Scheffler in Tiger territory as Open betting fave

For the fourth and final time this year, Scottie Scheffler is the outright favorite in a major golf tournament, carrying a +500 price into the 152nd Open Championship, according to ESPN BET odds.

The feat has Scheffler sharing rarified betting air, yet again, with arguably the greatest golfer of all time. He is the first player to be favored outright in every major of a calendar year since Tiger Woods did so in 2013; Woods accomplished that feat an astounding 12 times in his career.

Assuming his favorite status at Royal Troon holds, Scheffler also will have been the pre-tournament favorite or co-favorite at eight consecutive majors, tying him with Woods (2009-10 and 2012-13) for the longest such streak in the last 15 years.

The betting public is backing Scheffler at a healthy clip, attracting a field-leading 9.3% of the bets and 19.6% of the handle at ESPN BET,.

BetMGM, DraftKings and FanDuel also reported Scheffler as their tickets and money leader, but his short price dictates that he would need even more handle to give bookmakers a real scare.

“Surprisingly, we are on the plus side with Scottie. I don’t know why — maybe [bettors] feel like the price is too short, but that hasn’t stopped them in the past,” DraftKings director of sportsbook Johnny Avello told ESPN. “That doesn’t mean that they’re not betting it, it’s just that we don’t have a liability on him right now.”

Accordingly, DraftKings lengthened Scheffler’s odds to win the tournament from +450 to +500 between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Scheffler has managed to maintain his favorite status at the majors this year by dominating the PGA Tour regular season: He won two tournaments before winning the Masters, then won an event between each of the other majors. But Scheffler still hasn’t tasted victory at a major championship outside of Augusta National in his career, and the Open Championship historically has not been friendly to Americans.

Since 1950, Americans have won The Open 47% of the time, well below the next closest, the Masters (68%), according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Americans have not won back-to-back Opens since they won four straight from 2003 to 2006, putting that much more pressure on players from the U.S. after Brian Harman lifted the Claret Jug last year.

Despite his collapse at the U.S. Open, Rory McIlroy is still the second-favorite this weekend, showing +800 odds on ESPN BET. He trails only Scheffler for ticket (6.8%) and handle (10.3%) at the book, a status shared at BetMGM and DraftKings.

Other popular Europeans include Ludvig Åberg (14-1), Tommy Fleetwood (22-1) and Jon Rahm (25-1).

There’s also rising star Robert MacIntyre (45-1), who last week became the first Scotsman to win the Scottish Open since Colin Montgomerie in 1999. Despite that, the 27-year-old MacIntyre still has only attracted 2.5% of the bets and 2.1% of the money at ESPN BET, and he is outside the top 10 for betting splits at all books polled.

If there’s one thing MacIntyre has going for him, it’s that the last player to win the Scottish Open and Open Championship in the same year was fellow lefty Phil Mickelson.