Steve Palmer's US PGA Championship first-round threeball tips & best bets

Golf tips, best bets and player analysis for the first round of the US PGA Championship at the Ocean Course, Kiawah Island.

Where to watch

Sky Sports Main Event and Golf, 1pm Thursday

Best bets

Lanto Griffin to win threeball
4pts Evens BoyleSports

Si Woo Kim to win threeball
3pts 4-7 BoyleSports

Jason Kokrak to win threeball
2pts 7-5 Betfair

Joaquin Niemann to win threeball
2pts 6-5 Betfair

Lucas Herbert to win threeball
1pt 9-5 Betfair

Takumi Kanaya to win threeball
1pt 5-4 general

First-round preview

The US PGA Championship starts at high noon UK and Ireland time, with tournament favourite Rory McIlroy among the early starters, teeing off at 1.33pm in the company of Justin Thomas and Brooks Koepka.

That meeting of former US PGA champions is quickly followed by another all-star grouping. The winners of the previous three Majors - Collin Morikawa, Bryson DeChambeau and Hideki Matsuyama - comprise the 1.44pm threeball.

Sunshine is forecast all day at the Ocean Course, Kiawah Island, with wind speeds picking up as the day wears on. Jon Rahm, Patrick Reed and Tommy Fleetwood are out in the second wave of starters (6.25pm), while world number one Dustin Johnson is also in a late group, alongside Shane Lowry and Sergio Garcia (7.09pm).

The best value threeball options are arguably away from the glamour groups, with an unheralded Californian the pick of the bunch in the 2.01pm contest. Lanto Griffin seems a bargain at evens to outscore Peter Malnati and Brad Marek.

Griffin, who won the 2019 Houston Open, is comfortable in a breeze and finished 19th on his US PGA debut last year. This solid all-rounder has a good record by the coast and 26th place in the Wells Fargo Championship was a tidy warm-up spin.

Malnati has missed eight of his last nine cuts, and he missed the cut in his only previous Major, the 2016 US PGA. This weak ball-striker should be fully exposed at such a difficult tee-to-green assignment as Kiawah. Marek is a club pro qualifier.

Jason Kokrak is blessed with immense power and will not fear Kiawah, the longest course in Major history. This is a slog for Kevin Na, while Tom Lewis has missed the cut in all five of his previous Stateside Majors, so Kokrak can be fancied for the 1.39pm contest.

Joaquin Niemann, powerful and solid from tee to green, can outmuscle powder-puff driver Aaron Rai and brittle ball-striker JT Poston in the 6.09pm match, while Si Woo Kim fully deserves the short odds against his name for the 5.25pm threeball. Club-pro Danny Balin and out-of-sorts plodder Jim Herman provide weak opposition.

Punters seeking bigger threeball prices are pointed towards Lucas Herbert (7.26pm) and Takumi Kanaya (7.37pm). Herbert, a long driver at ease in the wind, can see off short-hitting Brendon Todd and club-pro Tyler Collet. And Kanaya, one of the most promising youngsters to have ever emerged from Asia, can boss Ben Cook and Mackenzie Hughes.

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