Sports betting: Even as a heavy favorite, Scottie Scheffler is a popular bet at the US Open

Pinehurst No. 2 is hosting the event for the fourth time and first since 2014, when Martin Kaymer was the winner at 9-under, eight shots better than Rickie Fowler and Erik Compton.

Scheffler has three straight top 10 finishes at the U.S. Open, including a third-place finish a year ago at Los Angeles Country Club.

Bryson DeChambeau (+2000) is the next most-bet player, drawing the second-most tickets (8.5%) and money (8.2%).

DeChambeau finished runner-up to Xander Schauffele at the PGA Championship and finished T-6 at the Masters after having the 36-hole lead. He won the 2020 U.S. Open.

Another popular player is Collin Morikawa (+1400), as he’s pulling in the third-most tickets (7.7%) and third-most money (6.3%). Like DeChambeau, he’s also had success in the two majors this year, finishing T-3 at the Masters and T-4 at the PGA Championship.

Morikawa is coming off a runner-up finish to Scheffler a week ago at the Memorial. It’s worth noting Xander Schauffele won the PGA Championship after finishing runner-up the week before at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Schauffele has the second-shortest odds to win at +1100 and is pulling in 5.3% of the tickets and 4.1% of the money.

Each time Tiger Woods tees it up in an event, he draws the attention of bettors. This week is no different.

Even at +25000 to win, he’s taking in the ninth-most tickets (2.5%). He is also very popular in the Make the Cut market, as he’s taking in the most tickets to make the cut at +220.

Woods missed the cut at the PGA Championship, but did make the cut at the Masters in April. This is the first time he’s played in the U.S. Open since 2020 when he missed the cut.

Morikawa is drawing the most action in the Winner Without Scheffler market, taking in 15.2% of the tickets and 21% of the money. … Scheffler is also the most popular player to be the leader after the first round (+1000), drawing 17.5% of the tickets and 20.6% of the money. … In terms of tickets, Scheffler is the most-bet player to finish in the top five (-150), Morikawa is the most-bet player to finish in the top 10 (+150) and Tommy Fleetwood is the most-bet player to finish in the top 20 (+138).

This column was provided to The Associated Press by BetMGM.