It’s a massive week ahead next week with the start of the Premier League season and a whole host of different offers and promotions available based on that, so with another big event starting that 
week, we’re giving you an extra bit of time to digest the information ahead of the 99th USPGA Golf Championship.
The fourth major of the year is taking place at the Quail Hollow Golf Club, based in Charlotte, North Carolina from the 10th through to the 13th August and will feature all the cream of the world’s golfing talent hoping to lay claim to the final major of 2017.
As always, there’s plenty of fantastic betting to enjoy on this event and we think Bonus Code UK customers will be intrigued to hear about the event, the course, the field and who we think stands a great chance of landing that coveted first prize and Major title. And of course, we like to use Bet365 Sport as our preferred sports betting odds provider for these purposes.
To begin our preview of the event, we are going to take a look back at the recent history of the USPGA Championship, the youngest of all four Major championships, by taking a look at which players have won the event since the year 2000, as well as which venues the tournament was played at over the years.
USPGA Champions and Venues 2000-2016
- 2000 – Valhalla Golf Club – Tiger Woods (US)
- 2001 – Atlanta Athletic Club – David Toms (US)
- 2002 – Hazeltine National – Rich Beem (US)
- 2003 – Oak Hill Country Club – Shaun Micheel (US)
- 2004 – Whistling Straits – Vijay Singh (Fji)
- 2005 – Baltusrol Gold Club – Phil Mickelson (US)
- 2006 – Medinah Country Club – Tiger Woods (US)
- 2007 – Southern Hills Country Club – Tiger Woods (US)
- 2008 – Oakland Hills Country Club – Padraig Harrington (Ire)
- 2009 – Hazeltine National – Yang Yong-eun (S.Kor)
- 2010 – Whistling Straits – Martin Kaymer (Ger)
- 2011 – Atlanta Athletic Club – Keegan Bradley (US)
- 2012 – Kiawah Island Golf Resort – Rory McIlroy (Ire)
- 2013 – Oak Hill Country Club – Jason Dufner (US)
- 2014 – Valhalla Golf Club – Rory McIlroy (Ire)
- 2015 – Whistling Straits – Jason Day (Aus)
- 2016 – Baltusrol Golf Club – Jimmy Walker (US)
Looking back over the winners something is striking and that is that the US players period of dominance in this event has definitely come to an end. After a period from 2000 until 2007, when just one non-US player won the event, since 2008, only three US players have tasted victory, the same number of victories as players from Ireland have managed in the event.
What is also clear is that the USPGA is a tournament which does seem to favour a different winner each year. Only Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy have won the event multiple times since 2000. So perhaps the USPGA will follow the trend of new Major winners that has been by and large the case over the past two years.
One bonus for players is that they will be competing for the largest ever top prize in USPGA history of $1,890,000, which is more than double the $900,000 prize Tiger Woods received when he won the event back at Valhalla in 2000.
This event is being held at Quail Hollow, the first time the famous course has been used for a major and its choice is not without its controversy as we shall discover below.
Quail Hollow Course Review
If the name Quail Hollow sounds familiar, then that is because it has been a course used widely on the USPGA Tour for many years. It was home to what was the Wachovia Championship, then the Quail Hollow Championship and latterly the Wells Fargo Championship. Indeed it was in this last iteration that Rory McIlroy won his first ever US tour event back in 2010.
McIlroy has fond memories of this course as he also won the Wells Fargo Championship in 2015, in doing so shooting a new clubhouse record round of 61 in the process. A record that stands to this day and which will likely not be broken for some time.
The reason for that is that the course has made a number of major changes to several holes and to the grass planted on the course. While the course changes can be viewed as cosmetic, making the Quail Hollow course major tournament-ready, the changes in the type of grass predominantly seeded at the course, which is now Bermuda grass, rather than Rye, may well alter the characteristics of the course considerably.
While Rye grass is easier for professionals to play off and control the ball on, Bermuda grass allows for more run on the ball and that makes it more difficult for professionals to control their shots and also means that balls can run into hazards that otherwise would not have done on the older surface.
Whoever can master the conditions and the changes to the character of the course will likely be very close to taking this title come the evening of Sunday 13th August.
Who can win the 2017 USPGA Championship?
In truth there are many players that can lay a strong claim to standing a great chance to win the USPGA Championship this year. Rory McIlroy has enjoyed great success in this tournament and on this course in the past, so his price of 15/2 is unsurprising. World number One Dustin Johnson (7/1 fav) is also a great shout as he is in impeccable form and the only thing missing from his resume this year has been a Major win.
Outside of those two players it is very much a case of the usual suspects. Jordan Spieth (11/1) will have plenty of home support, while Jason Day (12/1) is a former winner of this event and if the weather holds fine, he should be in contention here once again. Spaniard Jon Rahm (16/1) has rocketed up the rankings in the past 12 months and he could go close while the consistency of Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama (18/1) will also stand him in good stead.
Outside of this group, look for the likes of Henrik Stenson, Rickie Fowler and Justin Rose (all 22/1), Sergio Garcia (25/1) and new US Open Champion Brooks Koepka (28/1) to push hard.
In terms of outsiders who could go well, Thomas Pieters, the long-hitting Dane, is a very tempting 50/1, while you can get 75/1 at present on Tommy Fleetwood, a recent winner on the European Tour and who also shone at the recent US Open. Patrick Reed has the talent and temperament to win a major and he is a 50/1 shot, while Phil Mickelson (40/1) will be hoping to make an impact after missing the US Open in June due to his daughter’s graduation.
Our Tip: It’s tempting to go for Dustin Johnson, but we think if he can master the change in conditions then Rory McIlroy could end a disappointing year on a high note. It’s a tournament he loves on a course he loves. He may never have a better chance to win this event for a third time. For a solid outside each way bet, take Paul Casey, a 66-1 shot, who is playing far better nowadays and has been close in two of the last three Majors.
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