This article is part of our Golf Draft Kit series.
One of the best feelings in sports betting is securing a ticket on a golfer whose odds drop significantly before a tournament begins -- particularly when that tournament is a major championship.
As always, four of those will be played in 2024, and if you buy in early the payoff will be better if your player winds up in the winner's circle.
All odds via DraftKings Sportsbook as of December 5, 2024.
The Masters
The Course: Augusta National Golf Club
Best Bet: Corey Conners (80-1)
This is obviously a long shot, but I'm shocked Conners' odds are so high considering that this is the smallest field of the four majors with the fewest golfers that have a realistic chance to win. Conners has four top-10s in majors and three of them have come at Augusta, and we know prior success matters more there than arguably anywhere else. Conners had a slow start last year but turned things around in the summer with five top-10s across his final 10 events with zero missed cuts. He's always been known as an excellent ball striker, but his short game is much improved. If he starts the year strong, I could see him in the 50- to 60-1 range come April.
PGA Championship
The Course: Quail Hollow Club
Best Bet: Viktor Hovland (20-1)
The PGA Championship will return to Quail Hollow, which hosted the 2017 version of the event. Hovland was still an amateur back then but has fared well at this venue, finishing
One of the best feelings in sports betting is securing a ticket on a golfer whose odds drop significantly before a tournament begins -- particularly when that tournament is a major championship.
As always, four of those will be played in 2024, and if you buy in early the payoff will be better if your player winds up in the winner's circle.
All odds via DraftKings Sportsbook as of December 5, 2024.
The Masters
The Course: Augusta National Golf Club
Best Bet: Corey Conners (80-1)
This is obviously a long shot, but I'm shocked Conners' odds are so high considering that this is the smallest field of the four majors with the fewest golfers that have a realistic chance to win. Conners has four top-10s in majors and three of them have come at Augusta, and we know prior success matters more there than arguably anywhere else. Conners had a slow start last year but turned things around in the summer with five top-10s across his final 10 events with zero missed cuts. He's always been known as an excellent ball striker, but his short game is much improved. If he starts the year strong, I could see him in the 50- to 60-1 range come April.
PGA Championship
The Course: Quail Hollow Club
Best Bet: Viktor Hovland (20-1)
The PGA Championship will return to Quail Hollow, which hosted the 2017 version of the event. Hovland was still an amateur back then but has fared well at this venue, finishing T3 at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2021 and leaading the field in SG: Off-the-Tee in 2023. This is the only major championship that Hovland has never missed a cut at -- he's a perfect 5-for-5 -- and he's posted results of solo third and T2 over the last two PGA Championships. Driving it long and straight will be key here and there's not a lot of golfers that have a better combination of the two than Hovland.
U.S. Open
The Course: Oakmont Country Club
Best Bet: Russell Henley (65-1)
There are plenty of handicappers that will tell you that Henley is not good enough to win a major, but the same people probably thought that about Brian Harman. Oakmont Country Club is this year's host, which was won by Dustin Johnson in 2016, but short-hitting Jim Furyk finished T2. Henley's 2024 campaign in which he qualified for the Presidents Cup while finishing T4 at the TOUR Championship gives me the confidence that he's ready to win on this stage. He's coming off back-to-back major top-10s and has three top-15s in U.S. Open setups over his last four appearances.
The Open Championship
The Course: Royal Portrush Golf Club
Best Bet: Tommy Fleetwood (25-1)
Fleetwood will probably be a common pick here, and I expect his odds to only get better. The Open returns to Royal Portrush, home of Shane Lowry's emotional victory in his home country in 2019. Fleetwood was the runner-up, and while he's shown success at every major, his three top-10s at Open's since 2019 is the best of the bunch. The main knock on Fleetwood is that he doesn't have a PGA Tour win, but he's won seven times on the DP World Tour over quality competition, so I don't doubt that he can get it done at this level. He has too good of an all-around game on top of being one of the best iron players not to get it done soon. This is a place that makes a lot of sense for it to happen.
