How It Works 4 – A Beginners Guide To The USPGA Championship

Alongside The Masters, the US Open and the British Open (or sometimes, just The Open Championship), the USPGA Championship is the second-youngest of golf’s four Major tournaments and it is also the one that has moved around the most in the calendar.

While The Masters has tended to stick with its April date, the US Open it’s June date and the British Open it’s late July period in the calendar, the USPGA Championship has been played at several points of the calendar in the past.

However, in the most recent reshuffle, the tournament was moved from the end of August, just a few weeks after The Open, to it’s new position in May meaning that there is one golf Major every month from April through to July each year.

Being the second-youngest of the four Majors, it is also the one that many people know the least about, so hopefully we can put that right with our look at the tournament, together with our tips for this year’s tournament.

As always, any odds shown in this article will have been taken from bet365 Sport, which offers outstanding golf betting and includes features such as the  Live Golf Tracker for many tour events, as well as outstanding In Play betting during each round.

So let’s begin our look at the USPGA Championship, starting with its foundation and its history.

What Is The History Of The USPGA Championship?

1916-1958 – The Matchplay Format

First contested in 1916, the USPGA Championship is the third youngest Major after The Open and the US Open and it was first contested at Siwanoy Country Club in New York.

For the first 41 years of its existence, the tournament was a Matchplay event but in 1958, that was changed to a strokeplay event, which has remained the case since.

In those early strokeplay tournaments winners included greats of the game such as Ben Hogan (1 win), Byron Nelson (2 wins), Sam Snead & Gene Sarazen (3 wins each) while Walter Hagen won the event five times in the space of seven years from 1921 to 1927.

1958 – Present Day – Strokeplay

The change to strokeplay saw a greater diversity of players win these early strokeplay tournaments, amongst them being Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Al Geiberger, Ray Floyd, Lee Trevino and Dave Stockton.

Jack Nicklaus won the event five times to tie Walter Hagen’s matchplay-based record, but perhaos more than any other major, the USPGA has produced a number of surprise winners over the years.

The likes of Bob Tway, Jeff Sluman, Wayne Grady, Mark Brooks, Rich Beem, Shaun Micheel, Yang Yong-eul and Jimmy Walker have been some of the more recent surprise winners in amongst the usual suspects.

The tournament has been moved around a great deal in the golfing calendar over the years, but now has been scheduled for May, ensuring that we have one Major per month from April through to July.

How Do Players Qualify For The USPGA Championship?

Players can qualify for the USPGA Championship in the following ways:

• By being a previous winner of the tournament
• Being a winner of The Masters, the US Open or the British Open in the previous four years.
• Being a winner of The Players Championship in the past three years.
• The top three players from the Official World Golf Rankings International Federation Rankings list (as of a stated date)
• The current senior PGA Champion
• The top 15 and ties from the previous year’s USPGA Championship
• The top 20 players from the current year’s PGA Professional Championship
• The top 70 eligible players from the PGA Tour from the AT&T Byron Nelson Classic the previous year to the current season’s Wells Fargo Championship.
• Any member of the previous Ryder Cup teams who is ranked in the top 100 of the official world golf rankings.
• Winners of any PGA Tour tournament from the previous year’s USPGA Championship.
• Players invited to the tournament by the PGA of America.
• Additional players are then added by virtue of the PHA Championship points earned in the current year.
• After this unqualified alternates can gain entry into the event if a qualifying player pulls out of the event.

Where Is The USPGA Championship Held?

The USPGA Championship is like the US Open and British Open in that it is played on a different course, often in a different part of the United States each year.

Unlike the British Open, there is no official rota for venues to be selected from for the tournament, which means that it can be moved to new venues from time to time, or played at some of the top courses across the United States.

Venues that have held the USPGA Championship includes:

• Southern Hills (5 times)
• Oak Hill, Oakmont, Atlanta Athletic Club, Valhalla, Oakland Hills, Firestone, Whistling Straits (all 3 times)
• Baltusrol, Kiawah Island, Shoal Creek, Medinah, Olympia Fields, Inverness, Hazeltine, Keller, Bellerive, Cherry Hills, Riviera (all 2 times)

The venues for the next few USPGA Championships have already been decided and include Oak Hill (2023), Valhalla (2024), Quali Hollow (2025), Aronimik (2026), PGA Frisco (2027 and 2034), Olympic Club (2028), Baltusrol (2029) and Congressional (2030).

What Are The Most Popular USPGA Championship Betting Markets?

A quick look at Bet365 Sport shows that the company has a wide range of betting markets available on golf and in particular the four Majors.

Of course, betting on golfers to win the USPGA is a very popular bet, but there is also good value betting in the each way markets here, with bet365 often paying out up to eight places in the tournament (though it is worth checking if this is the case before you bet each year).

Other popular bets include betting on a player who will lead after the first, second and third round of the tournament, whether a player will make, or miss, the cut.

Bet365 will also offer a number of Bet Boost offers for certain golfers and markets for the tournament and these are always well worth a closer look.

Which Golfers Should We Be Looking Out For In The 2023 USPGA Championship?

So who are we going to be looking at to win the 2023 USPGA Championship? Check out our review of the key data below.

2023 USPGA Championship Data

• Venue – East Course at Oak Hill Country Club, NY
• Date – 18^th to 21^st May 2023
• Likely Weather Conditions – Dry slight risk of rain on Friday, temperatures between 12c and 17c across the four days. Winds increasing to gusts of around 20mph on Sat/Sun.
• Defending Champion – Justin Thomas (US)
• Player Entrants – 156 before cut (around 78 after Friday’s cut depending on scores)

Current Bet365 Sport Betting Odds To Win The Tournament

The current odds from bet365 for players to win the tournament rated at odds of 33/1 or shorter are shown below:

• 15/2 – Scottie Scheffler (US), Jon Rahm (Spa)
• 12/1 – Rory McIlroy (N.Ire)
• 16/1 – Xander Schauffele (US)
• 18/1 – Patrick Cantlay (US)
• 20/1 – Tony Finau (US), Brooks Koepka (US)
• 25/1 – Dustin Johnson (US), Justin Thomas (US), Jason Day (Aus)
• 28/1 – Cameron Young (US), Viktor Hovland (Nor)
• 30/1 – Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)
• 33/1 – Collin Morikawa (US), Cameron Smith (Aus), Sungjae Im (S.Kor)

*odds were correct at time of writing with bet365 Sport but may have changed over time.

Who Are Our Tips To Back For The 2023 USPGA Championship This Year?

I always prefer each way bets on golf as they offer a much better chance of a return, often paying out on the top 8 places at 1/5 of the stated odds, but I have also picked one golfer to back in the outright winner market too.

• Each Way Bets – Jordan Spieth (45/1), Justin Rose (90/1), Cameron Smith (33/1)
• Back To Win – Rory McIlroy (12/1)