Sports Blog 26/07/2016: Golf Preview – PGA Championship 2016, Thursday 28th to Sunday 31st July 2016

Can the PGA Championship complete a quartet of relatively surprising major tournament victors later this week?

Despite a rather disappointing season so far, Rory McIlroy heads to the Baltusrol Golf Club top of Spreadex’s Leaderboard Index (where the winner gets 80 points, 2nd place 40, 3rd 30, 4th 25, 5th 20, 6th 15, 7th 10 and 8th 5) with a spread of 15-18. He also has the best fixed odds price of 7/1 even though he hasn’t come close to winning a major tournament this year, finishing tied for 10th at the Masters, cut from the US Open and tied for 5th at the Open Championship.



Just behind McIlroy is Dustin Johnson, who arguably deserves his place near the top of the Leaderboard Index (at a spread of 14-17, with fixed odds of 15/2) far more than his Northern Irish rival. Johnson won his first ever major back at the US Open in June, and has finished in the top 10 of both the Masters and the Open Championship.

Winner of the PGA Championship in 2015 (his first major title) Jason Day is chasing McIlroy and Johnson with a Leaderboard Index spread of 13-16, with a fixed odds price of 9/1. The Australian hasn’t quite matched last year’s form, with his Open Championship performance especially disappointing, finishing tied for 22nd place having come joint 10th and 8th in the Masters and US Open respectively.

Beyond the series of first time winners the biggest shock of the majors in 2016 has been the unravelling of Jordan Spieth. A 2nd place finish at the Masters suggested that Spieth’s formidable 2015 form was set to continues; however, the American crashed out of the US Open and Open Championship in 37th and 30th respectively, and has been a shadow of the golfer in was last year. Nevertheless his previous pedigree means he can’t be discounted, with Spreadex offering a Leaderboard Index spread of 8-11 with a fixed odds price of 14/1.

Rounding out the top 5, and the player with momentum on his side, is Henrik Stenson, who heads to the Championship with a Leaderboard Index spread of 8-11 alongside fixed odds of 14/1. Stenson, who up until this month was having a pretty poor 2016 off the back of an equally dismal 2015, took his first major in Scotland earlier in July, and will be looking to capitalise on his current upswing in form this week.

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