Only one of the last 12 editions of the PGA Championship has gone into a playoff, but that hasn't taken away from the dramatics of the 18th hole on Sunday. Brooks Koepka won last year's PGA Championship after withstanding a Sunday comeback effort from Scottie Scheffler, who shot a 5-under-par in the final round. Justin Thomas defeated Will Zalatoris in a playoff in 2022 and Phil Mickelson won the 2021 PGA Championship despite shooting a 1-over-par in his final round. Each of these three previous winners will be in another stacked 2024 PGA Championship field with the second major of the year teeing off on Thursday from Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville.
Scheffler is the 3-1 favorite in the 2024 PGA Championship odds, followed by Rory McIlroy (6-1) and Koepka (10-1). The 24-year-old Ludvig Aberg finished second at the Masters in his first career major and at 12-1 odds to win the PGA Championship 2024, is he someone to use in 2024 PGA Championship betting strategy? Before locking in any 2024 PGA Championship picks, make sure you see the PGA Tour predictions and best bets from golf betting and fantasy expert Sia Nejad.
Nejad specializes in betting and DFS in golf, among other sports. He's had success in the outright and first-round leader markets and in betting head-to-head matchups. He also has been solid with his head-to-head matchups since last year's Charles Schwab Challenge, going 43-28-3 and returning 11.24 units over that span. That's a $1,124 profit for $100 bettors since May 2023.
Nejad also nailed Clark, a 75-1 longshot, as the outright winner at the Wells Fargo Championship. In 2023, SportsLine debuted "The Early Wedge," and in the first three months of the show, he hit two first-round leaders and three outright winners.
Now, Nejad has focused his attention on the 2024 PGA Championship field and has locked in his best bets, top sleepers and favorites to avoid. See who they are at SportsLine.
Top 2024 PGA Championship expert picks
One surprise: Nejad is completely fading Xander Schauffele, even though he's fourth in the 2024 PGA Championship odds. Schauffele is considered one of the best active golfers who has still not won a major title, with his best finishes being T2 at the 2018 Open Championship and T2 at the 2019 Masters. This has been one of his worst majors though, as he has never finished better than T10 in seven attempts.
Schauffele missed the cut in 2021, finished T13 in 2022 and T18 last year. He ranks outside the top 30 on the PGA Tour in driving distance, driving accuracy and proximity, which will put him at a disadvantage against some of the golfers in this field. Nejad knows Schauffele has the tools to contend, but his poor history at the end of majors makes him a golfer to avoid this week.
Instead, Nejad is high on the chances of Brooks Koepka, even though he's a double-digit longshot at 10-1. Koepka is coming off a victory in his latest tournament, winning in Singapore on May 5. Koepka, a three-time PGA Champion, is a five-time major winner and has six top-five finishes over his last nine PGA Championship events. The PGA Championship has been Koepka's most consistent major and despite finishing 45th at the Masters, Nejad sees Koepka as a strong option for 2024 PGA Championship bets.
Koepka finished 15th at the last PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club, but that was 10 years ago. The 2014 PGA Championship was only his fourth major as the young golfer was still adjusting to becoming a professional at that stage. He is looking to tie Tiger Woods for the second-most PGA Championship victories, which would place him one behind Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen (five) for the most all-time. Koepka has put together a strong tournament already this month and Nejad expects that to continue into the 2024 PGA Championship. See who else to back at SportsLine.
How to make 2024 PGA Championship picks
Nejad has locked in his early best bets for the 2024 PGA Championship and is backing a longshot who is priced at more than 30-1. Nejad likes this player's "skill set at the PGA Championship when the number is this long." You can see Nejad's PGA Tour picks only at SportsLine.
So, which players should you target or avoid for the 2024 PGA Championship, and which player in the PGA Championship field could bring a huge payday of more than 30-1? Check out the odds below, then visit SportsLine to see Sia Nejad's top picks for the 2024 PGA Championship, all from the expert who is 43-28 on head-to-head picks.
2024 PGA Championship odds, field
See Nejad's picks, best bets and predictions here
Scottie Scheffler +300
Rory McIlroy +600
Brooks Koepka +1000
Xander Schauffele +1200
Ludvig Aberg +1200
Jon Rahm +1400
Joaquin Niemann +2500
Collin Morikawa +2500
Bryson DeChambeau +2500
Wyndham Clark +2500
Patrick Cantlay +2800
Cameron Smith +3300
Max Homa +3300
Viktor Hovland +3500
Hideki Matsuyama +3500
Will Zalatoris +4000
Justin Thomas +4000
Tommy Fleetwood +4500
Dustin Johnson +4500
Cameron Young +5000
Jason Day +5000
Matt Fitzpatrick +5000
Tyrrell Hatton +5000
Jordan Spieth +5500
Tony Finau +5500
Patrick Reed +6000
Byeong Hun An +6000
Sam Burns +6000
Shane Lowry +6000
Tom Kim +6000
Sungjae Im +6500
Dean Burmester +6500
Sahith Theegala +6500
Abraham Ancer +7000
Min Woo Lee +7500
Brian Harman +7500
Talor Gooch +8000
Keegan Bradley +8500
Akshay Bhatia +8500
Russell Henley +8500
Adam Scott +8500
Sepp Straka +8500
Si Woo Kim +9000
Tiger Woods +12500
David Puig +12500
Corey Conners +12500
Rickie Fowler +12500
Stephan Jaeger +12500
Denny McCarthy +12500
Phil Mickelson +12500
Jake Knapp +12500
Chris Kirk +12500
Billy Horschel +12500
Sergio Garcia +12500
Taylor Pendrith +12500
Adrian Meronk +12500
Austin Eckroat +15000
Mackenzie Hughes +15000
Alex Noren +15000
Harris English +15000
Matthieu Pavon +15000
Ryan Fox +15000
Adrian Otaegui +15000
Justin Rose +17500
Adam Schenk +17500
Keith Mitchell +17500
Mito Pereira +17500
Kurt Kitayama +17500
Daniel Berger +17500
Christiaan Bezuidenhout +17500
Emiliano Grillo +17500
Lucas Herbert +17500
Tom Hoge +17500
Victor Perez +17500
Erik Van Rooyen +17500
Lucas Glover +17500
Nicolai Hojgaard +20000
Eric Cole +20000
Jordan Smith +20000
Thomas Pieters +20000
J.T. Poston +20000
Thomas Detry +22500
Ryan Van Velzen +22500
Cam Davis +22500
Thriston Lawrence +22500
Beau Hossler +22500
Aaron Rai +22500
Ben Griffin +22500
Nick Taylor +22500
Alex Smalley +22500
Brendon Todd +25000
Maverick McNealy +25000
Luke List +25000
Nick Dunlap +25000
Davis Riley +25000
Adam Hadwin +25000
Marc Leishman +25000
Seamus Power +25000
Ryo Hisatsune +27500
Matt Wallace +27500
Andrew Putnam +27500
Andy Ogletree +27500
Patrick Rodgers +30000
Doug Ghim +30000
Taylor Moore +30000
Sebastian Soderberg +30000
Adam Svensson +30000
Rasmus Hojgaard +30000
Robert MacIntyre +30000
Gary Woodland +30000
Lee Hodges +30000
Ben Kohles +30000
K.H. Lee +30000
Camillo Villegas +35000
Alejandro Tosti +35000
Taylor Montgomery +35000
Vincent Norrman +35000
Jesper Svensson +35000
Tim Widing +35000
Charley Hoffman +40000
Mark Hubbard +40000
Keita Nakajima +40000
Zac Blair +50000
Francisco Molinari +50000
Joel Dahmen +50000
Peter Malnati +50000
Sami Valimaki +50000
Takumi Kanaya +50000
Grayson Murray +50000
Alexander Bjork +50000
Martin Kaymer +75000
Kazuma Kobori +75000
Brice Garnett +75000
Michael Block +75000
Padraig Harrington +75000
Luke Donald +75000
Jimmy Walker +75000
Y.E. Yang +100000
Jason Dufner +100000
John Daly +150000
Wyatt Worthington IV +150000
Tyler Collet +200000
Matt Dobyns +200000
Josh Speight +200000
Braden Shattuk +200000
Brad Marek +200000
Tracy Phillips +200000
Evan Bowser +200000
Josh Bevell +200000
Larkin Gross +200000
Rich Beem +200000
Zac Oakley +200000
Jeremy Wells +200000
Preston Cole +200000
John Somers +200000
Ben Polland +200000
Kyle Mendoza +200000
Jared Jones +200000
Shaun Micheel +200000
Jeff Kellen +200000
Jesse Mueller +200000
Andy Svoboda +200000