USPGA Championship: Five to watch at Southern Hills

Scottie Scheffler

World ranking: 1
Odds: 10/1

Got back to tournament duty at last week’s Byron Nelson (tied-15th) to rid himself of any post-Masters rust. The American is world number one for a very good reason - he has been playing the best golf of anyone this year.

That Masters triumph was his third win of the year, following on from the Phoenix Open and the WGC-Dell Technologies Matchplay. Odds are tight but he is playing on a course he has described as one of his favourites anywhere.

Cameron Young

World ranking: 38
Odds: 50/1

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A rookie on the PGA Tour but very much a player who has hit the ground running. After first breaking onto the Korn Ferry Tour through Monday qualifying, and then playing his way to a full card on the main tour, he rebounded from a missed cut at the Masters last month with a tied-third finish in the RBC Heritage and then finished runner-up to Max Homa in the Wells Fargo.

Young likes this time of year too: he celebrated his 25th birthday earlier this month, and he recorded back-to-back wins on the KFT last year in May.

Séamus Power

World ranking: 42
Odds: 50/1

His upward trajectory on the world stage this past year has brought the Waterford man onto the biggest stages in the sport. He looked extremely comfortable in making his Majors debut at the Masters last month (tied-27th) and also made a big impact in his first WGC event when reaching the quarter-final stage of the Dell Technologies Matchplay.

The putter is proving particularly hot at present, which will be a powerful tool on the Southern Hills green complexes.

Harry Higgs

World ranking: 157
Odds: 500/1

Coming in off the back of three straight missed cuts, the colourful American probably shouldn't be given the time of day. But there is more to Higgs than that run of poor form. In his Masters debut, he was very comfortable and managed a tied-14th place finish. And, in last year's US PGA, he was among those - along with Shane Lowry and Pádraig Harrington - who took a share of fourth place.

So, in any given week, he has the ability to get into the business end of the leaderboard and, with most bookies paying 10 places each way, those odds of 500/1 make him worth watching.

Christiaan Bezuidenhout

World ranking: 67
Odds: 100/1

The Springbok hasn’t won since claiming the South African Open in 2020 (one of three wins that year) but his consistency (only two missed cuts in his last 42 tournaments worldwide) make him a player worth keeping an eye on.

Not the longest off the tee, the strength of his game is his short game which will be a key factor at Southern Hills.