Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy favored by sportsbooks for PGA - ESPN

Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy find themselves in familiar territory atop the betting odds list heading into the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club: first and second, respectively.

That's the same order for five of the past six tournaments in which they've both played.

As of Wednesday afternoon on ESPN BET, Scheffler shows +425 odds to win his third career major championship, up from the +350 he showed in the week prior. Some sportsbooks have Scheffler, 27, as short as +300, while others are as long as +450.

McIlroy, meanwhile, is +700 on ESPN BET, with odds ranging from +600 to +750 at other major sportsbooks. The next closest players on ESPN BET are Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele at +1400.

The 1-2 betting punch of Scheffler and McIlroy is fitting given the pair are, respectively, first and second in the Official World Golf Ranking and in PGA Tour wins this season.

Despite taking almost a month off for the birth of his first child, Scheffler's status atop the odds board should be no surprise considering he has won four of his past five starts, including the Masters in April and the RBC Heritage the week after. He has not finished outside the top 10 in any tournament since mid-January.

At their lowest point at +300, Scheffler's odds to win at Valhalla are the shortest for any major since 2010, and the shortest at the PGA Championship since favorite Tiger Woods won in 2007. Scheffler consistently draws comparisons to the all-time great, but what makes his short odds all the more impressive in the eyes of oddsmakers is the strength of the other players currently in professional golf.

«Some tournaments that Tiger was in when he was really on a roll winning everything, he was like 8-5 to win a tournament,»