Wednesday 6 August 2014

Three men who are offering value at Valhalla

If you've read the newspapers or turned on the television in the last few days, then you could be forgiven for thinking that Rory McIlroy had already won the years final major, the PGA Championship and everyone else shouldn't have bothered turning up.

Well that isn't the case as McIlroy and the rest of the world's top golfers prepare to tee off at Valhalla. There can be no doubting the man from Northern Ireland is the favourite for the tournament after brilliant wins in the Open Championship and at the World Golf Championship Bridgestone Inviitational event over the last three weeks.

And the bookies are making him as short as 5/1 to win his second consecutive major and fourth overall. Those sort of prices haven't been seen since Tiger Woods was in his prime so I'm here to offer you some value tips for this week.

Jim Furyk (Best Price 35/1)

Now 43, the American is one of the golfers you can simply never write off when heading into a Major and he really should have won more than his solitary major he picked up at the 2003 US Open.

But Furyk is in fine form heading into the PGA Championship. Despite only finishing in a tie for 15th last week in the Bridgestone Invitational, he shot four rounds in the 60s. And before that he really should have converted a 54 hole lead at the Canadian Open but fell into second place behind Tim Clark.

He has a fine record at the majors so far in 2014; coming 4th in last month's Open championship and also finishing in the top 15 at the US Open and the Masters. Add in a 2nd place finish at The Players Championship and you get a man that's playing some of the finest golf of his life.

Second in last years PGA Championship, Furyk does have a reputation of bottling it when it matters nowadays, but is very much worth an each way bet.

Marc Leishman (Best Price 50/1)
Remarkably during commentating on last month's Open Peter Alliss had to ask for information on the 30 year old Australian which seemed ridiculous considering Leishman had finished tied fourth in the 2013 Masters, which Alliss commentated on.

He is now a golfer that is comfortable competing with the bigger names week in week out as shown by his third place finish in the Bridgestone Invitational when he was the only golfer who stuck remotely close to McIlroy and Garcia until the very end. That followed up a top five place finish at The Open, and he's enjoyed six top tens this season already.

A top 15 finisher at last years PGA event, Leishman is someone full of confidence and might just follow his countrymen Wayne Grady, Steve Elkington, David Graham and Jim Ferrie as Australian winners of this event.

Patrick Reed: (Best Price 75/1)
The American has came under fire for his comments after winning the WGC Cadillac Championship in March where he declared himself one of the top five players in the world.

It was quite a ridiculous statement to make in most people's eyes and everyone was wondering who this young upstart was. And with that comment hanging over him, his form dipped where he missed the cut at The Masters, The Players Championship and The Open.

But there were big signs last week that Reed has finally got his game back in order as he shot a superb 65 on Sunday to finish in a tie for fourth at the Bridgestone Invitational.

And despite the fact he'll be making his debut in the PGA Championship, Keegan Bradley won on debut in 2011 in the tournament so it can be done. The 23 year old from Texas might be far away from being one of the top five players in the world, but he certainly knows how to win.

With Europeans leading the charge this week in the form of McIlroy, Garcia and Rose the rest of the world contingent will be keen to put them down a peg or two. I'm confident at least one of the men above will be in the hunt come the back nine on Sunday.

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