Steve Palmer's free US PGA Championship first-round threeballs betting tips and predictions

Where to watch the US PGA Championship

Live on Sky Sports Golf from 12pm Thursday

Best bets

Kurt Kitayama to win 12.22pm threeball
5pts Evens bet365, Hills

Keith Mitchell to win 5.25pm threeball
5pts 8-13 bet365

Michael Thorbjornsen to win 7.04pm threeball
5pts 8-15 bet365, Hills

Joaquin Niemann to win 5.52pm threeball
3pts Evens bet365

Ryan Fox to win 12.05pm threeball
3pts 5-6 bet365, Hills

Kevin Yu to win 7.37pm threeball
3pts 8-11 general

Richard Bland to win 6.53pm threeball
3pts 4-6 bet365, Hills

Cameron Young to win 6.20pm threeball
2pts 9-5 Betfair, Paddy Power

Padraig Harrington to win 12pm threeball
1pt 29-20 bet365

US PGA Championship first-round predictions

Golf fans the world over will fall silent at 1.22pm UK and Ireland time on Thursday as Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele tee off in a mouthwatering PGA Championship first-round threeball.

McIlroy, looking for back-to-back Major glory after his Masters heroics a month ago, may boss the glamour group, but preference is for punting on some much lower-profile contests on a hugely appealing Quail Hollow threeballs card.

Rarely does a set of threeballs present such a raft of opportunities. Several favourites seem rock-solid options and the punting community can put them in multiples of their choice, with doubles, trebles and upwards appearing sensible.

Kurt Kitayama can be fancied to deal with Nic Ishee and Alex Noren in the 12.22pm threeball. Kitayama, a long driver who will relish the rain-softened fairways of Quail this week, tied fifth in the Byron Nelson last time out. He has finished fourth and 26th in the last two US PGAs and should go well again this week.

Ishee is a club-pro qualifier, while Noren has only just returned from a seven-month injury absence – a combination of neck, hamstring and glute problems – so the Swede is loaded with rust and anxiety.

Keith Mitchell can boast PGA Tour form figures of 18-12-2-7 and this strong driver is well equipped to handle Quail, where he finished eighth in 2019 and third in 2021. Bob Sowards, a 56-year-old club-pro qualifier, and Adam Hadwin, a short driver who has been in terrible form for three months, should be left well behind.

Michael Thorbjornsen, a former amateur superstar loaded with power, appears to have settled on the PGA Tour. Second place in the Corales Puntacana a month ago was followed by fourth spot alongside Karl Vilips in the Zurich Classic pairs event. Expect Thorbjornsen to overwhelm powder-puff veterans Jason Dufner and Shaun Micheel in the 7.04pm group.

Joaquin Niemann, the star of the LIV circuit this year, can also be trusted. Lucas Glover has been awful in his last three starts and has been suffering some injury niggles, while Max Homa's game has been in disarray for a year.

Ryan Fox won the Myrtle Beach Classic on Sunday, earning a last-gasp US PGA spot, before gushing about how much he loves Quail. The musclebound Kiwi will be licking his lips at the long, soft fairways, and John Parry and Justin Hicks should be outgunned.

Kevin Yu, one of the best ball-strikers on the Tour and fourth at Myrtle Beach on Sunday, can defeat Larkin Gross and Johnny Keefer. Gross is a club pro, while Keefer was violently sick on the fourth tee in a Korn Ferry Tour event last Saturday and withdrew.

Richard Bland has finished 11th and seventh in the last two LIV events, enjoying an albatross along the way, and he should prove too solid for Tyler Collet and Jimmy Walker, while Cameron Young, seventh in the Truist on Sunday and well suited to Quail, is generously priced to beat Joe Highsmith and Aaron Rai.

This week's assignment is a slog for Luke Donald, while Martin Kaymer has been in dire form on the LIV circuit, so Padraig Harrington, who finished strongly on the Champions Tour last time out, looks a value option in the first threeball of the day.

Click here to back Rory McIlroy to make the US PGA cut at 40-1 with Paddy Power

More from Steve Palmer on the US PGA Championship:

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