A day after releasing new Masters odds with an important caveat, Las Vegas’ largest sports book offered new lines on the golf calendar’s second major championship—with two important stipulations.
Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook made the Masters move as it braced to refund all the bets it had taken on the year’s first major, which has been postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Any original wager called for the event at Augusta National to be played within eight days of its first round, scheduled for April 9.
Westgate’s new Masters odds are more lenient on when the tournament takes place. All bets will count as long as the Masters is contested at any point during 2020. And the new PGA Championship odds provide even more flexibility.
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Before the Players Championship was canceled and the Masters was postponed, there was talk of the PGA Championship moving from TPC Harding Park in San Francisco to another venue—possibly Valhalla, which is owned by the PGA of America—due to Coronavirus concerns. But under Westgate’s new guidelines, any PGA Championship wagers would still be valid no matter where the event is played. SuperBook’s VP of risk management and golf oddsmaker, Jeff Sherman, released the new lines on Sunday:
The odds are actually very similar to the ones released for the Masters with Rory McIlroy listed as a 10-to-1 favorite, followed by Jon Rahm at 12/1, and defending champ Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas at 14-1. One key difference is Tiger Woods opening at 20/1, down from his 16-to-1 odds to win the Masters. Of course, that makes sense considering he’s the defending champ at Augusta National.
The PGA Championship is scheduled for May 14-17, but playing the event on those dates became even more uncertain after the CDC recommended on Sunday that sporting events consisting of more than 50 people be canceled for the next eight weeks. As currently scheduled, the PGA Championship falls just outside that eight-week period, but a lot remains unknown with this global pandemic.
What remains more certain is that no matter what happens, Vegas sports books will keep adjusting.
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