US PGA Championship First Round Leader

Talor Gooch First Round Leader at 70/1 (Six Places)

The wind on day one certainly looks to increase a little bit for the late starters but we are potentially looking at a temperature change of around 10 degrees Celsius from those teeing off in the morning and those in the afternoon. That by far outweighs the slight increase in wind speed and the late starters will have a huge opportunity to land the round one lead. 

Talor Gooch is one of those with a late start and given his record recently it would be foolish to ignore his chances. His form on the LIV tour has improved dramatically recently and his first round form in particular has been eye catching. A 68 in round one last week in Tulsa wasn't quite the heroics of the previous couple of weeks but a final round 67 was a sign his golf hasn't quite tailed off despite finishing down the field in Tulsa. 

 

The two events prior to that he won with a first round of 62 in Adelaide and a first round 64 in Singapore. On both occasions they were good enough to hold the first round lead and if you back to September last year he landed another first round lead in Boston. 

That makes three round one leads in his last 14 events and I'd prefer to play these LIV guys in the first round leader (FRL) market rather than the outright simply because I can see a similar scenario play out like Koepka in the Masters where if any of them contend towards the business end they may be found wanting in the heat of battle. Gooch easily has what it takes to perform well at this Ross course, he is very accurate from the tee and a continuation of this round one form looks worth risking at 80/1.

0.75pt each-way T.Gooch first round leader  70/1  1/5 7 (BetUK)

Taylor Montgomery First Round Leader at 125/1 (Seven Places)

Another with the potential to go low on day one is rookie Taylor Montgomery. We often see rookies go well in this event and despite Montgomery not pulling up any trees lately he has a huge potential upside in a daily market due to how hot his putter can get.

He didn't putt overly well last week in the Byron Nelson but sat outside the top 100 after day one and fought back with two 66s to sit inside the top 30 heading into the final day. 

He landed the first round lead at the Sony Open earlier in the year with a 64 and followed that up the next week in California finishing 2nd after round one with another 64. Prior to that last July he fired an opening 63 in the Price Cutter Championship to lead on the Korn Ferry Tour and shot 66 the next week on the same tour to lie second after the opening 18. 

That's two round one leads and two runner up finishes he has landed in the last 10 months and his second and third rounds last week suggest he can't be far away from another low score should the putter begin to hit the heights we know it can with him.

0.75pt each-way T.Montgomery first round leader  125/1  1/5 7 (Unibet, BetUK)

Thorbjorn Olesen First Round Leader @ 150/1 (Seven Places)

My final stab in the first round lead will be Thorbjorn Olesen who must have some respect even in the outright this week given the quality of his golf these last couple of months. The sweet swinging Dane went close in Belgium last time out which could have been his second win in a handful of weeks. 

It is the consistency of the low scores that makes him an appealing prospect in the round one leader market. In his last 20 rounds of strokeplay golf he has managed 12 rounds of 68 or better. During that time he has been inside the top 11 at the end of each round 11 times. A late tee time suits and he has the all round game to play well around this Oak Hill track.

0.75pt each-way T.Olesen first round leader  150/1  1/5 7 (Unibet, BetUK)

US PGA Championship Top Lefty

Robert MacIntyre Top Lefty @ 11/5

Finally I'll have a bet on Robert MacIntyre landing the Top Lefty market up against Brian Harman and Phil Mickelson. Mickelson hasn't done an awful lot since a backdoor 2nd place finish at Augusta. 45th was the best he could do in Tulsa last week and being a little wayward off the tee could prove a huge problem around here. 

Harman's form has dipped this calendar year missing five from 10 cuts with the latest coming at Quail Hollow. He may struggle with the length of this course and recent form suggests it'll be tough for him to turn that around. 

MacIntyre arrives here with a slight injury concern having pulled out of his Italian Open defence after round one but after a few weeks off and plenty to play for here with the upcoming Ryder Cup I expect him to put his best foot forward. He has made 10 from 10 cuts in majors in his short career and another made cut here just might be good enough to win this threesome.

1.5pt R.MacIntyre Top Lefty 11/5 (Bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes)