West Virginia bettors can observe another multiday golf carnival.
The second major of the season, the PGA Championship, dawns Thursday-Sunday from the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
There is a load of value available to Mountain State bettors.
PGA Championship odds at WV sportsbooks
Jon Rahm is favored, as always, but he’s at +1100 at DraftKings WV Sportsbook. That’s a better price than what’s been offered in recent weeks.
Scottie Scheffler, the Masters champion and the world’s top-ranked player, is +1200. His 15th place finish at the Byron Nelson last weekend, even while shooting 19 under par, shows that even the top players can’t always best the field.
Scheffler became a money pit in the books’ favor last week. He took significant action as the favorite and still paid a reasonable +100 to finish in the top 10. Mountain State bettors jumped on that, but Scheffler couldn’t get over the top, and the books did well on that one.
Justin Thomas is a solid price this week at +1200.
Collin Morikawa is tied for the next spot, with Jordan Spieth at +1600. Spieth just had an excellent outing at the Byron Nelson, finishing second by one stroke. But in this talented field, he commands a price.
Value sits even further down, too. Some player in the range of +2500 to +4000 often comes up big in these tournaments. But the question is pinpointing whom.
“Unlike the Masters, which is held at the same place each year, this tournament moves its location every year, and you don’t know who is going to get hot,” Johnny Avello, the director of race and sportsbook operations for DraftKings, told PlayWV.
“That’s one reason the in-game betting is so strong.”
The entry of Tiger Woods boosts tournament appeal. Galleries love him.
Woods made the cut at the Masters after returning from a 17-month layoff from injury. He ran out of steam and carded two 78s over the weekend.
He’s back and presumably will play better. Some sentimentality will prevail. Woods is +6500 to win, +1200 for the top five, and +600 for the top 10.
How to watch the 2022 PGA Championship
- Thursday, May 19: 2-8 p.m. (ESPN)
- Friday, May 20: 2-8 p.m. (ESPN)
- Saturday, May 21: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN); 1-7 p.m. (CBS)
- Sunday, May 22: 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (ESPN); 1-7 p.m. (CBS)
Betting on the PGA Tour
Bettors who miss Thursday’s first tee can watch how players do and place wagers when they feel they’ve discovered a trend.
“Some people get in early, and maybe they don’t like their spot,” Avello said. “So maybe they double up during the tournament. They may also see that someone they expected to do well did strike the ball well in the first round, but didn’t score well.
“We are always adjusting the prices so that players may now have more value. Gamblers might also see that a player competed in the morning on the course rather than in the afternoon when the conditions were easier. They see that the player is going to tee off in the afternoon the next day and so that’s a good time to wager.”
Avello said the adjusted price is the most popular in-tournament feature for gamblers, who can ride the fluctuating betting odds all weekend.
But other bets also have appeal.
Gamblers can create a tournament within a tournament, forecasting the winner of matchups between three, four, or even five golfers.
They can wager on the ensuing hole regarding whether a player will get the customary par, as opposed to the bogey or birdie that will pay something.
As a rule, par 5s offer excellent birdie opportunism, especially if players have two clear shots to the green. And long par 4s with multi-tiered greens are bogey threats.
PGA Championship betting wrinkles at BetMGM
Golf remains a shopper’s paradise. There are so many players that bettors can scour the books and find an edge on betting odds between different operators.
Rahm is +1200 at BetMGM WV Sportsbook, slightly more than the +1100 at DraftKings, and a substantial advantage of profit ($1,200 vs. $1,100) on a $100 wager.
Scheffler is an excellent price of +130 to gain a return finish to the top 10. Spieth, who just missed winning the Byron Nelson, is +190 for a top-10 finish.
There are good values in the top 40 as well. K.H. Lee wasn’t expected to win the Byron Nelson last weekend. But he was roughly even money to finish in the top 40.
That’s a lot of leeway for odds, similar to an NFL game. To be successful, a player must beat slightly more than half the players who make the cut.
Here is another sample from Caesars WV:
Spieth, Will Zalatoris, and Max Homa to all make the cut is +150.
You can bet on at least two holes-in-one for the entire championship at odds of +275. There’s also the margin of victory:
- One stroke +250
- Two strokes +350
- Three strokes +450
- Four strokes +330
- Playoff +300
