The 2019 PGA Championship: Preview and Predictions

The second golf major of the year gets underway this week, with the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York. After the drama of Tiger Woods' remarkable win at the Masters last month, we're getting very excited to see how things shape up this time.

Our fantasy golf game is a lot of fun - quick and simple to play, and it will make every shot important! Here's how things work.

Bands

Our golf game is designed to reflect how people watch golf - everyone has a few favourite players that they follow, and pay particular attention to during the coverage. We ask you to pick four golfers for each day, and their score will determine your score.

But you can't just pick the top four golfers in the world, where would the fun be if everyone had the same players? We have divided the field into four groups, which reflect their likelihood of winning the tournament - Band 1 contains the favourites, whilst Band 4 has players with an outside chance.

You will need to pick one player from each band, and for every stroke they score under par, you will receive 1 point. You'll also lose a point for every stroke over par...



For example, you pick Jordan Spieth and he shoots -8 on Day 1. That's 8 points for you, well played. But you have also picked Sergio Garcia who keeps finding the water and shoots a round of +3 (-3 points for you), Phil Mickelson who picks up a 2-stroke penalty and finishes on +2 (-2 points for you), and Charel Schwartzel who scores Even par (0 points). That would give you a total of 8 - 3 - 3 + 0 = 2 points.

The 2019 PGA Championship

Tiger Woods has been installed as the tournament favourite and is always heavily backed, but I'm not sure this is the course for him. It's a long, difficult course that will favour big-hitters, and could be affected by strong winds just to add to the challenge. Whilst Woods can't be discounted, I'm looking at some of the younger guys for my Superbru picks.

Here are my picks for Round 1:

Brooks Koepka: Big-hitting Brooks has the game to match this course, and he has an outstanding record in recent Majors. He's my pick to win the tournament and I'm backing him from Day 1.

Xander Schauffele: Another American who seems to raise his game for the big events, and his 2nd place finish 1 stroke off the lead at the Masters was overshadowed by Tiger's triumph. He could win it this week.

Paul Casey: I'm giving Casey the nod in my team over Bubba Watson in Band 3, thanks to superior form so far this season - except at Augusta where he missed the cut. I might not back him to close out a major on Sunday, but he seems like a reasonable Day 1 pick from this group.

Lucas Glover: Glover won the US Open in 2009 at Bethpage, and already has four top-10 finishes so far this season.

At the end of each day's golf, it's a good idea to head back to Superbru and see how you've got on in comparison to others in your pool! After all, how you're getting on against your mates will help to determine who you select for Day 2.