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

Las Vegas Review-Journal

2 years ago

Joaquin Niemann, of Chile, hits his second shot on the first hole during the final round of the ... — Joaquin Niemann, of Chile, hits his second shot on the first hole during the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)

Joaquin Niemann, of Chile, hits his second shot on the 13th hole during the final round of the Genesis Invitational golf tournament at Riviera Country Club, Sunday, Feb. 20, 2022, in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ryan Kang)

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.

Thursday, 4:17PM EST: A bettor put $35,000 on Joaquin Niemann at +2800

Potential Payout: 1,015,000 😳 pic.twitter.com/6GsbjNL07l

— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) February 19, 2022

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.