Taming the Links: Top 3 PGA Odds & Picks to Conquer The Open Championship!

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If golf betting odds are your thing, then you are likely interested in what some of the major contenders on the PGA Tour are doing this off-season. One fairly major change comes from the camp of Phil Mickelson, who recently split with Butch Harmon, his longtime coach. He’s changed to Andrew Getson, from Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale. Let’s take a look at what some of the major golf pundits think about this change.

What Will Phil Mickelson Do in 2016 Golf Betting Fans?

Possible Scenario for the Golf Betting Lines

Joe Passov, the senior editor of Golf Magazine, had this to say: “Lefty has endured big-time teacher breakups before, notably with Rick Smith, and he’s far from alone as far as world-class players go in splitting with a longtime coach. Mickelson needs a fresh start – and yes, maybe a new approach – but mostly, he needs to be healthy enough to practice and apply. The guy knows how to win.”

Gary van Sickle, a senior golf writer with Sports Illustrated, was a little more blunt about Mickelson: “It’s better to expect nothing from Phil and then be pleasantly surprised. But Butch’s departure doesn’t hurt his reputation since Phil’s reputation as a know-it-all makes him a less than ideal student.”

Pro golfers getting tagged as “know-it-all”s? If you look through the track record of some of the most famous PGA champions, they have moved from one coach to another over time, and they have had the confidence to know when it was time to move on. Butch Harmon was the coach who got Tiger Woods up and running, and that is the legacy that will define his career. Mickelson is simply giving into Father Time, as just about every other golfer has. Vijay Singh, Bernhard Langer and (famously) the Jack Nicklaus who showed up for the 1986 Masters are pretty much the only exceptions. Thanks to the Rory McIlroys and the Jordan Spieths, this is a young man’s game more so than it has been for a long time. Mickelson can still challenge now and then, but he’s on the gradient toward the Senior Tour now.

Jeff Ritter, the senior editor from the Sports Illustrated Golf Group, said, “Phil will always be wildly unpredictable and a blast to pull for, but it’s hard to envision any kind of age 45/46 rebirth. I expect a year similar to 2015: a few weeks where he pops up on the leaderboard, including the Masters, but ultimately no wins.”

It’s important to remember that Harmon has a few other players who have more upside than Mickelson does now, such as Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Jimmy Walker. Look for Mickelson to make a run at the Masters, but other than that, I don’t see him staying with the field. Now you could expect him to carry home hardware from lower-tier tournaments where some of the top crowd takes the week off, but don’t expect him to pull a major.

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Based on the way that the 2015 PGA Tour season wound down, I think that one fairly easy golf odds prediction to make is that Jordan Spieth will win another major next year, perhaps two. There is a crowded field around him, but he has the timing and the confidence to keep rolling up trophies on the biggest stages as time goes by. But what else will take place next year?

Brief Look at the 2016 PGA Tour Golf Odds Predictions to Top Jordan Spieth

I think that Tiger Woods will finally relax a bit and become a mentor to younger men in the game. It’s not that hard to see him doing what Phil Mickelson has embraced, which is helping the next generation come into the game. He could work as a vice captain for the squad at the Ryder Cup, becoming more the elder statesman on the tour than a real contender. Of all of the big names in golf to make that transition over the past decades, his transition could be the most awkward.

It’s true that the anchored putter ban begins on January 1, but that will only be the second biggest story in terms of equipment. The top story? The golf ball. The question remains as to whether there should be one ball that all golfers have to use, or at least a set of specifications for the sort of balls that can be put into play. There is so much variety out there that the quality of the game comes into question.

Having an Olympic year in 2016 means a lot of interesting things for golf. Because of the way the Olympic teams are set up, Ricardo Gouveia will appear in the Olympics – but Zach Johnson won’t. The course in Rio is not going to be the same sort of quality that the pros are used to playing on. The time window for the Olympics means that the U.S. Open, the British Open and the PGA Championship will all happen within seven weeks will irritate some golfers – and make some headlines – as well.

I think Rory McIlroy will make 2016 his revenge year. If you’ve seen the Golden State Warriors simply dominating everyone else after they had their title questioned, then you should have an idea of how Rory will play. Rory’s motivation isn’t always quite there, but he has a ton of it now. I’m choosing him as my 2016 Player of the Year – he’s the Nicklaus of the modern generation, and he is ready for overdrive.

Finally, I’m predicting that the U.S. will win the Ryder Cup. Tony Finau will be on the team too. He sits at #22 in Ryder Cup points, but he will be in. There will be a group of young studs on the squad, and they will bring that cup back to the U.S.