It’s not exactly a who’s who leaderboard after the opening round of the PGA Championship, so we’ve got piles of value on the board for the second round at Quail Hollow Club on Friday, May 16.
Here are a trio of golf picks to add to your PGA Championship ahead of Round 2.
Best PGA Championship Round 2 predictions
Pick: Rory McIlroy Under 69.5 Round 2 score
-130 at DraftKings
Despite only hitting four of 14 fairways (28.6%), Rory McIlroy still hit 11 of 18 greens in regulation and gained true strokes tee-to-green (+0.88). He gave away strokes on the greens with -2.12 true strokes gained putting to rank 136th in the field.
There’s a simple path to a solid Round 2 score, and that’s improving off the tee. McIlroy entered the event ranked second in this field in true strokes gained off-the-tee dating back to The Sentry, and he has been in the plus in each of his past 13 trips to Quail Hollow.
A better approach will lead to improved work on the greens. It’s as simple as that, and he paced this field in total true strokes gained at this track across his past five trips, after all.
Pick: Collin Morikawa Over 12.5 greens in regulation
+100 at DraftKings
Collin Morikawa hit 11 of 18 greens in regulation (61.1%) on Thursday, and he lost true strokes on approaches (-0.04) and off the tee (-0.34).
His ball-striking is his calling card, including ranking 8th on the PGA Tour with a 71.18 GIR% this season. Additionally, the two-time major champion has also gained true strokes off-the-tee and on approach in five consecutive majors.
Morikawa entered the week, respectively ranked third in the two metrics during a 21-event run dating back to his T4 at the 2024 PGA Championship. Expect him to hit more fairways and greens Friday.
Pick: Harris English Over J.T. Poston live tournament matchup
+310 at DraftKings
J.T. Poston finished Round 1 ranked 10th in true strokes gained on approach (+2.40) and ninth in true strokes gained putting (2.90), and I’m not expecting him to carry over the play through the rest of the way.
On the flip side, Harris English gained +3.17 true strokes tee-to-green and finished 141st in true SG: putting (-2.42). It was an outlier from the veteran because the five-time PGA Tour winner entered the PGA Championship ranked eighth in this field on the greens dating back to his win at the Farmers in January.
While English obviously has some ground to make up over the next three rounds, his track record in major championships trumps Poston’s, and English’s tee-to-green game was spectacular Thursday.
Latest PGA Championship odds
- Scottie Scheffler: +330
- Bryson DeChambeau +1200
- Tyrrell Hatton +1600
- Jon Rahm +1800
- Jhonattan Vegas +1800
- Ludvig Aberg: +2200
Odds courtesy of DraftKings.
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