If you have some FOMO after Phil Mickelson’s big betting win at the PGA Championship, the good news is that the next major is in four weeks.
And Mickelson is still getting some long odds at BetMGM, though they’re much shorter after his historic weekend at Kiawah Island.
Mickelson has moved up the odds board for the U.S. Open on June 17-20. Mickelson is 50-to-1 at BetMGM to win the U.S. Open, the only major that has (barely) eluded him. That’s one-third of his odds a week ago.
Being 50-to-1 to win the U.S. Open is a far cry from a couple weeks ago, when Mickelson wasn’t even guaranteed to be in the field.
Can Phil Mickelson win the U.S. Open?
In mid-May Mickelson was granted and accepted a special exemption to play in the U.S. Open, which will be at Torrey Pines. Mickelson had expressed that he would play in a qualifying tournament to get in the U.S. Open, but the tournament gave him a fairly rare exemption. Mickelson has never won the U.S. Open but has finished second or tied for second six times.
Mickelson was then on the odds board at BetMGM, at 150-to-1 odds to win the U.S. Open. That’s still lower than his PGA Championship odds, which were 200-to-1 and will always be a part of the lore of his incredible win last weekend. Only 20 golfers have better odds than Mickelson at +5000 to win the U.S. Open (Dustin Johnson is the favorite at +1200).
Mickelson’s story, coming out of nowhere to become the oldest golfer to win a major, is not just an instantly legendary story in the golf world but it also will be huge for the growing golf betting business. The story of Mickelson’s 200-to-1 win should resonate with even casual sports fans, considering it’s one of the longest shot wins in major sports history, pulled off by an already famous name in the sport.
Will lightning strike twice in a row? Probably not. But there will likely be many more bets on Mickelson to win the U.S. Open than there were last week.