Scottie Scheffler made it official Sunday night at the Masters: He is one of the best players on the planet and has the major hardware to prove it.
The world No. 1 continued a generational run by blitzing the field at Augusta National Golf Club. Despite a sloppy (and potentially costly), four-putt double-bogey to end his 72nd hole, Scheffler won the season’s first major going away. It marks the fourth win in six starts overall for Scheffler, capping a hard-to-fathom run to start the 2022 season.
Now, we turn our attention toward counting down to the PGA Championship in May. Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla., will host the PGA this season where one of the massive storylines entering the week will be whether Phil Mickelson will tee it up to defend his improbable title victory.
As we look to the betting board, it’s the usual suspects up top after Scheffler’s Masters dominance, though the 25-year-old is not the current betting favorite. That distinction belongs to Jon Rahm, who finished tied for 27th at Augusta.
Here are the current favorites for Southern Hills coming out of the Masters. Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook.
Jon Rahm +1100
Scottie Scheffler +1200
Justin Thomas +1200
Collin Morikawa +1400
Dustin Johnson +1400
Bryson DeChambeau +1400
Brooks Koepka +1600
Jordan Spieth +1600
Cameron Smith +1800
Patrick Cantlay +2000
Viktor Hovland +2200
Xander Schauffele +2200
A few notes:
— It will probably feel hard to back Scheffler at the PGA because of the law of averages more than anything else. However, The Action Network’s Jason Sobel uncovered an interesting tidbit Sunday night: Southern Hills, according to Scheffler’s bio, is his favorite golf course to play.
— There should be plenty of hype for Oklahoma State alums going into the week. Viktor Hovland (+2200) sticks out, of course, and Talor Gooch (+10000) could be a very interesting play, too. Southern Hills is about 70 miles from Stillwater. Matthew Wolff (80-1), who is in pretty awful form right now, is another Cowboy on the board, as is Rickie Fowler (50-1).
Mickelson is listed at 80-1. Whether his supposedly self-imposed sabbatical ends before then is anyone’s guess.
— Tiger Woods is just 40-1 which seems like far too much respect even for him. Only five golfers who made the cut finished with a worse score than Woods, who labored through the weekend en route to a 13-over finish. It’s admirable he even teed it up a little more than a year after nearly losing a leg in a car wreck, but there’s no guarantee he even plays the PGA this year.
