PGA Championship 2022: Opening Odds & 4 First-Click Picks, Including Patrick Cantlay

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The golf calendar is about to heat up.

We've reached the second major of 2022 with the PGA Championship at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. The course will present a massive test as a par-70 at more than 7,600 yards.

The last major here was the 2007 PGA Championship, which was won by Tiger Woods. Golf's GOAT isn't among our first-click picks, but four top players on TOUR are.

Odds reset at sportsbooks on Monday morning for major championships, which means there is value to be found on the odds board on Sunday night.

Here are the players our GolfBet staff are on right away.

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2022 PGA Championship Picks

Billy Horschel +10000 (BetMGM)

Jason Sobel: It’s important to read the fine print, but just in case you missed it at the top, I’ll reiterate: This post is our favorite “first clicks” not “best bets” — and yes, I see a difference between the two. Whereas my best bet will either be the player I eventually wind up picking as my favorite outright or one with equity for a top-10/20 finish, I see this exercise as jumping on an intriguing name at a bigger price just off of first glance.

One that stuck out to me is Horschel, who’s on a really strong run with five results of 16th or better in his last eight starts. I love what the stats are telling us, too. He ranks inside the top-30 in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, Around the Greens and Putting; the only major category where he’s losing strokes is with his approach shots. That might seem a bit troubling, considering Southern Hills should be a second-shot golf course, but the iron game has long been Billy’s strength, which keeps me from being too worried about the number.

Besides, at these odds, you’re not going to find an infallible candidate. I’m using this as a point-and-click method before all the studying and research. When I do finally rank the field this week, I don’t suspect that I’ll have Horschel atop my ranking, but I do think he’ll be high enough on there to make this 100-1 price look pretty enticing for a first click entering the week.

Hideki Matsuyama +5500 (Wynn)

Chris Murphy: As I watched Matsuyama make a Sunday run at the AT&T Byron Nelson, I started looking around for his odds going into the PGA. I was shocked to see him down in the +4000 range as he has arguably been right there with Scottie Scheffler and Cameron Smith as one of the best players on TOUR this season.

The thing that derailed Matsuyama the most was not his play, but rather a nagging neck injury that left him out of The Players and without form going into the Masters. It seems clear those issues are behind him and with the quality of play he displayed this past week at TPC Craig Ranch, these odds present great value on the 2021 Masters Champion.

He should also line up as a great fit for the course at Southern Hills. Matsuyama’s prowess as an elite ball striker, especially on approach, will set him up to be a contender for his second major this week. I’ll look to get in now as I think his number will be impacted by the final results in Texas and he may get shorter when odds settle in during tournament week.

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Patrick Cantlay +2200 (BetMGM)

Matt Vincenzi: Cantlay is probably the best player on TOUR without a major, and there’s a real chance that changes after this week.

The 30-year-old is arriving at Southern Hills in incredible form. We last saw Cantlay when he won the Zurich Classic alongside Xander Schauffele. He certainly was the catalyst in that victory, and often carried Schauffele at times over the weekend.

In his last stroke-play start at the RBC Heritage, he was excellent once again before losing to Jordan Spieth in a playoff. He gained 8.7 strokes on approach that week, which led the field.

Southern Hills features Bentgrass greens which should suit Cantlay beautifully. Bentgrass is his preferred putting surface by a wide margin. Five of Cantlay’s six solo PGA TOUR wins were on Bentgrass greens, with the only exception being the 2021 TOUR Championship, in which he started with the lead and didn’t shoot the lowest score for the week. On courses with Bentgrass greens, Cantlay ranks first in the field in Strokes Gained: Total, 2nd in Strokes Gained: Around the Green and second in Strokes Gained: Putting.

Tulsa is known for getting extremely windy and I anticipate wind to be a major factor at the PGA Championship. In his past 24 rounds, the ranks second in the field in Strokes Gained: Total in windy conditions. He also ranks 11th in the field in Strokes Gained: Total on difficult par 70s.

Since the start of the 2021 season, Cantlay has been one of the top players in professional golf. It’s time for the reigning FedEx Cup champion to add a major championship to his resume.

Max Homa +10000 (WynnBet)

Joshua Perry: The number has come down on Homa since he won the Wells Fargo Championship, before which he was hovering near triple digits — it still is at Wynn, so strike while it's available — but this should be a good spot for him.

Homa is been one of the more consistent players on TOUR, ranking inside the top 30 on tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, Approach and Putting this season. He’s started to rack up wins at an impressive rate, with three in the past 15 months.

Homa has shown the ability to handle tough courses by coming out on top at Quail Hollow and Riviera. The concern would be his major record, which hasn’t been good, but he made a cut this year at Augusta for the first time and he was also 13th at the PLAYERS. So the results have been improving against the elite fields.

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