft this week. It measures 7,318 yards, nearly 200 yards longer than it did in the last major staged here in 1992. It will also be slow; a sign posted in the clubhouse on Tuesday warned players “green speeds will remain slower than they are planned for Championship Rounds.” The greens are also big, measuring 10,000 square feet on average.

As such, the course will be a bomber’s paradise this week. Players who can hit it long and avoid the rough will have a big advantage over the rest of the field.

For every Tiger Woods or McIlroy to win a major, there are the Shaun Micheels and John Daly’s who pull off a win no one saw coming. Here are five sleepers who could defy the odds this week.

AKRON, OH – AUGUST 05: Tony Finau (USA) plays his shot from the sixth tee during the final round of the World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational on August 5, 2018 at the Firestone Country Club South Course in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Shelley Lipton/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
AKRON, OH – AUGUST 05: Tony Finau (USA) plays his shot from the sixth tee during the final round of the World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational on August 5, 2018 at the Firestone Country Club South Course in Akron, Ohio. (Photo by Shelley Lipton/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /

5. Tony Finau

Finau’s time to join the ranks of the top players on the PGA Tour is finally here. One of the most physically gifted players on Tour, Finau has just one career win. And that was back in 2016 at the Puerto Rico Open, an alternate event held the same week of the WGC Match Play. He has consistently put himself into contention in the majors this year, finishing inside the top 10 in all three. He was 10th at the Masters despite dislocating an ankle during the par-three contest, and held a share of the 54-hole lead at the U.S. Open before falling back to fifth.

Finau ranks third in driving distance this year but just 107th in putting. With the soft conditions expected at Bellerive this week, however, Finau will be able to use his length to get close to the pin locations.

Finau has one top 10 at the PGA Championship, a 10th place finish in 2015. He was 44th last year at Quail Hollow.

His breakthrough has to come sooner or later. It’s a safe bet it happens as soon as this Sunday.

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