Justin Thomas Wins PGA, Sportsbooks Win As Well

Justin Thomas won the PGA Championship on Sunday. It was his first major title of his young PGA career. The win by the 24-year old Thomas also gave sportsbooks a big win.

Heading into the final major, the majority of money was on Jordan Spieth, a good friend of Thomas. If he had won he would have completed a career grand slam winning each of the four major titles.

When Thomas ended his round on Sunday, his longtime friend Spieth was there to congratulate him.

Before the start of the tournament on Thursday, Thomas was listed at 35 to 1 to win the tournament on most sportsbooks. He began with a poor first round 73 and his odds lengthened to 80 to 1.

Those odds were good to those faithful bettors who stuck by Thomas throughout the four-day tournament. Thomas rebounded on Friday, with a strong 66, which was the tournament’s third best round behind to 64s shot that same day.

Thomas’ odds on most sportsbooks were dropped from 80 to 1 to 20 to 1 heading into Saturday.

On Saturday, better known as moving day, Thomas played well and ended the day with a 2-under 69. Thomas was two shots of the pace going into Sunday’s final round.

Before the final round on Sunday, Thomas sat at 9 to 2 to win.

For sportsbooks at the start of Sunday, the two worst case scenarios were if Hideki Matsuyama or Rickie Fowler would have won and both were in contention late Sunday afternoon.

Matsuyama who is No. 3 in the world and the winner of last week’s tournament was a popular pick at sportsbooks online. He attracted the fourth most money on many sportsbooks.

He was at 12 to 1 going into Sunday which would have cost most sportsbooks a great deal if he had won.

Fowler was the third most popular with bettors and had the fourth most tickets. A charge late in the round came up short and he ended up tied for fifth with Matsuyama.

That helped books tremendously since Thomas was just 9 to 2 on the final day and far fewer bettors had taken bets on him before and during the tournament.