McIlroy’s leap into history books makes him PGA champion elect
Published:Leading one of golf’s majors from holes 18 to 72 is no mean feat and neither is winning three of the sport’s flagship tournaments by the tender age of 25 for that matter.
If you hadn’t already guessed, this pair of monumental achievements belongs to the freshly-crowned 2014 Open Championship winner Rory McIlroy.
The man from County Down claimed the Claret Jug by two shots at Hoylake, thereby making the swift transition from stardom to super-stardom.
As such, McIlroy is as short as 6/1 to win the upcoming PGA Championship starting on August 7.
Adding the fourth major of the season to the third is a path well trodden too.
This is something both Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods have achieved in the last decade and after Wee-Mac’s domineering performance at Royal Liverpool there’s every chance the sporting deed could be repeated.
Without showing any disrespect to a multiple major winner like Harrington, many people’s career projections for someone possessing the raw talent of McIlroy, are far closer to that of Grand Slam holder Woods than the popular Irishman’s.
The obvious boon to the chances of any Open champion with eyes on adding the PGA is the proximity of the events.
Clearly in the finest of fine nicks right now, barely three weeks will have elapsed by the time the Northern Irishman tees off at Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky.
Away from the favourite, the winner the last time the PGA was staged at Valhalla – a certain Mr Woods back in 2000 – looks like punting kryptonite at 10/1 given his haphazard 69th place at The Open.
In stark contrast, one of McIlroy’s co-closest challengers at Hoylake, Rickie Fowler, looks to be dripping with value at 25s given his 2014 major finishes read as T5, T2, T2.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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