Summer Tournaments Should Determine PGA Season Champion

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Tiger Woods PGA Championship

Although missing star quality due to Tiger Woods’ injury, this summer’s tournaments should determine which PGA golfer calls himself season champion. Golfers play in three majors from May through July.

After the major events, the Tour doesn’t let up. The Professional Golfers Association runs eight tournaments after the final major event, The Open Championship in mid-July.

Highlight tournaments after The Open include the WGC-St. Jude FedEx Invitational in early August and The Northern Trust from August 26 through August 29. The 2020-2021 PGA Season ends with the Tour Championship from September 2 through September 5. 

Three major PGA Championships in May, June, and July

Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters victory in April teed off four straight months of major tournaments. The first happens in May when golfers head to Kiawah Island in South Carolina for the PGA Championship.

Last year’s winner, twenty-four-year-old Collin Morikawa, has had a decent 2021. In February, he won the WGC-Workday, finished eighteenth at the Masters, and finished seventh at the RBC Heritage. 

The top-rated golfer in the world, Dustin Johnson, may not play in the next major. DJ is working through a knee problem that could force him from the PGA Championship.

After the PGA, golfers get a chance to show their stuff at three tournaments before the U.S. Open from June 17 through June 20. The Charles Schwab Challenge, the Memorial Tournament, and the Palmetto Championship all happen between the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open. 

The Palmetto, at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina, is a new tournament. The PGA adding an event a year after a pandemic speaks to how well the organization is doing. 

No other major championship on the calendar will miss Tiger Woods as much as the 2021 U.S. Open. This year’s U.S. Open happens over Torrey Pines’ South Course in La Jolla, California. 

Tiger Woods has had great success at Torrey Pines. Tiger has eight wins at the La Jolla club, the most of any golfer.

But although Tiger won’t play, Dustin Johnson should be over his knee issue. Bryson DeChambeau, who won the U.S. Open in 2020, should also step onto the Torrey Pines South Course.

DeChambeau is the fourth-ranked golfer in the world. The twenty-seven-year-old followed up a third-place finish at The Players Championship by finishing forty-sixth at the Master Tournament.  

The Open Championship is the final major of the year. Professional golfers are eager to step foot onto Royal St. George’s GC. 

Due to the pandemic, the PGA canceled the 2020 Open Championship. 2019 winner Shane Lowry is the official defending champion.

The Open Championship is interesting because it’s played over a links course. Links courses are the original golf courses.

The term “links” is a Scots term. Links courses play to the contour of the course. They are less flat than parkland courses, have more ridges, more bunkers, and thicker grass.    

FedEx Cup Playoffs in August

Every year, the Professional Golfers Association plays three tournaments in the final summer weeks to determine the PGA Season Champion. Points earned before the playoffs carry over into the FedEx Cup Playoffs.

This year is the fifteenth edition of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The top 125 players on the FedEx Cup Standings are eligible for the playoffs. 

After the Northern Trust from August 19 through August 22, the field goes from 125 to 70. After the BMW Championship from August 26 through August 29, the field drops from 70 to 30. 

The Tour Championship is the final PGA Tournament of the 2020-2021 season. Last year, Dustin Johnson won the Tour Championship.

Heading into the summer tournaments, the top five players on the FedEx Cup Standings are Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, and Sam Burns. Among those players, DeChambeau has the best shot of winning the Cup. 

The defending U.S. Open champion will be one of the favorites to win the next three major tournaments. Although DeChambeau hasn’t played great in every contest, he’s won a couple of events this year and has finished in the top ten in six competitions.

As of May 17, DeChambeau has a 26-point lead over Justin Thomas. He’s got a 67-point lead over Viktor Hovland. 

The FedEx Cup leader is one of the favorites to win the PGA Championship. In most sportsbooks, he’s a top-five choice. Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, and Jordan Spieth are the other four players offering lower odds than Bryson DeChambeau.

Among the top five choices, the hottest golfer is Jordan Spieth. The multiple major winner finished fourth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, first at the Valero Texas Open in early April, third at the 2021 Masters, and ninth at the AT&T Byron Nelson in mid-May.

If you want to back a golfer to win any tournament, you can either play with one of the regulated bookmakers or you can consider calling a bookie that offers sportsbook software, of which there are many. The latter, individual sportsbook operators, called pay per head agents, are often more flexible with odds than the mainstream bookies, so well worth looking at.

Golf handicappers can get overlay odds on their choice to win tournaments. When it comes to significant events like the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship, finding fair odds can be an arduous task.     

 

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