PGA odds: How sportsbooks did on Masters, Tiger Woods, Scottie Scheffler
With Tiger Woods competing at the Masters last week, bettors descended upon the sportsbooks like the fan galleries following the final group at Augusta.
Woods made the cut but faded from contention as Scottie Scheffler's dominant victory ended up being bad news for the books.
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Scheffler earning the coveted green jacket may have been his coming-out party to most of the world (he did not have a PGA Tour win two months ago), but golf bettors knew all about the former Texas Longhorns standout who is ranked No. 1 in the world.
BetMGM Data Analyst John Ewing said 11.4% of tickets were written on Woods in their book. The second-most (8.9%) were written on Scheffler.
Yet Scheffler had the higher handle percentage (25%), with Woods at 11.2%, Ewing said. BetMGM took a $13,400 bet on Scheffler at +1600 to win $214,000. Scheffler, who also has four top-eight finishes at the other majors, won the Phoenix Open in February, the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 6 and the WGC Match Play on March 27.
"We lost quite a bit on the Masters, it was probably our worst result ever," BetMGM Director of Trading Jeff Stoneback said. "There were about four golfers we had a large loss on and Scheffler unfortunately was one of those."
Scheffler started the week at +1600 (bet $10 to win $170 total).
"From his opening price, Scheffler moved to being one of the favourites pre-tournament following his impressive early season run," FOX Bet Senior Trader Tieme Wesselink said. "He managed to keep his form going at the Masters in only his third appearance at Augusta. After his first major win, he fully established himself among the best golfers in the world, if not the best."
Tiger Mania resulted in lots of action on Woods at the Masters.
"This year’s Masters was one of the most anticipated sporting events with the headline being the return of Tiger Woods," BetMGM Director of Trading Matt Cosgriff said. "The crowd believed strongly in Tiger, and we assumed the greatest single liability in BetMGM history on any payout ever.
"Day Three emphasized the belief that a Scheffler victory was in the bag, and we took heavy action on him. Despite some assumption of a Cam Smith victory at +250 going into the final round, it was all about the new world No. 1."
Not all Scheffler backers walked away happy.
With the victory all but assured, Scheffler needed four putts on the final hole to finish at 10-under par (278) to win by three shots (you can't blame him for not being laser-focused at that point).
Scheffler's 278, as they say, was significant to some.
The over/under for the winning score at the Masters was 277.5 so under bettors took the loss with Scheffler's final putt. At the 18th tee, a par would've had Scheffler finish at 276. You know the saying, those are the breaks of the game.
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