World No. 1 shortest Masters favorite since Tiger Woods in 2013

Scheffler, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, is the +450 favorite at the Westgate SuperBook to win the year’s first major, which tees off April 11 at Augusta National.

The odds are the shortest for a Masters favorite since Woods was +350 in 2013, according to sportsoddshistory.com.

Woods was a favorite of +350 or less every year from 2000 to 2009, the website said. The five-time Masters champion was 5-1 in 2010 and +450 in 2012.

Scheffler settled for second place Sunday at the Houston Open. The 2022 Masters champion was coming off consecutive wins at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship.

“His metrics, tee to green, are just absolutely dominating everybody,” SuperBook golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman said. “If he has a halfway decent week putting, there’s a wide gap between his statistics and everybody else’s.”

Rory McIlroy is the 12-1 second choice, and defending champion Jon Rahm is the 14-1 third pick.

“Their odds have been easing out because of a lack of interest on them,” said Sherman (@golfodds). “Ever since Rahm has gone to LIV, people haven’t been too involved in him. He’s the defending champion. We started him at 8 and now we’re up to 14 and we’re not seeing much at all on him.

“Rory is just struggling to get wins. He’s up to 12 and it wouldn’t surprise me if he goes higher.”

Las Vegas resident Xander Schauffele is the 16-1 fourth favorite, followed by Brooks Koepka, who tied for second at last year’s Masters, at 20-1.

“Xander has had some narrow misses, so he’s come down from 25 to 16,” Sherman said. “Even though Koepka went to LIV last year, he narrowly missed winning the Masters and won the PGA (Championship) in the next major.

“Everybody’s familiar with his focus in the majors and he’s always going to get betting interest there.”

Viktor Hovland, in a pack of five players at 25-1, is the ticket leader at the SuperBook, followed by Koepka and Scheffler. Hovland is third in money wagered behind Schauffele and Scheffler.

Former Masters champions Hideki Matsuyama and Jordan Spieth also are 25-1. Matsuyama is a liability at the SuperBook.

“Hideki got a win earlier this year and he’s been playing really well,” Sherman said. “He won the Masters before so they’re betting him. He was as high as 50-1.”

Woods six-figure liability

Woods is the longest shot he’s ever been at the Masters at 150-1. He’s played only one full round this year, which came at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera.

“Of guys less than (200-1) to win, he’s our largest liability. We’re already at a six-figure liability on Tiger,” Sherman said. “We’ll see what interest he draws next week. If it’s not typical Tiger, he could go out further than where he is.

“The starting point is his cut prop. I know we’ll handle some good money on that. If he makes the cut, then putting together the four days seems like such a tough go for him, to complete four days right now.”

Sherman said the betting handle, or amount of money wagered, on the Masters is almost 10 times more than any of the other three golf majors.

Last Man Standing

Only 30 contestants remain from a starting field of 2,970 in Station Casinos’ Last Man Standing elimination NCAA Tournament contest. Entries were $25 each (or five for $100) and the aggregate prize is $59,975.

The 30 surviving entries have each gone 8-0 ATS after picking a point-spread winner in each of the first eight days of the tournament.

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.

A previous version of this story included incorrect information about last year’s Masters.