On the eve of the 2024 PGA Championship, golf fans are considering which player they will back to lift the Wanamaker Trophy come Sunday evening.
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and World No.2 Rory McIlroy are clear favorites to add another significant title with the shortest odds - despite their respective off-course distractions - while other multiple Major champions like Brooks Koepka and Jon Rahm are also well-fancied by the bookmakers.
Yet, there is a man slightly further down the list who currently has no Major to his name but is garnering the second-most support from bettors.
While McIlroy has received almost 9% of all bets to win the PGA Championship this week, Max Homa is not far behind. Coming off the back of consecutive top-10s at Majors and six regular PGA Tour wins throughout his career, the American has gathered up 7.8%.
Prior to this week, Homa had commanded a mere 3.4% of the total bet share in the PGA Championship market. However, that figure has more than doubled since Monday, indicating a substantial increase in confidence among bettors.
Currently ranked as the 10th most likely winner of the tournament on Oddschecker, Homa is currently available to back at 35/1.
Heading the list of tournament favourites is Scheffler at 9/2, closely followed by McIlroy at odds of 15/2.
Homa's best finish in his five previous appearances at a PGA Championship was T13 in 2022 when Southern Hills Country Club hosted. Otherwise, his results in the second men's Major of the year do not make pretty reading, historically.
At Bethpage in 2019, Homa shot 11-over to end T64. He then missed the cut in consecutive years at TPC Harding Park and The Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. As Koepka won at Oak Hill Country Club in 2023, Homa finished T55 on nine-over.
However, those looking for reasons to throw a couple of dollars on Homa could take heart from his results on the PGA Tour recently. In his past six starts, the 33-year-old has three top-10s - including a T3 at The Masters in April.
Should Scheffler's lack of sleep catch up with him and McIlroy suffer a hangover following his Wells Fargo Championship success, there is every chance Homa could break his Major duck at Valhalla Golf Club this week.
