Golf betting: Jon Rahm is the WGC Match Play favorite, but watch out for the underdogs

Nick Bromberg

Betting the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play is a tricky endeavor.

The tournament is unlike any other major golf event. The 64 players in the event are broken into pods of four and play three head-to-head match play rounds. The 16 winners of each pod advance to a single-elimination match-play bracket and the winner is crowned on Sunday afternoon. It’s a grueling five-day weekend for the players who make it to the knockout rounds.

Billy Horschel beat Scottie Scheffler in the final of the 2021 tournament. Horschel was the No. 32 seed entering the tournament. Scheffler was the No. 30 seed.

Players are drawn into the four-man groups via tiers. The top 16 players are in Pool A, the next 16 are in Pool B and so on. Only one player from Pool A made the final 16 last year: Jon Rahm. Seven players from Pool D advanced to the final 16.

See, we told you betting this tournament is tricky.

Rahm is the favorite for this year’s tournament at +1400. He’s currently getting 3% of bets and 4.5% of the handle. Nine players are getting more wagers than Rahm. The most-bet player in the field so far is the No. 2 favorite, Justin Thomas. Thomas is at +1600 and is getting 6.4% of wagers and just under 9% of the handle.

Scheffler (+2000) is getting the most money of any golfer. He’s getting 5.2% of wagers and that makes up 10% of the handle. Scheffler, Thomas, Kevin Kisner and Dustin Johnson are the only four golfers with at least 5% of the handle ahead of the tournament.

Here are the favorites for this weekend’s tournament from BetMGM. Each golfer plays his round-robin matches on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The round of 16 and quarterfinal matches are played on Saturday and the semifinals and final are played on Sunday.

Match play favorites

  • Jon Rahm (+1400)

  • Justin Thomas (+1600)

  • Viktor Holland (+1800)

  • Collin Morikawa (+2000)

  • Scottie Scheffler (+2000)

  • Dustin Johnson (+2200)

  • Patrick Cantlay (+2200)

  • Xander Schauffele (+2200)

  • Daniel Berger (+2800)

  • Billy Horschel (+3300

  • Brooks Koepka (+3300)

  • Joaquin Niemann (+3300)

  • Jordan Spieth (+3300)

  • Louis Oosthuizen (+3300)

  • Matt Fitzpatrick (+3300)

  • Paul Casey (+3300)

  • Shane Lowry (+3300)

  • Tyrrell Hatton (+3300)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA - MARCH 14: Jon Rahm of Spain plays a golf approach shot on the seventh hole during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 14, 2022 in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Jon Rahm of Spain plays a golf approach shot on the seventh hole during the final round of The Players Championship on the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass on March 14, 2022, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) (Jared C. Tilton via Getty Images)

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