A look at the most backed players the day before the 2023 PGA Championship.
It's always interesting to see who the general punting public have been backing and with less than 24 hours until the 2023 PGA Championship we now have an excellent picture of where the money has gone thanks to Betstation Betway Review.
Make sure to also check out my five best each way tips in the link below.
1. Xander Schauffele now 16/1
Coming in in serious form off three top-4 finishes at Wells Fargo, Zurich Classic and RBC Heritage. Shows up at Majors with 10 top-10's in the last six years. Well due a win.
2. Tony Finau now 22/1
From 25/1. Heavily backed after winning for the fourth time in 12 months in Mexico. Has the skillset but does he have the balls to bag a Major? The punters say yes.
3. Rory McIlroy now 16/1
Huge odd for a player that on his day is THE best in the World. But the pressure of carrying the PGA Tour, the weight of expectation to bridge the Major gap was weighing mentally. Rested and now ready again, don't count Rory out at Oak Hill.
4. Patrick Cantlay 20/1
Always gets backed leading into a Major but has yet to deliver. A slew of solid Tour finishes dating back to February underline his ability.
5. Tyrrell Hatton 40/1
Comes off two great results at the Wells Fargo and Byron Nelson and to date has had on of the most consistent years of his career. No top-10 at the PGA for five years but the stats say he's straight as a dye and a thumbs up for Oak Hill.
Extra Tournament information
This is the 104th edition of this event, one of golf’s four major championships. It’s the third oldest behind the British Open and U.S. Open. The plans for the PGA Championship were created on January 16, 1916, at a meeting of a group of PGA Tour professionals, including Walter Hagen. Their vision was to create a national championship that would rival the U.S. Open in terms of importance. Their dream became a reality just months later as the first PGA Championship Match Play event was played at Siwanoy Country Club in Bronxville, NY, that year. Englishman Jim Barnes took home the inaugural crown.
After the inaugural tournament, the event took a two-year break from 1917 to 1918 because of World War I. The break-in action didn’t phase Jim Barnes, as he went on to win the PGA Championship in its return to the Tour in 1919. Since the two-year hiatus, The PGA Championship has only seen one other break in 1943 due to World War II. The most significant change in the event’s history occurred in 1958 when the format changed from Match Play to 72-hole stroke play.
The famed Wanamaker trophy, awarded to the winner of the PGA Championship, can trace its routes back to the beginning of golf equipment. In the early 20th Century, A.G. Spalding & Bros. was the predominant maker of golf equipment; however, Rodman Wanamaker sought to create a company that would rival Spalding in the golf industry. Though his plan ultimately failed, his dream will always be remembered as he was the one that first sponsored the PGA Championship and the trophy which today bears his name.
Course information
Oak Hills C.C. (East Course)
Rochester, New York
7,394 yards Par 35-35–70
In the middle 1920s, Donald Ross was hired to build two golf courses on 350 barren, treeless acres. He built two wonderful courses with the east course being very special. What makes it so special is all of the events it has held. The very first one was the 1941 Rochester Times Union won by Sam Snead and then in 1942 with Ben Hogan. Since then Oak Hill is the only club to have played host to the U.S. Open, PGA Championship, Ryder Cup, U.S. Amateur, Senior U.S. Open and Senior PGA Championship.
Major Championships held at Oak Hill
1949 U.S. Amateur won by Charles Coe
1956 U.S. Open won by Cary Middlecoff
1968 U.S. Open won by Lee Trevino
1980 PGA Championship won by Jack Nicklaus
1984 Senior Open won by Miller Barber
1989 U.S. Open won by Curtis Strange
1995 Ryder Cup won by Europe
1998 U.S. Amateur won by Hank Kuehne
2003 PGA Championship won by Shaun Micheel
2008 Senior PGA Championship won by Jay Haas
2013 PGA Championship won by Jason Dufner
2019 Senior PGA Championship won by Ken Tanigawa
Below in our key fantasy stats we have more on Oak Hill.
Vital Oak Hill Stats
The PGA Championship returns to Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, 10 years after Jason Dufner won by two shots over Jim Furyk. Oak Hill Country Club is hosting the PGA Championship for the fourth time, having previously done so in 1980, 2003, and 2013. Only Southern Hills, the site of last year’s PGA Championship, has hosted this championship as often (five times). Oak Hill CC has also hosted three U.S. Open Championships (1956, 1968, 1989). Only three other clubs have hosted at least three PGA Championships and three U.S. Opens: Oakmont (3 PGA, 9 US), Oakland Hills (3 PGA, 6 US), and Southern Hills (5 PGA, 3 US). Jack Nicklaus won the 1980 PGA Championship at Oak Hill CC, while Lee Trevino won the U.S. Open in 1968. The only other club at which Nicklaus and Trevino won major championships is Muirfield, at which Nicklaus and Trevino won British Opens in 1966 and 1972.
Talking about returning to Oak Hill, 33 in the field this week also played in 2013. The prominent players are Adam Scott (T-5th), Dustin Johnson (T-8th), Jason Day (T-8th), Rory McIlroy (T-8th), Keegan Bradley (T-19th), Rickie Fowler (T-19th), Hideki Matsuyama (T-19th), Matt Kuchar (T-22nd), Webb Simpson (T25th), Justin Rose (T-33rd), Shane Lowry (T57th), Brooks Koepka (T-70th), Phil Mickelson (T-72nd), and Gary Woodland (74th). Other prominent players who played but missed the cut include Jordan Spieth, Billy Horschel, Luke Donald, and Russell Henley. Going even further, seven players in this year’s field played at Oak Hill in 2003: Shaun Micheel (Won), Luke Donald (T-23rd), Adam Scott (T-23rd), Phil Mickelson (T-23rd), Padraig Harrington (T-29th), Paul Casey (66th), and Justin Rose (missed cut).
In the middle 1920s, Donald Ross was hired to build two golf courses on 350 barren, treeless acres. While creating the courses, Ross inspired a local lad, Robert Trent Jones, to become an architect. At 18 years old, Jones was the leading golfer in the Rochester area. His dream was to be the best golfer in the world, and it was shattered when a doctor told him he had developed an ulcer and had to give up competitive golf. Not knowing what to do with his life, he thought it would be nice to design golf courses. At about this time, he heard of the two courses under construction at Oak Hill and decided to see what was happening. After convincing him that Jones is serious, Jones meets Ross and shows him the course. Ross took the time to explain what he was doing, and with this meeting, Jones decided to make it his life’s work.
He returned to Rochester in the 1950s and extensively changed every hole except the 14th hole. Jones also extended the length of the course by almost 400 hundred yards and reduced the par from 72 to 70.
In 1975 the club brought in George and Tom Fazio for further alterations. They revised several holes, most notably the fifth and sixth holes.
Over the years, the one thing that Oak Hill is famous for is its trees. When Ross built the course, the land was treeless. Member Dr. John Williams was a botanist and made it his personal project to cover the property with trees. In his backyard, Williams planted seeds and raised them to saplings. He then transplanted them to the course. People began sending him seeds and acorns worldwide as the project became better known. Williams even got one from a tree planted by George Washington at Mount Vernon. With his hard work, Williams transplanted the barren landscape into a forest with over 80,000 trees on the Oak Hill property. When the PGA was played in 2013, over 34,000 trees were on the East Course of Oak Hill.
But in 2015, things changed. In its first 90 years, the Donald Ross course evolved from the original ways that Ross built the course in 1934. With the growth of trees and the changes made by other architects, the course differed from the course that Donald Ross built. The membership wanted to resurrect the way Ross first created the course and hired an unknown architect, Andrew Green. He went through the archives, looked through photos, and understood what the course was like in the 20s. Starting in 2019, many of the 34,000 trees were removed, mostly around tees and greens, to get better sun, eliminate the claustrophobic conditions, and make for better crowd movement. Now this sounds sinister when you think of all the beautiful oaks, elms, and maples on the property. But Oak Hill followed the lead of two famous courses, Oakmont in Pittsburg and Winged Foot outside New York. These two are some of the most treasured courses in the world, and their tree elimination made the course much better.
Another thing that Green did was to change holes 5, 6, and 15 and revert them to the original Donald Ross design. Green also redid all 18 greens and reverted them to how Donald Ross originally built them. The restoration also included reshaping the bunkers and adding chipping areas around the greens. All of the greens, a combination of bentgrass/Poa Annua, reverted to pure bentgrass. Green also restored the shapes and contours of the greens, reverting them to how they were when the course opened close to 90 years ago. Green was also able to add 231 yards from what the course played in the 2013 PGA Championship. The course has two par 5s, the 4th at 615 yards and the 13th at 623 yards. Both won’t be considered “lay-up” holes as birdies will be well-earned. Of the 12 par 4s, four of them are over 480 yards (6th, 9th, 17th & 18th) and just two holes (12th & 14th) are under 400 yards. The 14th is a drivable par-4, and PGA officials will allow players a chance to drive the hole. The hole is steeply uphill, with bunkers fronting the green and a newly designed short grass roll-off. The green is two-tier, and it will be challenging to hold the ball onto the top tier.
Driving will be challenging, and media members on the course on Monday report that the rough is very thick and will make driving difficult. Some are comparing the course to the way Bethpage Black was played in the 2019 PGA Championship won by Brooks Koepka. Eliminating so many of the trees in the fairway will mean that many shots into the greens will have to be gouged out of the thick fescue/Kentucky bluegrass, rye mix.
So the first thing to consider is how different Oak Hill is compared to when the PGA was played in 2013. Back then, the course played to a 72.00 scoring average. The 2003 PGA Championship played even harder to a 74.55 average, but we have to remember that 25 club pros were in the field in 2003 and 20 in 2013. Still, an average of close to par would be acceptable for the week.
So we will take an educated guess on which stats will be needed to succeed at Oak Hills this week. The things to watch for, accuracy will be the key to winning this week, not only in driving accuracy but precious iron play into the greens. This course will demand a great shotmaker, and when you miss a green, you will have to show the skill of handling both sand play and pitch shots from chipping areas around the green. If that isn’t enough, a poor putter won’t cut it on this course. The greens have a lot of undulations and mounds, and since the greens are small at 4,500 square feet, there won’t be any long, lag-putting. The greens will be fast and take a lot of nerves to make most of those nasty five and six-footers.
So this is based on the most important stats for Oak Hills, based on what I feel is essential, and using data from all the players in this week’s field with stats from 2023. Of course, weather plays a factor in scoring, and the course did have a good amount of rain in April, but it’s been dry in May. Since it’s being played in mid-May, it will be cold in Rochester. On Tuesday, high winds with gusts up to 30-35 mph will help dry out the course. Rain is expected to come in Friday evening, with showers likely over the weekend. On some good news, it will only get into the mid-50s on Wednesday and won’t get much above 70 during the week.
Since it’s essential to not only keep it in the fairway but also drive it far, I use a stat that is a bit old and not used much, but I feel crucial Total Driving which adds up the rank of Driving Distance and Driving Accuracy to come up with a total rank. This will determine which players will hit it long and straight, two necessary items for the week. In 2013 Jason Dufner won the PGA Championship, and he did it with his ball-striking skills from tee to green. He was the 25th longest driver of the week and was T-18th in Driving Accuracy.
Our second category is Greens in Regulation, the number of greens hit from the fairway. To score and score well on this course, hitting greens is critical. Dunfer showed that as a key in his victory as he hit 54 of the 72 greens and was 3rd in that stat for the week.
Our third category is Strokes Gained Around the Green. This combines all skills in getting it up and down from the short grass and the bunkers around the greens, which have close to 38 of them around them. Those stats weren’t available in 2013, but Dufner was 12th in scrambling and T-73rd in Sand Save Percentage.
Our last category is stroked Gained Putting. This is an excellent way of determining how a player does overall on the greens, and since putting is vital to winning at Oak Hill.
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