PGA Championship betting rivals Masters; Koepka, Woods in hunt
The betting handle on the PGA Championship normally ranks last among golf’s four majors, far behind runaway leader the Masters.
But wagering on the 2020 PGA Championship — the first major in this unprecedented year — is expected to rival the Masters at Las Vegas sportsbooks.
“When you add up all the categories at the end of the week, it will be right there with the Masters this year for the first time ever,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “It’s the first major of the year. Sports betting is at an all-time high, and golf betting is at an all-time high, by a mile.
“When you add it all up, it will go over $1 million, for sure.”
Bogdanovich and Westgate sportsbook vice president of risk Jeff Sherman each said betting on golf has been up about 400 percent since the PGA Tour returned June 11. That’s largely because golf was one of the only games on the board after the coronavirus pandemic effectively shut down major sports.
“It wasn’t going against much competition,” Sherman said. “Now that we have the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball, we’re doing about double what we did before.
“We’ve definitely picked up new players.”
Long shots
The golf betting menu has expanded exponentially in recent years, but the biggest draw for wagering on the sport remains the chance to hit a long shot.
“People are drawn to the fact that they can risk a little to potentially win a lot,” Sherman said. “Betting games on a daily basis, you generally don’t have that opportunity unless you’re betting bad teams on the money line.
“People can get good golfers at favorable odds that can win and can cash. When you start out favorites in double digits, it’s attracting people to it.”
Dustin Johnson, fifth in the Official World Golf Ranking, cashed at 35-1 odds June 28 when he won the Travelers Championship. Michael Thompson cashed at 125-1 on July 26 when he won the 3M Open.
“How many other sports are you going to hit a 125-1 shot? It’s very rare,” VSiN host Matt Youmans said. “When people start to bet on golf, they hit a 40-1 bomb and fall in love with golf betting.”
While it’s difficult to pick an outright winner in a field of 156 golfers, all it takes is one to pad your bankroll.
“If you hit one long shot, it gives you a season and a half of free bets,” said handicapper Brian Blessing, host of Sportsbook Radio on KSHP-AM 1400.
More options
Golf bettors have many more options and outs now than they did just a few years ago. There are props and head-to-head matchups for the tournament and each round, adjusted odds to win the event after each round and live wagering in the final two rounds.
In 2015, Youmans had an $80 bet to win $6,400 on Zach Johnson at 80-1 odds to win the British Open. When Johnson went to a three-way playoff with Marc Leishman and Louis Oosthuizen, there was no way for Youmans to hedge his bet in Las Vegas.
“It was before phone apps. I was at a bar and I was stuck all or nothing because I had no way to get out,” said Youmans (@mattyoumans247). “Fortunately he won the playoff, but that would’ve been a bad beat story if he hadn’t won. You never want to be in an all-or-nothing situation like that.
“If you need to get a bet down right now, you pick up your phone and use an app and that wasn’t the case four or five years ago.”
Sherman said in-play betting on golf has been extremely well-received.
“People can jump in halfway through a round, look at the leaderboard and the odds and get involved at that point,” he said. “A basketball game lasts 2½ hours but in golf, there’s potentially eight hours of in-play betting per day.”
Adjusted odds
Blessing loves betting on the adjusted odds after the first or second round.
“You might get a guy like (Brooks) Koepka, if he’s four or five shots off the pace, at a higher price than he was to start the tournament,” he said.
Koepka, who went off as the 10-1 PGA Championship co-favorite, is in a pack of nine players a shot behind co-leaders Jason Day and Brendon Todd (-5) after Thursday’s first round at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco.
Koepka is the 5-1 favorite at adjusted odds at MGM Resorts, followed by Xander Schauffele (8-1), Day (9-1) and Bryson DeChambeau (11-1), who’s three shots back.
Tiger Woods, also three strokes off the pace, is 30-1 at adjusted odds after firing a 68 for his lowest opening round in a major since 2012.
Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm are each five strokes back and 28-1. Johnson is four strokes back and 35-1. Justin Thomas is six shots off the pace and 50-1.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.
