It's hard to look past some of the obvious names to win the PGA Championship this week at Bethpage. Since Keegan Bradley won in 2011 when he was ranked 108th in the world, each of the past seven winners has been ranked in the top 50, six of the seven were ranked in the top 21 and four of the seven were ranked in the top five in the world. If you take it back over the past 15 events, nine of the 15 winners were in the top five and 12 were in the top 21. So despite the instinct to look deep for a winner, evidence suggests focusing on players in the top 20 is the way to go.
Also consider that seven of the past 10 PGA winners were first-time major winners and the average age of the past nine winners is 28 years old.
I'll also give an extra bump to players who have shown they can play well on the Poa surfaces that Bethpage possesses.
I'd expect a winning score somewhere around the teens, as the weather in the Northeast has likely left the course "gettable."
With that in mind, here are four players I'm focusing on this week.
Betting odds courtesy of Caesars.