2021 PGA Championship Odds: McIlroy Becomes Favorite Following Win at Wells Fargo Championship
Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images. Pictured: Rory McIlroy.
All it took was one victory, and Rory McIlroy has become the favorite for the upcoming PGA Championship with odds that have officially been cut in half within a matter of days.
Fresh off missed cuts in his last two stroke-play starts – at the Masters and the Players Championship – and without a victory in more than a year-and-a-half, McIlroy was sitting at 20/1 for the year’s second major championship prior to the start of this week’s Wells Fargo Championship.
“We started seeing support for him; we got some respected sharp play at 20/1,” said Jeff Sherman, VP of Risk Management for SuperBookSports. He subsequently moved McIlroy’s price to 18/1 on Thursday, then 16/1 on Friday, which resulted in more wagers early in the weekend.
After his one-stroke victory at Quail Hollow, that number moved to 10/1, elevating him past previous co-favorites Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, while also leapfrogging Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele.
Of course, this year’s PGA Championship, scheduled for May 20-23, will be held at Kiawah’s Ocean Course, site of McIlroy’s eight-stroke victory at the same event back in 2012.
“There are going to be more people looking to back him,” Sherman explained Sunday evening. “I understand where the support is going to be coming from. Having won there by a comfortable margin before, I think people are going to be inclined to back him — especially after this win, when we hadn’t seen anything from him in so long.”
The situation recalls that of Jordan Spieth, who hadn’t won in four years until last month’s Valero Texas Open, one week before the Masters, where he’s also owned so much success. Spieth ultimately moved to 12/1 prior to finishing T-3 at Augusta National.
“Same type of betting patterns, same type of support,” Sherman added.
McIlroy’s odds for the PGA Championship aren’t the only ones on the move.
Following his 19th career PGA TOUR victory, SuperBookSports also moved his U.S. Open odds from 18/1 to 12/1; his Open Championship odds from 14/1 to 10/1; and his odds for next year’s Masters, at which a victory would give McIlroy the career grand slam, from 16/1 to 14/1.
How would you rate this article?
Follow Us On Social
