Scottie Scheffler is still the No. 1-ranked player in the world. He’s still the reigning Masters champion and one of the hottest-hitting golfers of the year.
Yet Scheffler’s odds to win The Open Championship this week at St. Andrews in Scotland have faded into the crowd, which may be causing bettors to jump on his longer-than-usual number.
BetRivers said Tuesday that Scheffler — sixth on the board at +1800 to win The Open — has attracted both the highest share of the handle (8.6 percent) and the most total bets (7 percent) at the sportsbook.
Scheffler broke through earlier this year with four victories across six starts, culminating at the Masters. He missed the cut at the PGA Championship in a bit of a surprise, but rebounded last month at the U.S. Open by tying for second.
But the 25-year-old is not one of the handful of favorites on the futures market this week. World No. 2 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is the consensus favorite, coming in at +1000 at BetRivers. The four-time major champion won the Canadian Open last month and scored top-10 finishes at each of the first three majors of the year.
Then there’s Xander Schauffele, second-favorite at +1400, whose recent form has him hotter than anyone in golf. Schauffele has won his last two PGA Tour starts, the Scottish Open and the Travelers Championship, and sandwiched them around a victory at a 36-hole pro-am in Ireland.
Jordan Spieth, Jon Rahm of Spain and U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick of England are tied at +1600 at BetRivers. All three are past major winners, but none are garnering as much action as Scheffler.
It was a similar story at BetMGM, where Scheffler was tied with Spieth, Rahm, and Fitzpatrick at +1800, also behind McIlroy (+1000) and Schauffele (+1400). As of Monday morning, Scheffler accounted for 8 percent of the handle, behind only McIlroy (13.1 percent), fan favorite Tiger Woods (8.4 percent) and Spieth (8.1 percent).
The Open begins Thursday.
–Field Level Media