Masters champ heavy favorite in other majors, but Grand Slam long shot
Scottie Scheffler, fresh off his second Masters victory Sunday, is the overwhelming favorite to win each of the three remaining major golf championships this year.
Scheffler is an 80-1 long shot at the Westgate SuperBook to win the Grand Slam, which entails winning all four majors in the same calendar year.
“It’s a number that on the surface looks really high because he has such short odds on the other three remaining ones,” SuperBook golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman said. “But when you parlay it out, it adds up quickly.”
Scheffler is the shortest favorite, at 4-1 odds at the SuperBook, to win the PGA Championship since Tiger Woods (4-1) in 2013, according to Sportsoddshistory.com.
Scheffler, 27, is +450 to win the U.S. Open and 5-1 to win the British Open. Every other golfer has double-digit odds or higher.
No golfer has won the modern Grand Slam, though Woods held all four major titles at the same time after winning the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000 and the Masters in 2001.
Scheffler entered the Masters as the shortest favorite, at 5-1, since Woods (+350) in 2013.
Scheffler pulled away on the back nine of the final round Sunday at Augusta National en route to a four-shot victory (11-under par 277). He became the first pretournament favorite to win the Masters since Woods in 2005.
“You generally don’t see it happen that much in any of the majors,” Sherman said. “He’s the closest thing we’ve seen to what we saw when Tiger was running well.”
Books win on Masters
The SuperBook, Station Sports and BetMGM reported solid wins on the Masters with the short favorite garnering the green jacket.
“It was really good,” Sherman said. “Scheffler was No. 1 in tickets and money but when you have such short odds, the liability doesn’t add up quickly. He was a really solid position for us.”
Wagers on Woods
Woods went under his first-round score prop of 74½ when he opened with a 73. He also made his record 24th consecutive cut at the Masters to cash tickets for the betting public that paid +110.
“We lost a little bit on him making the cut,” Sherman said. “We had sharp money on the ‘no,’ but the public was all over the ‘yes’ side on that one.
“They bet the over on the first-round score a little bit so we did well there.”
The betting public lost on a popular tournament matchup between Woods and Phil Mickelson, who closed at -150. Woods (+130) led the matchup by three strokes after the first two rounds but fell apart on the weekend. He posted rounds of 82 and 77 en route to a 16-over 304, the worst 72-hole score of his career. Mickelson finished at 8-over 296.
“We had a lot of Tiger money against Mickelson in that matchup. That was one of the better matchups we did. They’re just both so polarizing,” Sherman said. “We wrote three times as much on that Tiger-Phil matchup than the next matchup we offered.
“You just see what Tiger means and how he moves the needle for everything.”
NBA play-in lines
The NBA play-in tournament tips off Tuesday with a Western Conference doubleheader. The No. 7 Pelicans are 1-point home favorites over the No. 8 Lakers in a rematch of Los Angeles’ 124-108 win at New Orleans on Sunday.
The No. 10 Warriors are 2½-point road favorites over the No. 9 Kings in a rematch of last year’s first-round playoff series. Golden State won Game 7 at Sacramento 120-100.
The winners of the Nos. 7-8 matchups earn the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The losers host the winners of the Nos. 9-10 games, with the winners earning the No. 8 seeds.
The Eastern Conference doubleheader tips off Wednesday. The No. 7 76ers are favored by 4½ over the No. 8 Heat. The No. 9 Bulls are favored by 3 over the No. 10 Hawks.
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on X.
