US PGA betting guide

Check out Dave Tindall's preview and best bets for the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill in New York.

Check out Dave Tindall's preview and best bets for the US PGA Championship at Oak Hill in New York

The final three majors of the year seem to flash by and, all of a sudden, it's the last of them - the US PGA at Oak Hill. Referred to as anything from "Glory's Last Shot" to the more disparaging "Ringo of the four majors", the bottom line is that this is still one of the four biggest prizes in the men's game and everyone is desperate to get their hands on the comically oversized Wanamaker trophy. Oak Hill - situated in Rochester, New York - has staged plenty of huge events in the past, including the 1995 Ryder Cup which saw Europe score only their second victory on U.S. soil. Of the five majors played there have, two have been won by greats - Lee Trevino (1968 US Open) and Jack Nicklaus (1980 USPGA) - while two others were won by players who were already major winners. Curtis Strange landed the second of his back-to-back US Opens at Oak Hill while Cary Middlecoff was already a Masters and US Open champion before winning the latter again in 1956. The odd man out, in lots of ways, is Shaun Micheel. Micheel, ranked 169th in the world at the time, did it in style when he won the US PGA here in 2003, closing out victory with a tap-in birdie after putting his 175-yard approach to inches of the hole. It remains his only ever victory on the PGA Tour. Micheel's victory is also the only one to buck a very strong trend. Thirteen of the last 14 US PGA winners had already posted a victory on the European or PGA tour earlier that season so this tournament is dominated by players boosted by a recent success. Given its 93% strike-rate, that system will be the bedrock of our staking plan - more of which later. Here's the leading contenders and also whether they have a win to their name this season and Sky Bet's odds. Tiger Woods (9/2 - Price Boost): Tiger's odds crashed when, thanks to a stunning second round 61, he ran away with the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by seven shots on Sunday. Many now see nothing else than a Tiger win here but it's dangerous to make that presumption. Tiger, as he proved at Firestone, is now an absolute master at winning at venues where he's won numerous times before but, outside of that comfort zone, his powers are much reduced. Indeed only twice in the last five years has he won at a course where he hadn't previously tasted success at least three times. Add in the extra pressure of trying to win a major for the first time since 2008 - which seems to manifest itself in flat performances on major Sundays - and there are doubts over Tiger at a venue where he only managed 39th in 2003.
Won this season? YES (five times!) Phil Mickelson (17/1 - Price Boost): Mickelson was absolutely fantastic when storming through to win the Open Championship at Muirfield and that made it two wins on the trot after his victory in the previous Sunday's Scottish Open. But after that incredible high and its hectic aftermath, it's fair to expect a bit of a