Golf Betting Lines – Golf Odds 2023
Betting on golf is a bit different than other sports, particularly because most tournaments have between 64 and 156 players and odds are high for all of them. Even the favorites, so it’s important to find the best golf betting odds.
There are also a variety of wagers, including futures for the big events, matchups for each round, and live golf betting odds on how players will fare on one or a stretch of holes.
Best Golf Betting Lines
The next major tournament is the 2023 FedEx Cup, with BetUS posting some interesting lines. The odds were last updated on September 8, 2023:
FedEx Cup Betting Odds:
| FedEx Cup Odds 2024 |  |  |  |
| Jon Rahm | +280 | +280 | +285 |
| Scottie Scheffler | +300 | +300 | +400 |
| Rory McIlroy | +400 | +425 | +400 |
| Viktor Hovland | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +1800 | +2000 | +1800 |
| Xander Schauffele | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Wyndham Clark | +2500 | +2500 | +2500 |
British Open Betting Odds:
| The Open Championship 2023 | |
| Rory McIlroy | +750 |
| Scottie Scheffler | +800 |
| Jon Rahm | +900 |
| Brooks Koepka | +1100 |
| Viktor Hovland | +1500 |
| Cameron Smith | +1700 |
| Xander Schauffele | +1800 |
| Jordan Spieth | +1900 |
| Dustin Johnson | +2500 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +2500 |
| Shane Lowry | +2800 |
US Open Golf Betting Odds:
| US Open 2024 | |
| Scottie Scheffler | +800 |
| Jon Rahm | +900 |
| Rory McIlroy | +1100 |
| Brooks Koepka | +1400 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +2000 |
| Viktor Hovland | +2200 |
| Cameron Smith | +2200 |
| Collin Morikawa | +2500 |
| Cameron Young | +4500 |
Valero Texas Open Betting Odds:
| Valero Open Odds | |  | |
| Jordan Spieth | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Tony Finau | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Scottie Scheffler | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Hideki Matsuyama | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Corey Conners | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Abraham Ancer | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Ryan Palmer | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Charley Hoffman | TBA | TBA | TBA |
| Brendan Steele | TBA | TBA | TBA |
PGA Championship Betting Odds:
| PGA Championship 2024 | |
| Scottie Scheffler | +750 |
| Jon Rahm | +800 |
| Rory McIlroy | +1100 |
| Brooks Koepka | +1200 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +1800 |
| Viktor Hovland | +2200 |
| Collin Morikawa | +2800 |
| Justin Thomas | +2800 |
| Cameron Smith | +2800 |
| Dustin Johnson | +3300 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | +4000 |
| Matt Fitzpatrick | +4000 |
| Max Homa | +4000 |
| Jason Day | +4000 |
Players Championship Betting Odds:
| Event | |
| Jon Rahm | +800 |
| Rory McIlroy | +1000 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +1800 |
| Justin Thomas | +1800 |
| Xander Schauffele | +2200 |
| Tony Finau | +2200 |
| Will Zalatoris | +2500 |
| Viktor Hovland | +2500 |
How to Read Golf Odds
Although the Masters betting odds above are expressed in the American style or sometimes called moneyline, there are also golf odds explained in fractional terms. For the favorite Dustin Johnson, Betus has his odds at +1000, which is the amount a $100 wager will net the bettor, while in fractional terms the same odds would be expressed as 10/1.
If a player has negative odds, which is possible in other wagers such as if a player will make the cut or finish in the top twenty, a -150 means that the bettor would need to wager $150 to net $100, with the winning bet paying back the original wager of $150 and another $100 in winnings.
Matchup Wagers
Another popular wager is the matchup bet, where golf odds are established for which player will have the better score when paired with another competitor. The players don’t have to be playing in the same group on the course, so the possible wagering possibilities are virtually limitless in a full field PGA Tour event.
In a matchup bet, the favorite usually has negative golf odds and the underdog has a positive number. For instance, if the matchup was John Rahm, the number one player in the world, against Brian Harman, Rahm would likely have odds of about -140 with Harman at +120.
With these odds, the house retains an advantage of $20 if the underdog ends up winning, collecting $140 from the Rahm bettor and paying out $120 to the winner who wagered on Harman. If the favorite wins, they simply take the $100 from the losing wager and pay it to the winning bettor, assuming they have about the same number of wagers on either side of the bet.
Proposition (Prop) Bets
It’s also possible to make other wagers on outcomes such as what a player will shoot in a particular round. These golf betting lines are usually over/under bets, with the bettor wagering whether a golfer will shoot below or above a particular score.
In these wagers, there’s a line set, perhaps at a score of 69.5 with odds established for the over and under bets. Generally the odds are set at -110 for both the over and under, meaning that it takes $110 to win $100, ensuring the house an edge if they can effectively balance the bets.
In order to accomplish that, the oddsmakers usually change the line instead of the odds, although they can also adjust the odds but it’s not as common. That’s why in sports like football that commonly use point spreads, it’s not unusual to see the spread change to adjust to betting patterns.
Golf Betting Strategy
With the sheer number of entries in an event and the long PGA Tour odds, one way to wager on golf is to pick a group of players on which to bet. Considering that the favorite has at best +600 odds to win golf tournaments, it’s a risky proposition to wager everything on one player.
Instead, after looking at past performances on that particular course, recent tournament results and overall rankings, it makes sense to choose four or five players that would appear to have an advantage, especially relative to their odds.
If a bet is placed on a favorite with +800 odds and they win, the winnings will still cover the amount wagered on four other players.
If a player with odds of +4000 comes through, it won’t really matter that the other four bets weren’t successful. This strategy can’t be like putting money on a roulette wheel, but needs to be an educated and researched way of choosing players on whom to bet.
