Rory McIlroy has emerged as the consensus favorite to win the PGA Championship at sportsbooks around the nation; however, bookmakers are reporting more betting interest on an American in good form — Jordan Spieth.
McIlroy is the favorite at 11-1 at Caesars Sportsbook by William Hill. Jon Rahm is 14-1, followed by Spieth and Justin Thomas, each at 16-1. Dustin Johnson and Bryson DeChambeau are each 18-1.
McIlroy began the week as the co-favorite, along with Justin Thomas, but has separated himself this week atop the odds in the betting market. McIlroy has had success at this week’s venue, Kiawah Island in South Carolina, winning the 2012 PGA Championship at the course by 8 strokes. He is also coming off a win at the Wells Fargo Championship on May 9 in his last start.
While McIlroy has risen to the top of oddsboards, bettors have been more interested in Spieth, who also has seen his odds to win improve leading up to the year’s second major. Last month, Spieth could be found at 30-1 or higher to win the PGA Championship.
As of Tuesday at multiple sportsbooks, there were more bets and more money on Spieth than there were on any other golfer. William Hill director of trading Nick Bogdanovich said there had been enough early betting interest that he expected to have a liability on Spieth when the tournament tees off Thursday.
“We’ll lose with Spieth, regardless,” Bogdanovich said in a company release.
American Sam Burns, who won the Valspar Championship to open May and finished second last week at the Byron Nelson Classic, also is receiving support at sportsbooks and has seen his odds to win this week improve dramatically. Three weeks ago, Burns was 125-1 at William Hill books. He is now 40-1.
“Sam Burns is a big problem for us,” Bogdanovich said. “People got some big numbers on him … 125-1, 100-1 then 75-1. He’s like in the Spieth range when it comes to liability. He’s our second-worst result.”