Read The Line
Scottie Scheffler is making history with his insanely low odds to win the Houston Open
Editor's Note: This article is published in partnership with Read The Line, a Golf Digest content partner.
Keyur Khamar
Is Scottie Scheffler about to make history as the betting favorite in Texas this week? Scheffler’s outright odds are as low as +250 to win the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open. It’s a combination of Scheffler’s insane form and his course history at Memorial Park. The No. 1 player in the world has finished 32nd, second, and ninth in three starts.
According to RickRunGood.com, my favorite data site, Scheffler’s +250 odds are the lowest pre-tournament going back to 2019. (And it’s likely even longer than that. RickRunGood.com stores betting odds going back to 2019.) The closest anyone has come to Scheffler’s 3-1 Houston Open line was Jon Rahm last year at the Mexico Open (a cumulative +380). Leading up to that tournament, Rahm won four times to start 2023 including the Masters! Note: Gehman’s odds don’t include the Tour Championship, which is wonky to use for comparisons given the starting strokes.
Take a look below at the players with the lowest odds to win for non-Tour Championship events going back to 2019, per RickRunGood.com:
I continue to read and hear comparisons between Scottie’s superb strokes gained run over the last year and Tiger’s ball-striking statistics. Scheffler with very short odds provides us with another avenue to compare the two. Tiger Woods closed the 2007 season by winning five of his last six starts. The event he didn’t win, Woods finished second. Opening 2008 at The Buick Invitational (current Farmers Insurance Open), Tiger’s odds to win were EVEN money.
Woods won his first three starts in 2008. Heading into Augusta, Tiger was a +200 favorite to win. Scottie Scheffler is currently +450 to win the Masters. When it comes to history in golf, betting can provide a perspective strokes gained can’t always encapsulate. We can still watch in awe of what Scottie Scheffler is accomplishing. His current play is comparable to the greats of all-time. But in the eyes of the bookmakers, where money sets the stakes, Woods’s record of cashing is still king.
Keith Stewart is a five-time award-winning PGA professional, a betting contributor and content partner with Golf Digest and founder of Read The Line, the premier on-site live golf betting insights service covering the LPGA and PGA TOUR. Subscribe to Read The Line’s weekly newsletter here and raise your golf betting acumen. Keith's winning content can also be found on Sports Grid, Bleacher Report and The Sporting News. Follow him on Twitter @readtheline_.
