Even with all of the young talent on the PGA Tour, you still have to look all the way back to 1922 to find the youngest winner of the PGA Championship. Gene Sarazen won it that year at 20 years and five months, but no golfer in this year's event will be younger than Joaquin Niemann, who is 23 years and six months as play begins with the first 2022 PGA Championship tee times on Thursday. For a youngster, Niemann is a respectable 35-1 in the 2022 PGA Championship on Caesars Sportsbook. Niemann has already won once this season at the Genesis Invitational, but withdrew from the Zurich Classic before he tied for 25th at the Byron Nelson Classic. Does he have what it takes to hold his own against other experienced favorites like Scottie Scheffler (11-1), Jon Rahm (11-1), or Rory McIlroy (14-1)? Before locking in your 2022 PGA Championship picks, be sure to see the latest golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, it's up almost $9,000 on its best bets since that point, nailing tournament after tournament.
At the 2022 Masters, McClure's model was all over Scottie Scheffler's first career major championship victory heading into the weekend. In addition, McClure's best bets included Collin Morikawa winning outright at the 2021 Open Championship, even though he was listed as a massive 40-1 long shot. The model was also all over Jon Rahm's (10-1) first career major championship victory at the 2021 U.S. Open. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the weekend, but the model still projected him as the winner.
This same model has also nailed a whopping eight majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.
Now that the PGA Championship 2022 field is taking shape, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected 2022 PGA Championship leaderboard.
Top 2022 PGA Championship predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2022 PGA Championship: Spieth, a three-time major champion and one of the top favorites, stumbles at Southern Hills and doesn't even crack the top 10. He comes into the PGA Championship 2022 with a lot of momentum. He won the recent RBC Heritage and finished second at the AT&T Byron Nelson.
But his season-long track record isn't strong outside of that. He finished out of the top 25 in the prior six tournaments, a span that included two missed cuts, one of which came at the Masters. He's hitting the ball far this season, but not accurately, ranking 129th in driving accuracy percentage. The putter has let him down too, as he ranks 175th in strokes gained in that category, making him a golfer to fade in 2022 PGA Championship bets, according to the model.
Another surprise: Viktor Hovland, a 22-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
Hovland is one of the PGA Tour's youngest stars at 24 years and eight months old, and he's already had wins in two PGA events this season as well as one on the European Tour at the Dubai Desert Classic. Although he has yet to finish better than 30th in either of his PGA Championship appearances, that shouldn't weigh heavily against him due to the change in venues from year to year. Hovland's success this season has often corresponded with his driving accuracy, and in four events in which he was at least 14 percent more accurate than the average of the field, he has two wins and two top-10 finishes.
How to make 2022 PGA Championship picks
The model is also targeting three other golfers with odds of 20-1 or longer who will make surprising runs. Anyone who backs these long shots could hit it big. You can only see them here.
So who will win the PGA Championship 2022? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the 2022 PGA Championship odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected 2022 PGA Championship leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed eight golf majors, including this year's Masters.
2022 PGA Championship odds, field
Scottie Scheffler 11-1
Jon Rahm 11-1
Rory McIlroy 14-1
Justin Thomas 14-1
Collin Morikawa 16-1
Dustin Johnson 18-1
Jordan Spieth 20-1
Cameron Smith 20-1
Patrick Cantlay 20-1
Viktor Hovland 22-1
Xander Schauffele 22-1
Hideki Matsuyama 28-1
Shane Lowry 30-1
Will Zalatoris 30-1
Brooks Koepka 35-1
Joaquin Niemann 35-1
Sam Burns 40-1
Matthew Fitzpatrick 40-1
Daniel Berger 50-1
Corey Conners 50-1
Tony Finau 50-1
Tiger Woods 50-1
Max Homa 55-1
Louis Oosthuizen 60-1
Cameron Young 65-1
Tyrrell Hatton 65-1
Tommy Fleetwood 65-1
Jason Day 65-1
Keegan Bradley 80-1
Adam Scott 80-1
Abraham Ancer 80-1
Billy Horschel 80-1
Gary Woodland 90-1
Patrick Reed 90-1
Jason Kokrak 90-1
Talor Gooch 100-1
Si-Woo Kim 100-1
Justin Rose 100-1
Harold Varner 100-1
Marc Leishman 100-1
Seamus Power 100-1
Russell Henley 100-1
Sergio Garcia 100-1
Webb Simpson 100-1
Thomas Pieters 125-1
Matthew Wolff 125-1
Aaron Wise 125-1
Sebastian Munoz 125-1
Alex Noren 125-1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 125-1
Maverick McNealy 125-1
Cameron Champ 125-1
Rickie Fowler 150-1
Sepp Straka 150-1
Jhonattan Vegas 150-1
Charl Schwartzel 150-1
Bubba Watson 150-1
Davis Riley 150-1
Erik Van Rooyen 150-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 150-1
Tom Hoge 150-1
Brian Harman 150-1
Adam Hadwin 150-1
Luke List 150-1
Keith Mitchell 150-1
Matt Kuchar 150-1
Kevin Na 175-1
Mito Pereira 175-1
Kevin Kisner 175-1
Cameron Davis 200-1
Sam Horsfield 200-1
Chris Kirk 200-1
Russell Knox 200-1
Bernd Wiesberger 200-1
Joel Dahmen 200-1
Robert Macintyre 200-1
Ryan Palmer 200-1
Branden Grace 225-1
Lanto Griffin 250-1
Matt Jones 250-1
Cameron Tringale 250-1
Ian Poulter 250-1
Francesco Molinari 250-1
Anirban Lahiri 250-1
Mackenzie Hughes 250-1
Stewart Cink 250-1
Lee Westwood 250-1
Lucas Herbert 250-1
Adri Arnaus 250-1
Ryan Fox 250-1
J.J. Spaun 250-1
Kevin Streelman 250-1
Min Woo Lee 250-1
Nicolai Hojgaard 250-1
Martin Kaymer 300-1
Carlos Ortiz 300-1
Oliver Bekker 300-1
Dean Burmester 300-1
Justin Harding 300-1
Patton Kizzire 300-1
Garrick Higgo 300-1
Henrik Stenson 300-1
Joohyung Kim 300-1
Troy Merritt 300-1
Lucas Glover 300-1
Pablo Larrazabal 300-1
Richard Bland 300-1
Brendan Steele 300-1
Padraig Harrington 350-1
Harry Higgs 350-1
Adam Schenk 350-1
Shaun Norris 350-1
Scott Stallings 350-1
Beau Hossler 350-1
Rikuya Hoshino 350-1
Zach Johnson 350-1
Laurie Canter 350-1
Takumi Kanaya 350-1
Hudson Swafford 400-1
Bio Kim 500-1
Daniel Van Tonder 500-1
Ryosuke Kinoshita 500-1
Chan Kim 500-1
Sadom Kaewkanjana 500-1
Yuki Inamori 500-1
Chad Ramey 500-1
Jason Dufner 500-1
Kramer Hickok 500-1
Jinichiro Kozuma 500-1
Ryan Brehm 750-1
Y.E. Yang 750-1
Alex Cejka 750-1
John Daly 750-1
Wyatt Worthington 1000-1
Shawn Warren 1500-1
Rich Beem 1500-1
Shaun Micheel 1500-1
Ryan Vermeer 1500-1
Colin Inglis 2000-1
Tim Feenstra 200-1
Zac Oakley 2000-1
Matthew Borchert 2000-1
Brandon Bingaman 2000-1
Kyle Mendoza 2000-1
Alex Beach 2000-1
Casey Pyne 2000-1
Austin Hurt 2000-1
Jared Jones 2000-1
Tyler Collet 2000-1
Michael Block 2000-1
Sean McCarty 2000-1
Dylan Newman 2000-1
Nic Ishee 2000-1
Paul Dickinson 2000-1
Jesse Mueller 2000-1
