Coachs Bet

With the final Major of the golf season almost upon us, Coachs Bet looks to go 3 for 4 on our Major picks this season. The Majors this season have provided us with unbelievable drama, from a historic victory at Augusta to a chance to set up history with a potential Grand Slam brewing up until the 18th hole of The Open. If you aren’t already excited about the 2015 PGA Championship let us take a quick trip down memory lane. Flashback to 5 years ago, the last time Whistling Straights hosted the PGA Championship, remember that Dustin Johnson looked poised to win his first Major in his young promising career until he grounded his club in one of over 1,000 bunkers the course had to offer. If that wasn’t enough of a story, that costly mental error sparked an exciting 3 hole playoff between Bubba Watson and eventual champion Martin Kaymer. In addition, the previous time hosting the PGA Championship back in 2004 Vijay Singh also won in a playoff over Chris DiMarco and Justin Leonard.

Just thinking about another playoff to finish off the final week of the PGA Tour regular season is enough to get us planning around the TV broadcast schedule. The Straights Course is the flagship 18 holes at the Whistling Straights complex when tipped out this behemoth of a course can play almost 7,800 yards. Running along 3-miles of Lake Michigan, this will be the third links-style course to host a Major this season. The 2015 PGA Championship will be contested on vast rolling greens, protected by deep pot bunkers, grass-topped dunes, and unpredictable wind conditions.

2015 PGA Championship Strategy

If the other Majors have taught the Coach anything this season, it’s that the players who know how to win when the pressure is the highest rise to the top on golf’s biggest stages. It doesn’t matter if they bomb it like Dustin Johnson or Jason Day, rely on their wedges like Open champion Zach Johnson or if they ride a well-rounded game and lights out putter like Jordan Speith. Add in the fact that this is the third major being played on a links style course this season, and there may be no better indication of who will be in contention than play from the majors earlier this season. The 2015 PGA Championship is shaping up to be a true test of golf, having the past two hosted at Whistling Straights finishing at -8 (2004), -11(2010); however this course can surrender red numbers, it has a course record of 64 set back at the 2010 PGA Championship.

2015 PGA Championship Picks

Jason Day (+1400):  Day showed what he is made of with his bounce back win at The RBC Canadian Open, after his disappointment at The Open. He finished T10 back in 2010 in his first ever PGA Championship, and other than an underwhelming Sunday at The Us Open he has been solid in every Major for the last 2 seasons.

Jordan Spieth (+550): I don’t think this pick needs justification, he won The Masters, and The US Open.Spieth is No.1 in the all-around ranking on the PGA Tour and is basically automatic from 15 feet when putting; assuming he doesn’t get held back by 3 putts on these large greens, this really is his tournament to lose in Coach’s mind.

For the next four predictions check out: http://www.coachsbet.com/2015-pga-championship/