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Cameron Smith 2023 PGA Championship: Best Bets & Predictions

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The PGA Championship used to bat cleanup as the fourth and final major of the season, but this will be the fifth time that the PGA has been held in May, in between the Masters and the U.S. Open.

Justin Thomas is the defending champion. He shot a final-round 67 at Southern Hills last year and beat Will Zalatoris in a playoff to win the Wanamaker Trophy, the giant piece of hardware awarded annually to the PGA champ. Thomas and Brooks Koepka have combined to win four of the last six PGA Championships, with Collin Morikawa and Phil Mickelson interrupting the Thomas/Koepka reign in 2020 and 2021.

This year’s PGA Championship returns Oak Hill in Pittsford, N.Y., where Jason Dufner finished -10 to win the 2013 PGA, beating runner-up Jim Furyk by two strokes. But the East Course at Oak Hill will look much different than it did at the last PGA here 10 years ago. Course architect Andrew Green presided over a major remodeling intended to make the course more faithful to the original Donald Ross design. The course will once again play at par-70, and after playing at 7,163 yards in 2013, it has been stretched to 7,400 for this year’s event.

Will favorites Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler flex their muscles at Oak Hill? Will Thomas and Koepka extend their stretch of PGA dominance? Or will an unexpected winner emerge from the field the way Jimmy Walker did at Baltusrol in 2016? Read on for betting profiles of the top contenders for the 2023 PGA Championship.

Check out our 2023 PGA Championship Betting Guide >>

Cameron Smith 2023 PGA Championship Best Bets

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Cameron Smith Stats to Know

    • Best odds to win: +3000 (DraftKings)
    • World ranking: 8
    • Best PGA Championship finish: T13 (2022)
    • Last four PGA Championship finishes: T64, T43, T59, T13
    • Last four tournament finishes: T34, T3, T6, T2

Cameron Smith Course History

The Australian-born Cam Smith is set to play in his ninth career PGA Championship. His T13 at Southern Hills in Oklahoma last year was his best outing in this event. There’s no reason Smith can’t notch his first top-10 finish in a PGA Championship this go-around.

Cameron Smith Recent Form

Smith has been tearing up the LIV Tour since joining it in September of 2022. He secured a pair of wins last September and October and added another T4 performance in his first year. As for this season, the wins have evaded him, but Smith is a threat on a weekly basis. Just last weekend, the 29-year-old lost in a playoff in Tulsa. It was his third consecutive top-10 finish and third overall top-5 performance. However, we should remember that the competition isn’t quite as stiff on the LIV Tour as it is on the PGA Tour. We saw an example of this play out when Smith posted a T34 finish at the Masters last month.

Cameron Smith Betting Outlook

Regardless of the competition that Smith has been facing, there’s no denying that he’s one of the best golfers in the world. He’s currently eighth in the world rankings, and I expect him to back up that ranking with his play this week. I’ll lock in Smith at +320 to finish inside the top 10 (via DraftKings). Smith is a world-class putter. He finished first on the PGA Tour last year in putts per hole, averaging 1.68. Considering the level of difficulty at Oak Hill’s East Course, Smith’s elite putting will come in handy. In my opinion, this tournament comes down to driving accuracy and putting. Smith is great in both categories and should be able to navigate the course successfully.

2023 PGA Championship Golfer Profiles

Check out our previews for each of the top golfers competing at Oak Hill this week:

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