The 116th U.S. Open Championship tees off Thursday at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, Pa., and the leading golf oddsmaker in Las Vegas thinks it’ll be a wide open tournament.
Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook assistant manager Jeff Sherman has Jason Day listed as the 13/2 favorite (+650) followed by Rory McIlroy at 7/1 and last year’s winner Jordan Speith at 15/2, who he initially opened as the 7/1 favorite following the Masters in April.
Sherman says Dustin Johnson has been the most bet golfer at 15/1, but the most money has come in on Spieth, Branden Grace (30/1) and Day. He says the Masters is their most bet tournament of the year, and this week’s handle will be about half of what they did for the Masters, but double what they’ll write for the other two majors – the Open Championship in July at Royal Troon Golf Club and two weeks later for the PGA Championship at Baltusrol Golf Club.
“The winner on this course is going to have to feature an all-around game,” said Sherman. “It tests every facet of each golfer’s game and will wear these guys out mentally.”
One of the golfers Sherman has his eye that offers good value is Matt Kuchar at 40/1 odds.
“He’s playing as well as anyone right now,” Sherman said of Kuchar. “He’s just getting high odds right now because he’s never won a major; he’s been in good position in the past, but he’s never won one yet. He should be a solid bet in most match-ups and you’ll see the market priced differently for him there because of his consistency compared to what he’s offered to win.”
Sherman changed things up a bit this year on his odds to win index by offering all 156 golfers with a price. There is no Field bet, something he says he’s going to continue to do for every major.
“Bettors like to have a golfers name on it attached with bigger odds,” he said. Despite so many golfers listed he’s still offering a bettor-friendly theoretic hold percentage at 30 percent.
Sherman was working on his dozens of props on Monday afternoon and will open them for action on Tuesday. Some of the regular props he offers for majors are OVER/UNDER on the lowest score of the tourna​ment, if certain popular golfers will make Friday’s cut and total score from the top golfers.
Sherman will also be updating odds to win after each round and have daily matchups for each round. If looking to watch the U.S. Open with sound on with the most beautiful viewing presentation, then the Westgate’s your place to be with their remodeled room. The HD screens are so clear you can almost smell the freshly manicured greens through the TV.
Micah Roberts is a former Las Vegas race and sports book director, one of The Linemakers on SportingNews.com , and longtime motorsports columnist and sports analyst at GamingToday. Twitter: @MicahRoberts7 Email: [email protected].