For the opening two rounds of the 2020 PGA Championship, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas will be the featured grouping on the PGA’s streaming broadcasts.
The trio were last paired together at the 2019 Genesis Open, and before that at the 2018 PGA Championship in St. Louis, and again at Riviera for the 2018 edition of the Genesis.
The pairings play a major role in the decision-making of gamblers, as some players perform better, and others worse, depending on their playing partners’ personalities, playing style and whatnot.
As three of the biggest names in the game, they hold some serious sway, relative to who they get paired with in the early rounds, and so if they didn’t want to play together, they wouldn’t. Period.
If you’re a gambler, and were already interested in laying down some action on JT after last week’s victory in Memphis, you may want to up the ante.
Here’s why: He likes the big stage of playing with Tiger and Rory.
In the most recent six rounds paired together (2019 Genesis, 2018 PGA, and 2018 Genesis), all three have ultimately performed well, but Thomas was just that much better – both in terms of scoring and end results. His scoring average of 67.5 was a full stroke better than Rory (68.6) and three clear of Tiger (70.8).
In terms of results, again, Thomas enjoyed the best performance with three top 10s, including a runner-up (T9, T6, 2), while Rory posted a top 5 and top 20. Tiger went MC, solo second, and T15.
2018 Genesis Open
J Thomas – 69, 71, 67, 70 (T9)
T Woods – 72, 76 (MC)
R McIlroy – 71, 69, 73, 68 (T20)
2018 PGA Championship
J Thomas – 69, 65, 68, 68 (T6)
T Woods – 70, 66, 66, 64 (2)
R McIlroy – 70, 67, 71, 70 (T50)
2019 Genesis Invitational
J Thomas – 66, 65, 65, 75 (2)
T Woods – 70, 71, 65, 72 (T15)
R McIlroy – 72, 63, 69, 69 (T4)
Round 1 Scoring Average
J Thomas – 69 69, 66 (68)
T Woods – 72, 70, 70 (70.7)
R McIlroy – 71, 72, 70 (71)
Round 2 Scoring Average
R McIlroy – 69, 67, 63 (66.3)
J Thomas – 71 65, 65 (67)
T Woods – 76, 66, 71 (71)
DraftKings is loaded with so many different types of bets that you’re head will spin, but here’s a sample of round-1 matchup bets, among the trio, where JT is the clear favorite.
DraftKings Prop Bets
Best Score Round 1 – Threesome/Group
Justin Thomas (+130)
Rory McIlroy (+170)
Tiger Woods (+250)
Best Score Round 1 – Tiger vs Rory
Rory McIlroy (-110)
Tiger Woods (+125)
Tie (+800)
Best Score Round 1 – JT vs Rory
Justin Thomas (-114)
Rory McIlroy (+130)
Tie (+800)
Best Score Round 1 – JT vs Tiger
Justin Thomas (-134)
Tiger Woods (+150)
Tie (+800)
Over/Under Rd 1 Scoring
Rory McIlroy
Under 68.5 (+100)
Over 68.5 (-125)
Justin Thomas
Under 68.5 (-112)
Over 68.5 (-112)
Tiger Woods
Under 69.5 (+100)
Over 69.5 (-122)
Make Cut
Justin Thomas
Yes (-1000)
No (+600)
Rory McIlroy
Yes (-625)
No (+400)
Tiger Woods
Yes (-225)
No (+163)
