The final European Tour event of the calendar year takes place this week at the Australian PGA Championship. The Aussie-dominated field heads down under, or in some cases stays down under, to compete for the Kirkwood Cup at the RACV Royal Pines Resort in Queensland. The event has been owned by the natives with the home country boasting 81 victories since the first edition of the Open in 1905. American Harold Varner III ended a streak of 16 straight Aussie wins with a victory in 2016, only to have the host country get the Cup back with Cameron Smith going back-to-back. Smith and countryman Adam Scott are coming off a loss at the Presidents Cup and look to take out some frustration as the betting favorites at online sportsbooks. Visit BookMaker.eu for a complete list of betting odds and to place your wager.
Odds to Win Australian PGA Championship at BookMaker.eu
Adam Scott +500
Cameron Smith +575
Jason Scrivener +1200
Cameron Champ +1500
Brad Kennedy +2200
Calum Hill +2500
Ryan Fox +2500
Min Woo Lee +3000
Blake Windred +4000
Wade Ormsby +4000
Lucas Herbert +4000
Denzel Ieremia +4000
Andrew Dodt +4000
Stewart Cink +5000
Rhein Gibson +5500
Matthew Millar +5500
Anthony Quayle +5500
Marcus Fraser +6000
Matthew Griffin +6000
Maverick Antcliff +6000
Mikumu Horikawa +6000
Travis Smyth +6000
Greg Chalmers +6600
Jake McLeod +6600
James Marchesani +7000
Jamie Arnold +7000
Cameron Davis +7000
Brett Rumford +8000
Dimitrios Papadatos +8000
Hugo Leon +8000
Jarryd Felton +8000
Johannes Veerman +8000
Rod Pampling +8000
Nicolai Hojgaard +10000
Nick Cullen +10000
John Senden +10000
Darren Beck +10000
Alejandro Canizares +10000
Deyen Lawson +12500
Dylan Perry +12500
Yechun Yuan +12500
Terry Pilkadaris +12500
Odds Analysis
Cameron Smith +575
Dare we dip our toes in this well once again? Last year I had Smith as one of my picks to win the title and he came through with a convincing 2-shot victory for his second straight title. He was a member of the losing International team at last week’s Presidents Cup, but with a win over Justin Thomas in the singles match I doubt his confidence is shot. And he should be at the top of his game with a chance to become the first player since 1907 to win this event three times in a row. And he hasn’t finished outside the top-10 here since debuting at T35 in 2013.
Cameron Champ +1500
Champ makes his debut down under but he’s accustomed to blustery conditions and his laser-like tee blasts will hurt the wind more than the wind affects his shots. He’s gone silent since winning the Safeway Open back in September, but he surfaced a few weeks ago with a T8 in the Dunlop Phoenix event in Japan and looks to get his game in gear for the start of the new year. Outside of the local players Champ is the top option to break the Aussie’s stranglehold at this tournament.
Min Woo Lee +3000
You might want to throw down on this emerging talent before the odds shrink. Another in a line of strong Aussie players, Lee showed his worth earlier in the year with a pair of top-5s on the Euro circuit. More recently he grabbed a share of sixth at the Korean Tour’s Genesis Championship in October followed by a podium finish in the New South Wales Open at the beginning of this month. He’s making his tournament debut but the conditions shouldn’t affect him.
Lucas Herbert +4000
A boom or bust pick at this tournament but the payout is handsome should he connect. Herbert missed the cut in his 2015 debut and again last year, but in between he shot three rounds of 68 for a T7. Enormously talented player who slipped a bit during his sophomore season, a return to his homeland could be the spark to jumpstart his career. I would probably wait to see if his game takes form, but Herbert flashed style recently with a T14 at the Open de France, so there is a glimmer of a nice payday.
Matthew Millar +5500
Millar is another intriguing pick with an even nicer payout with some history and success on this layout. The good is that he’s 5 for 6 at Royal Pines with a T6 in 2015 and T3 last year. Unfortunately he finished outside the top-50 in two in-between starts, which is the bad. A consistent player on the Australasia Tour, Millar enters with solid form after a T6 last month and a T15 at the Australian Open.
Course: RACV Royal Pines Resort – 7,364-yards, Par-72
Royal Pines has plenty of character and the greens are smooth. But getting to the cropped grass is what sets the field apart on this layout. The fairways are tight with the first six holes surrounded by water on either side, making accuracy off the tee a key stat. Distance is great, especially on the long par-5s, but miss the fairway and scores can climb in a hurry. And the hazards on the course aren’t all the field has to deal with. When the winds come up, and they will at some point, the course is entirely different. We’ve seen -16 or better win the last three installments, but back in 2015 there was a three-man playoff with all three at even-par for the week. No one broke 70 in the final round, so if the trees and water don’t affect the scores, the wind likely will.
TV Coverage: Golf Channel
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