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PGA Championship Finishing Positions Best Bets (Playing The Top 10, 20, 30)

The best finishing position bets to wager on in the second major of the year at the PGA Championship.

By Benjamin Upson

May 14, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; A fan holds a tournament flag as Bryson DeChambeau signs autographs.
May 14, 2024; Louisville, Kentucky, USA; A fan holds a tournament flag as Bryson DeChambeau signs autographs. / Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports
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Major season continues in the golf world as we prepare for the second grand tournament of the year, the PGA Championship. It returns to Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, which last hosted the event in 2014. The field will consist of 156 players vying for the Wanamaker Trophy. 

All contenders will begin the week with two full rounds followed by the cut line, which shrinks down to the top 70 players and ties after Friday’s second round action. The best way to play these tournaments is through finishing positions and here’s my favorite leans for this week.

Best Finishing Positions Bets for PGA Championship

  • Rory McIlroy Top 10
  • Collin Morikawa Top 20
  • Will Zalatoris Top 30

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.

Rory McIlroy Top 10

There’s sucker bets in golf all the time and I’m all in on Rory McIlroy in this spot. I’m backing the man who hasn’t won a major since the 2014 PGA Championship and it came at this very golf course in Valhalla. Something is just telling me that McIlroy will finally show up and at the least be right near the top of contention amongst this field.

What Rory excels the best at is off the tee. He’s 4th on the PGA Tour in strokes gained off the tee (0.886) and 2nd in driving distance (316.8).

He also ranks 25th in driving accuracy (68.66 percent), which is important with the course set-up of an abundance of bunkers and hazards surrounding this property. His long ball approach should be able to set him up for a strong week at this venue, not to mention the familiarity of 10 years ago. 

It could not be more of a fairy tale story if Rory were to win the PGA once again at the same place he did it 10 years ago. He dominated last week on Sunday at Quail Hollow to win the Wells Fargo, so why can’t he pull off some magic again and go back-to-back?

As much as I lean on him this week to get the win, I’ll play it safer here. Take the decent near even money price and bank on Rory to record a top 10 finish instead.

Collin Morikawa Top 20

Collin Morikawa enters the PGA Championship in some of the best form that he’s had in years. His last three starts consisted of a T-9 at the RBC Heritage, T-23 at the Zurich Classic and a T-16 last week at the Wells Fargo. The 2020 PGA champion at Harding Park also showed up at the Masters last month with a T-3 finish and was right in contention until Scottie Scheffler pulled away on Sunday.

He has a fantastic putting resume, which has always seemed to be Morikawa’s strength in his game. His putting average is 1.72, which ranks 17th on Tour.

He gets it done quickly as his one putt percentage is 43.97 percent (12th). With that efficiency on the greens, Morikawa is going to be playing well into the weekend at Valhalla.

This play is currently hovering around +120 at most sportsbooks and it’s worth playing with some added value here. Morikawa has appeared to find his old self once again and looks to continue building on his major resume at Valhalla, a course that sets up well for him. He’s been consistent this season and that’s perhaps the best trait to have in the game of golf.

Sam Burns Top 30

It’s been a very quiet season for Sam Burns, who has yet to find much of any success to this point of 2024. He missed the cut last month at Augusta, and has only recorded two top 20 finishes dating back to the Genesis Invitational in February. It was a hot start that has quickly gone cold, but I don’t believe all hope is lost for Burns. I’m going to take a chance here with his top 30 finish prop.

Burns has been a great ball striker off the tee, the biggest strength of his game. He’s currently 28th in strokes gained off the tee (0.372), 43rd in driving distance (303.9 yards) and a 65.73 percent driving accuracy (56th).

Where Burns really excels the most is 2nd round scoring average (69.09, 13th on Tour). He’s a late start Thursday, which means he will go early on Friday. This is a perfect spot for him to be churning into the weekend.

We know that surprises can come out of nowhere in this game. Burns feels like he can become a sneaky contender this week at the PGA Championship. He’s always been a high quality golfer that just has struggled to find his motor week to week.

Since he’s been off lately, it could mean he is due to get back to work. It feels like a great spot to back him in a top 30 finish which is a plus value play so I’ll run with it here.

Note: Odds are subject to change.

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