Beginner’s Betting Guide for the PGA Championship: How to Bet Scottie Scheffler, Bryson DeChambeau, and More

The PGA Championship serves as the second men's major golf tournament of the year. The Masters is the first major, which Rory McIlroy won in April. The U.S. Open and the British Open serve as the third and fourth majors. The former takes place in June, and the latter is scheduled for July.

If you're new to betting on golf, or if you just need a refresher, you're in the right spot. In this article, I'm going to break down all the different types of wagers you can place, as well as a bet I like for each.

You can place any of these bets at the best betting sites across the country.

How to Bet on the PGA Championship

Outright bets

Outright bets are the most straightforward types of wager. It's simply a bet on who you think is going to win the tournament. Will Scottie Scheffler win his second straight PGA Championship? Will Rory McIlroy go 2-0 in majors in 2026?

In my full betting preview, I gave out Scottie Scheffler as my top pick to win:

Betting on a golfer to win a tournament at +525 odds used to seem like borderline malpractice just a few short years ago, but those are actually great odds for Scottie Scheffler compared to where he's typically set. Sure, he has won just once this season, but he has seemingly fixed the ball-striking issue that plagued him for a three-tournament stretch in the spring, and now he's posted three-straight runner-up finishes.

We know little about how Aronimink will play this week, but if it's as tough a challenge as people are claiming it is, then no other golfer is as well-suited to win as the best golfer on the planet.

Having Scheffler at +525 will also present some intriguing hedging options if he's in the mix on Sunday, and based on how he's played recently, I'd be shocked if he's not.

Longshot bets

If you want a chance at a bigger payout, or if you want to bet on a name that's not as popular for DFS or Masters pools purposes, then longshot bets are for you. I gave out a few in my dark horse article, with one of them being Rickie Fowler at 66-1 to win. If you want to bet on a golfer like Fowler, but you don't want to bet on him to win, you can instead bet on them to finish in the top 5, top 10, top 20, or to just make the cut. Remember, those bets won't have as big a payout, but they are much more likely to win.

Rickie Fowler is still seeking his first career major at 37 years old. He has finished in the top 10 at a major on 13 different occasions, including three separate runner-up finishes. His latest top five came at the 2023 U.S. Open.

With that being said, I think now is the time he finally gets the job done. He's coming into this week in peak form, posting three-straight top 10 finishes at signature events. He's also fifth in the field in total strokes gained over the past 30 days.

He also has experience at Aronimink, finishing T8 when the BMW Championship was hosted here in 2018.

First round leader

If you want to stay extra locked in to Thursday's opening round, or if you don't feel like waiting all four rounds to see if your bet wins, you can bet on which golfer will be leading after Round 1. I'm on two names to be the first round leader, including Alex Smalley at 125-1:

Alex Smalley enters this week tied for sixth on the PGA Tour in Round 1 scoring average at 69.00. He’s also 13th in the field in true strokes gained in the opening round of tournaments over the past six months. He hasn't finished outside the top 21 in his last five starts, including an impressive T7 finish at the Cadillac Championship, where he gained +1.73 strokes on the field with his approach play.

He doesn't have a length major championship history, but he did finish T23 at the 2023 PGA Championship and T28 at last year's edition of the event. That's enough for me to bet him at 125-1 to lead the field after Thursday.

Matchup bets

Most golf bets, especially full tournament bets, have long odds, which means you can win a nice chunk of change if they cash, but they'll lose more often than not. If you want a bet that has a much better chance of cashing, consider taking a look at the matchup bet market.

These bets are simply wagers on one golfer to finish further up the leaderboard than the one they're matched up against. Different sportsbooks will post different matchups, so be sure to shop around.

There's one being offered at DraftKings that I'm on for this week: Si Woo Kim at -104 against Patrick Cantlay.

I'm shocked to hear that people are back on Patrick Cantlay this week, despite being a complete non-factor at majors throughout his career. Meanwhile, Si Woo Kim is a perfect course fit for Aronimink, and he's in the midst of one of the best statistical seasons of his career. I love that he's set as the underdog in this matchup.

Make the Cut/Miss the Cut bets

Every major tournament, there are a few surprises when it comes to which golfers make the cut and which golfers are sent home before the weekend. In my cut article, I wrote about why I'm betting on Bryson DeChambeau to miss the second at a major for the second time this season.

I'm done with Bryson DeChambeau. His iron play has been bad for the past year, and he seems to struggle the most when playing at courses that present him with uneven lies, which is one of Aronimink's biggest defenses. He missed the cut at the Masters last month, and I haven't seen anything since then to convince me that he's going to contend this week.

Prop bets

Some bets don't fall under any of the aforementioned categories, including bets that aren't on a specific golfer but are on the tournament as a whole. Those types of bets that are put under the "props" category. In my props bet article, I broke down why the winning score being UNDER 267.5 (-13 or better) is one of my best props for this week:

There is plenty of talk this week about how difficult Aronimink will play, but whenever I hear that about a major venue we haven’t seen for a while, I feel like it fails to live up to expectations more often than not. Keegan Bradley won here at 20-under-par at the 2018 BMW Championship, and while the setup this week will obviously be more difficult, I fully expect the winning score to be -13 or lower, which is what we need to cash this bet.

Hole in one bets

Finally, there's one of the most popular golf bets you can place for a major: whether or not a hole in one will be recorded. I broke down the full history of holes in one at the PGA Championship, as well as why I'm betting on one not to happen this year:

I'm surprised that the odds of a hole in one are set at +100. I would have expected the odds to be much longer, considering Aronimink is known for its long and difficult Par 3s. Only one par 3 is shorter than 200 yards. The 171-yard fifth hole is the shortest hole on the course, but its challenging green will make for a challenging ace.

There has been at least one hole in one in three straight PGA Championships, but I think that streak ends this year. The "No", listed at -125, is one of my favorite bets of the week.

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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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You can check out all of Iain's bets here!

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