Bettors love Scottie Scheffler at U.S. Open despite short odds - ESPN

The central betting story going into the U.S. Open is the same as it was before the Masters and the PGA Championship: Scottie Scheffler is an overwhelming favorite and is seeing some of the shortest odds for a major since prime Tiger Woods.

The 27-year-old opened the week at +300 at ESPN BET and has been bet down to +290; across the marketplace, he's as short as +250. It's the shortest odds for any golfer to win the U.S. Open since Woods in 2007 (+250).

Despite the extremely short odds, Scheffler is still attracting a very healthy number of tickets and even more handle.

Sportsbooks across the American betting landscape report that Scheffler is their bets and money leader, with ESPN BET saying he has 13.1% of the tickets and 31.7% of the handle. BetMGM reports an astounding 44.7% of handle on the Texas native, while Fanatics Sportsbook says he has drawn three times more money to win at Pinehurst No. 2 than any other golfer in the field.

«That's kind of astonishing to me because it's such a short price. In golf, you try to look for somebody who has got a decent price, but the bettors just feel like he's unstoppable,» DraftKings director of race and sportsbook operations Johnny Avello told ESPN. He adds that the «true odds» for Scheffler are closer to +500, but even with the juice built in to get the price below +300, bettors continue to wager on him.

«The pricing is a factor of both his recent form and overwhelming popularity with bettors, which is still evident in the number of bets we've taken on him thus far,» ESPN BET head of sportsbook Patrick Jay told ESPN via email. «He's been the most bet-on player for every major this year, and the U.S. Open is shaping up no different.»

From a betting perspective, the only