Bettor earns nearly $1M live-betting on PGA’s Joaquin Niemann

Joaquin Niemann took home $2.16 million for winning the PGA Tour’s Genesis Invitational on Sunday, and one bettor who backed Niemann wasn’t that far behind.

A bettor at DraftKings Sportsbook won $980,000 after live-betting $35,000 on Niemann at 28-1 during the first round of the tournament Thursday.

Niemann ended up going wire-to-wire in the event, winning by two strokes over Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young at 19-under 265.

Morikawa and Young each received $1.068 million. Adam Scott and Viktor Hovland tied for fourth and each received $540,000 — $440,000 less than the DraftKings bettor.

DraftKings is not available in Nevada.

Masters approaching

Golf’s first major is right around the corner, and Jon Rahm is the 9-1 favorite at the Westgate SuperBook for the Masters, which starts April 7 in Augusta, Georgia.

Morikawa and Jordan Spieth are next at 14-1, followed by Justin Thomas at 16-1, and Patrick Cantlay, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and Xander Schauffele all at 18-1.

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama is 30-1. Niemann is 50-1.

Another Daytona surprise

Rookie Austin Cindric held off Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney to win the Daytona 500 on Sunday.

Cindric went off at 30-1 at the Westgate, delivering a second straight unlikely victory in NASCAR’s premier event. Last year, Michael McDowell took advantage of a last-lap crash to win at odds of as high as 100-1.

Westgate vice president of risk Ed Salmons said via text message that the book was “a very small winner” to Cindric.

After the season-opening race, Kyle Larson is the +350 favorite at the Westgate to win the NASCAR Cup Series title, ahead of Chase Elliott at 6-1 and Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin at 8-1. Cindric is 40-1 to win the title.

Larson is the 3-1 favorite for the Wise Power 400 on Sunday in Fontana, California. Busch and Elliott are next at 7-1. Cindric is 80-1 to start the season with back-to-back victories.

Conference tournament odds

College basketball conference tournaments are fast approaching, and Circa Sports has odds up for the major men’s leagues.

San Diego State is the 3-1 favorite for what shapes up to be a highly competitive Mountain West tournament from March 9 to 12 at the Thomas &Mack Center.

Boise State is right behind at +340, followed by Colorado State at +355, Wyoming at +455 and Utah State at +625.

UNLV is +750, and UNR is 40-1.

The favorites in other conferences are:

■ Houston (-120) in the American Athletic Conference.

■ Duke (-125) in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

■ Purdue (+180) in the Big Ten.

■ Kansas (+180) in the Big 12.

■ Villanova (+135) in the Big East.

■ Arizona (-150) in the Pac-12.

■ Kentucky (+185) in the Southeastern Conference.

Circa also has “yes/no” options on most of the top teams in each conference.

For instance, bettors could wager that Arizona won’t win the Pac-12 tournament at +120. That would give bettors a rooting interest in every team except the Wildcats for the tournament, set for March 9 to 12 at T-Mobile Arena.

Contact Jim Barnes at jbarnes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0277. Follow @JimBarnesLV on Twitter.