Steph Chambers/Getty Images. Pictured: Dustin Johnson
It isn’t every week that you get the top-15 players in the world in one field, but that’s what we’re dealing with for the 2021 WGC-Workday Championship at The Concession.
Barring something crazy, Dustin Johnson (+525, $10 bet wins $52.50) will be back in his perch as the betting favorite when things get started on Thursday. After lurking around the top of the leaderboard for the first three rounds at Riviera, Johnson showed he was mortal by shooting 1-over par on Sunday. The World No. 1 still managed to finish T8, giving him his ninth top-10 finish in his last 10 starts.
While Jon Rahm is back as the second-favorite at +850, the rest of the top-5 on the board looks a little different from last week. Xander Schauffele (+1100), Patrick Cantlay (+1400) and Tony Finau (+1600) have hopped over Rory McIlroy (+1650) and Justin Thomas (+1850) after the former three each posted a top-15 finish at Riviera; meanwhile, McIlroy and Thomas both missed the cut.
Beyond the Top 5
Bettors won’t have any real course history to go off of at The Concession, but Bryson DeChambeau (+1850) could catch a little bit of hype even despite his MC at Riviera. DeChambeau won the NCAA Championship at The Concession back in 2015.
Daniel Berger checks in next at +2200 and is one of four recent winners listed between +2200 and +3150. The other three are Tyrrell Hatton (+2250), Brooks Koepka (+3000) and Patrick Reed (+3150). All four of those golfers are capable of storming this field, but Berger and Koepka could end up as the most popular plays in this range — which includes Viktor Hovland and Webb Simpson at +2250 — because Berger and Koepka are both Florida natives.
A 7-over Saturday doomed Joaquin Niemann (+3500) at Riviera, but bookmakers saw enough out of the young Chilean on Thursday and Friday to slash his price a bit from the 50/1 we saw last weekend. Niemann kicks off the “Young Gun Range,” followed up by Sungjae Im (+4500), Collin Morikawa (+4650) and Scottie Scheffler (+4650).
The Rest of the Oddsboard
Just because there’s so much talent at the top of the board doesn’t mean we can’t see a winner descend from the nosebleeds.
The common narrative around last week’s Genesis Invitational was that the winner would come from the top of the board. There was basically a Major-level field for the Genesis, so it made sense that most bettors thought that one of the game’s elites would come out on top.
Golf is a funny little game, though, and it was Max Homa who ended up winning and cashing tickets in the +6000 to +7000 range. We could see a similar situation shake out this week as there are plenty of big names sitting between +5000 and +10000 (including Homa at +7000).
Tommy Fleetwood has yet to replicate his European success here in the States, but +5500 is a nice price on the Merseysider — especially since he’s probably buzzing after his beloved Everton ended their decade-long drought against Liverpool over the weekend.
It was just about six weeks ago that Harris English lifted the trophy at the Tournament of Champions, putting a nice bow on a terrific stretch of golf that dated back to the summer. English has fallen off the pace a bit since then, but he should have some backers at +6150 this week.
I’d also expect that Matthew Fitzpatrick (+7000) will be pretty popular relative to his price. Fitzpatrick was lurking around the leaderboard at Riviera until a sluggish Sunday did him in. The same is true of the well-coiffed Aussie, Cam Smith, who sits at +6600 after a fourth-place finish at The Genesis.
Smith and Fitzpatrick headline a tempting section of the board that also includes Will Zalatoris (+7000), Justin Rose (+7000) and Abraham Ancer (+8000).
That brings us to the triple-digits, where you can find a few volatile stars like Bubba Watson (+11000) and Shane Lowry (+12500), as well as some ascending European Tour stars like Bobby MacIntyre (+15000) and Victor Perez (+15000).
Check out the full betting odds (via DraftKings) below:
2021 WGC-Workday Championship Odds
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Dustin Johnson | +525 |
| Jon Rahm | +850 |
| Xander Schauffele | +1100 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +1400 |
| Tony Finau | +1600 |
| Rory McIlroy | +1650 |
| Bryson DeChambeau | +1850 |
| Justin Thomas | +1850 |
| Daniel Berger | +2200 |
| Tyrrell Hatton | +2250 |
| Viktor Hovland | +2250 |
| Webb Simpson | +2250 |
| Brooks Koepka | +3000 |
| Patrick Reed | +3150 |
| Joaquin Niemann | +3500 |
| Sungjae Im | +4500 |
| Collin Morikawa | +4650 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | +5500 |
| Ryan Palmer | +5500 |
| Scottie Scheffler | +5500 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | +6150 |
| Adam Scott | +6600 |
| Cameron Smith | +6600 |
| Jason Day | +7000 |
| Harris English | +7000 |
| Matthew Fitzpatrick | +7000 |
| Sergio Garcia | +7000 |
| Max Homa | +7000 |
| Jason Kokrak | +7000 |
| Kevin Kisner | +10000 |
| Billy Horschel | +11000 |
| Bubba Watson | +11000 |
| Matthew Wolff | +11000 |
| Mackenzie Hughes | +12500 |
| Marc Leishman | +12500 |
| Shane Lowry | +12500 |
| Kevin Na | +12500 |
| Carlos Ortiz | +12500 |
| Christiaan Bezuidenhout | +15000 |
| Matt Kuchar | +15000 |
| Robert MacIntyre | +15000 |
| Victor Perez | +15000 |
| Brendon Todd | +15000 |
| Rasmus Hojgaard | +17500 |
| Andy Sullivan | +20000 |
| Lee Westwood | +20000 |
| Bernd Wiesberger | +20000 |
| Gary Woodland | +20000 |
| Rafa Cabrera-Bello | +25000 |
| Laurie Canter | +25000 |
| Cameron Champ | +25000 |
| Thomas Detry | +25000 |
| Lucas Herbert | +25000 |
| Sebastian Munoz | +25000 |
| Sami Valimaki | +30000 |
| Erik van Rooyen | +30000 |
| David Lipsky | +40000 |
| Aaron Rai | +40000 |
| Jason Scrivener | +40000 |
| Min Woo Lee | +50000 |
| Yuki Inamori | +75000 |
| Chan Kim | +75000 |
| Wade Ormsby | +100000 |
| Brad Kennedy | +150000 |
| JC Ritchie | +150000 |
| Trevor Simsby | +150000 |
| Daniel van Tonder | +150000 |