PGA 2025 Betting Picks & The Bizarre Putting Tip That Still Wins Majors!

🏆 2025 PGA Championship – Top Picks & Dark Horses to Watch
Skip Ahead ⏩ 2:51 PGA Bets to Avoid | 14:41 PGA Picks to Win

The PGA Championship may be golf’s underdog major, but this year is different.

Rory McIlroy has a shot at completing his career Grand Slam, and Jordan Spieth is chasing history too. But who’s really in form—and who should you cross off your list? Bob breaks it all down with his signature mix of logic, experience, and bold calls.
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🔥 Who Not to Pick:
❌ Scottie Scheffler – Not peaking
❌ Brooks Koepka – Off his game
❌ Collin Morikawa – Great swing, but lacks the distance to win at Quail Hollow
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⛳ The Lesson: Want to Look Good or Actually Win?
In 1938, Paul Runyan shocked the world by defeating Sam Snead 8 & 7 in the PGA Finals—thanks to his miraculous short game.
🟡 His secret?
➡️ Wrist-free chipping and putting
➡️ Elbows pointed at the target
➡️ Consistency over flash
Learn how this technique can completely transform your game—especially when paired with the right clubs.
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💡 Chipping Like a Pro (Runyan Style):
• ✅ Use a 6-iron for short chips
• ✅ Use a 3-iron for long chip-and-runs (40–60 ft)
• ❌ Stop relying on high-loft wedges (60° or 50°) that lead to chunks and blades
• 🏹 Point those elbows—chip like you putt
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📊 Who Can Win at Quail Hollow?
This course rewards long drives but will be decided by short game mastery.
Since PGA matches are consistently held at Quail Hollow, returning players are comfortable—and hungry.
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🐎 Bob’s Picks for 2025 PGA Championship:
• Dark Horses:
🔹 Keegan Bradley – Long hitter, former PGA champ, hungry
🔹 Wyndham Clark – Playing great, trending up
• Top Contenders:
🥈 Xander Schauffele – Great history at Quail Hollow, always in the mix
🥇 Rory McIlroy – No. 1 in driving distance, strokes gained, and now top 10 in putting
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Whether you’re betting, watching, or working on your short game, this episode is packed with powerful insights.
👉 Subscribe for more expert picks, timeless golf lessons, and tournament previews that actually make you better.
#PGAChampionship #QuailHollow #GolfTips #ShortGame #grandslam
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0:00 Introduction
2:51 PGA Betting Picks Hazards
5:30 Bob Kurtz and Paul Runyon
8:35 Paul Runyon 1938 PGA Championship Win & Lesson
14:41 PGA Betting Preview and Picks to Win
19:43 Top Left handed Golfers Revealed
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I, Bob Kurtz, am a former sportscaster and was part of CNN’s first broadcasting team. I began my pursuit of golf world records for the best of reasons — to benefit neglected children and other worthwhile charities. I formed Ministries to Children as a 501c3 organization to raise money for single moms and their vulnerable children, and I continue to spread the message for everyone to join in stopping child abuse and neglect.

Golf’s Ironman YouTube channel was created to provide valuable golf instruction and teach you fun trick shots that will impress your friends. My goal is to help you improve your golf game! I present a straight-forward method to achieving longer and more accurate drives. Helping you get to the green by maximizing your approach shots, from navigating hazards to chipping like a pro! Once on the green, I’ll teach you how to sink all your putts and develop a strong short game!

I intertwine these short golf lessons with entertaining anecdotes from my experiences with legends like Ben Hogan, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer and many more! Throughout this journey I will share inspirational and motivational stories that will help you grow in the hardest part of golf, the mental game! Hit the subscribe button, and together we will make your golf game, Absolutely Amazing!

It’s PGA week, PGA Championship, one of the four majors. And what a program we have for you. What an episode. We’re going to give you the greatest lesson you have ever learned from the PGA Championship. It’s a lesson that helps the average golfer, the high handicapper, and even yes, guys on the PGA Tour. We’re going to have that lesson. We’re gonna pick you winners for the PGA Championships. Now, usually the PGA is like Ringo Star of the Beatles, you know, the least regarded of the four. Everybody loves the Masters of the US Open, the British Open, then the PGA. But this time, the PGA is so exciting. Rory Maroy going for the second leg of his grand slam. Uh Jordan Spe could complete his own grand slam. Lot going on. Plus, we remember one of the most exciting PGAs ever when Phil Mickelson in 2021 became the oldest winner of a major championship. He was almost 51 when he uh when he won at Kiwa Island. What a great victory that was. Let’s honor Phil Mickelson, the oldest winner of the PGA Championship. the oldest winner of a major by hitting the first shot of this episode left-handed. My goodness. My goodness. I may play left-handed all the time. Actually, I do play left-handed and right-handed a good deal of the uh time. I’m the supposedly the only person who’s ever shot their age left-handed and right-handed in the same same day, same tease. But that’s not what you’re interested in. So, let’s get right to it about the PGA Championship. But before we get to the picks and before we get to the the greatest lesson you will ever, ever, ever learn and from a PGA Championship, I have time for fun. Fun time for you. It’s a quiz. We mentioned that Phil Mickelson is the oldest winner of a major championship and he’s left-handed. So, here’s the quiz, and you can you can comment right below. Don’t fast forward to the end and get the answer. There have been five five left-handed winners of major championships. Can you name the five? Are you that smart? I bet you can name three of the remaining four, but the fifth one just might escape you. But let’s see just how smart you are before we reveal at the end of the uh the episode. Well, as you can see, we have moved. We’ve gone to the Chipping and Putting Green at beautiful Ancala Country Club here in Scottsdale. You know it’s Scottsdale because you can see Camelback Mountain right there behind me. Let’s talk again about who the favorites are, who we pick for this PGA Championship. A lot of people like Scotty Sheffller, Brooks Kepka, Colin Maracawa. All three of those I say, forget about him. Just forget about him. They’re not going to win. Scotty is just simply not playing his very, very best. He’s a great player and he’s got a chance, of course, but I wouldn’t bet on him to win. Same thing with Brooks Kepka. Brooks Kepka has won three of the last seven PGA championships. You think that Kepka has to be the favorite? Nope. Let’s forget about him. Colin Marawa. Great, great, great player. You know how many players there are in the PGA Championship? 156. Do you know where Colin Marawa is in driving distance on the PGA Tour? 157th. He There are 156 guys who drive the ball further than he does. and Quail Hollow is long, long, longest. So, those three we’re going to dismiss and we’re going to get to our top four in just a moment. But first, let’s talk about what we promised. The greatest lesson ever learned from a PGA championship. Important question. Do you want to look good, look pretty playing golf, or do you want to win? My dad is a great player. Played number one on the college golf team. I played number four. We played together incidentally. Tell you about that future episode. He putted. Get this like this. He let his elbows point right at the target like I’m going right at you. Horrible look. He was the best putter I ever saw. Stand over the ball. his elbows out like this and just stroke the ball so beautifully. Where in the world did dad get such a a horrible position at a dress for putting? He also used it for chipping and he was a great chipper. He learned it from the all-time great. His name Little Poison Paul Renan. I knew Paul Renion. I called him Mr. Renion. I know him very very very very well. He was the uh head pro at Green Gables Golf Club in Denver, Colorado when I was a sports cer there at Channel 9 in Denver uh years and years and years ago. We played golf together the first time. I’ll always remember it. Now Paul Renan was 54 5’5, weighed 125 pounds at the most. He broke his left arm like that when he swung. He shifted way over here and went. It was ugly. And so was his chipping and his putting. It was ugly. First time we played, I was playing very, very well at that time. I finished uh in the top five at the Colorado Open playing against Dave Hill, Hail Irwin, and them. Uh so I played with Mr. Runan and I’m out hitting him great distance. I’m almost feeling sorry for him. And he was almost 70 years old. We finished the round. Get this. We finished the round. And I said, “Uh, wonderful. An honor playing with you, Mr. Renion. What’d you shoot?” Now, I’d shot about a 73, 74, feeling pretty good. And he said, “69.” I’m thinking, “Here’s a golf hall of famer, PGA champion multiple times. He’s lying to me.” I went over that round over and over and over and over and over in my mind. He shot a 69. Did not did not make a bogey. Made three birdies. It’s easy way to tell that that’s a 69. One birdie was a chip in. Another birdie made a long putt. Another birdie hit a great shot close. Otherwise, he was just getting up and down all day long. A 69. And he didn’t hit the ball. Didn’t hit one golf shot that impressed me. I remember time we played I was on the I think it was the 14th hole and it was a blind shot and I couldn’t remember it and I go Mr. Runan uh where should I play my my next shot and he goes see the third window on the clubhouse and I go yes he says hit it right at the third window the window looked like looked about like my my little finger and I go Mr. Mr. Ren, I was kind of asking north by northwest. Uh, not that specific. He says, “You got to be specific. You got to go from point to point to point to understand how to play golf.” And he taught me something else. Listen to this. It’s not that important to hit greens. You can hit a green and be in bad position. If the pin’s up front and there’s a big drop off, a big swale and you’re up here, you’re probably going to three putt. If you hit your next shot to the right and just short and you’re chipping, it’s an easy chip. You might chip it in. You don’t have to hit the greens. You just have to position your golf ball. Did that work for Mr. Renan? How well did that work? I’ll tell you. Paul Renan had already won a PGA championship. And in 1938, he’s playing in the finals against Sam Sneeed. What a mismatch. Sam Sneed, the longest hitter on tour, against Paul Renan, the shortest hitter on tour. What happened? Sam Sneed said he doesn’t play golf. He just plays miraculous golf. In those days, it was match play. In other words, there are three kinds of ways to play golf. One is metal play, which you count your total strokes, and at the end of 72 holes, four rounds, you may shoot 280 and win. In match play, you play someone in your bracket, you win, you advance. You keep advancing till you’re in the finals, and then you play hole by hole. You win the hole, you’re one up. You lose the hole, you’re one down. Three and two is probably a pretty impressive win. In other words, it’ be three holes up with two holes left to go. Paul Renan beat Sam Sneed, the worst drubbing Samne Sneed ever had. And Sneeed, they say, was out driving him 75 to 100 yards. He beat Sam Sneed, get this, eight and seven. Eight and seven. In other words, he was eight holes ahead with only seven holes to go. They were playing 36 holes in those days. Sam Sneed always said that Paul Renan was the greatest short game guru golfer player of all time. So I am Sam Sneed. In regards to Paul Renan, he was known as Little Poison. Paul wasn’t a big guy uh by any means. He didn’t hit the ball very far, but oh what a short game he had. Second to none. I had the pleasure of playing Paul in the PGA Championship and I drive him some holes almost 100 yards, but you know the old saying is you drive for show and putt for dough. So that’s what happened. He killed me on the green. Uh I never saw a man uh had to touch or any better touch than Paul Renan. time. So, let’s learn from Paul Renan and see how important chipping and putting really, really is. Most golfers are just too wristy with their putting. I am. I forward press and then I’m wristy. And when I’m hot, I’m hot. And as Jerry Ree said, when I’m not, I’m not. Some like Ben Krenshaw just puted and rocked his shoulders, kept everything still. Renan putted with his elbows. His elbows pointed at the target. Watch. This is is strange, but it really, really works. So, your elbows, both of them. This looks ugly, doesn’t it? But, man, it’s like rocking a baby in a cradle, but it works. It works, doesn’t it? And this was one take. One take. And I did both those cuz by golly, if it wasn’t so ugly, I think I’d do it. What about chipping? Surely you’re not going to do this chipping. Yes, you are. The most important lesson you have to learn in chipping is what club to use. Everybody likes to use a wedge, a sand wedge, a 60, a 50, 54, whatever, because that makes the ball go up and then it checks a little bit. It looks super cool, but you chunk it, you blade it, you’re not very consistent with it. So, with your wedge, toss it. Now, I’ve got two other clubs here. You won’t believe this. This is a sixiron. This is a threeiron. For long long chips, use a threeiron. Here’s the sixiron. For shorter chips. In other words, Renan’s philosophy was simple. If you’re a good putter like this, you’ll be a good chipper like this. And actually, chipping is putting. All you want to do is get the ball onto the green as quick as possible and have it roll like a putt. Over spin and just find the hole. So in other words, with this sixiron for 25 ft. That’s the chip. Nothing great about it, but it’s a kick in. You won’t believe this shot. A threeiron. You said three iron. I don’t even hit a three iron on the course. Why would I use it for chipping? Because this is a long long long chip over 60 ft and it goes up a up a ridge. So, we want to get it on the green and rolling and it’ll have overspin and it’ll just keep going. So, here we go. Oh my gosh. Oh my god. Well, this really works, doesn’t it? Hey, you want to see that again? Let’s uh let’s see it in slow motion. What do you think? Is that lesson from Paul Renion about chipping and putting being more important than driving? That’s something to consider when we’re picking who the winner will be in this PGA Championship at Quail Hollow. Incidentally, Quail Hollow, it’s not just a random uh golf course that they sometimes pick like uh Oakmont or one like uh Southern Hills that they only play a major there every 10 or 12 years. They play every year at Quail Hollow. It used to be the the Keer Open there, regular tour event. Wovia, they played the World Series of Golf, the Wells Fargo, all these uh all these tournaments played on the same venue. So, the players are very very very accustomed to playing Quail Hollow. So, let’s start with our picks. First off, I’d [Laughter] u I’d like to pick two dark horses. Number one, you probably think of this Keegan Bradley. Yep. He’s won a PGA. He’s playing really well. He wants to play well. He’s motivated and he hits it long. Second one was always right there in uh but he is maybe maybe the most overlooked golfer, Windam Clark. These are my two dark horses. Now remember, if you bet on Scotty Sheffller or Rory Mroy in one of the the the five, it’s called the five there 500. 500. They’re plus 500. What does plus 500 mean? Well, that means if you bet $100 on Scotty Sheffller and he wins, you would win $500. That’s all that it that it means. You can make a lot of money if you bet $100 on Kagan Bradley or Windam Clark or way down the list get 2,000 3,000 or 4,000 but mostly if you bet $100 on one of the lower guys it’s just bye-bye to that $100. But now, let’s move ahead. Bum, drum roll, to who we think will win this PGA championship and who we think is a great betting favorite. Remember in the Masters, if you subscribed and if you watched in my picks for the Masters, you will remember that I picked the top two going in the final day, Roy Moy and Bryson Dshambo. Bang. Right on the money. Top two. Xander Schoffley. He’s just a great player. He can do it all. He’s had a great record at Quail Hollow. We mentioned that. Uh it’s not like you show up at one of these majors that they only play the Open Championship in Britain. They’ll that rotation goes from Royal, Litham, St. hands to St. Andrews to various Carni and all those courses. But Quail Hollow, the pros play every week, I mean every year just like they do at Augustus. So the familiarity with the course is great. Guess who finished second in the Wells Fargo at Quail Hollow the last two years? Xander Schoffley. He’s got a great record there and he’s due to win. Xander Schoffley, one of my top two picks. And then of course, Rory Mroy, sentimental favorite, exciting favorite, going to begin his second career grand slam and maybe to do a grand slam, all four majors in one year. It’s very, very possible. I pick Rory because he’s number one on the PGA Tour in driving, number one on strokes gained, tea green, and get this. Get this, you don’t know this, Rory Mroy is in the top 10 in putting. That’s right. Of the entire PGA Tour, he’s in the top 10 putting. You didn’t know that, did you? Rory Maroy, he drives it great. better than anybody maybe ever has. And this is a long long long course. And if he’s putting great and if he had the pressure’s off, isn’t it? The pressure is off Rory Mroy for this PG for this PGA championship. So, let’s pick this Northern Irishman. This lovable guy who’s had a ton of weight lifted off his shoulders finally to begin a quest for a second Grand Slam. Friends, that concludes our episode on the PGA Championship. So, meanwhile, oh yeah, about the five guys that won. I’m just playing with you. Just messing with you. I’m going to give you those names just in case you didn’t fast forward here to the end. the five that have won a major championship. Phil Mickelson, of course, who’s who’s won six major championships. Bubba Watson, who’s won two majors. Bob Charles, the first left-hander when he won at Royal Lith and St. Ans when he won the British Open. Mike Weir and of course the last one which you may or may not have gotten Brian Harmon just a couple years back. Brian Harmon won the open championship. So that concludes our PGA Championship program and let’s conclude with a tribute to all these fine heading lefties. And for all the rest of you, you right-handed golfers and you left-handed golfers, may your golf, your life, everything for you be absolutely amazing. Thank you for watching.