Tiger Woods will host a limited field of 20 golfers this week in Albany, Bahamas, for the Hero World Challenge.
Tiger won’t be competing this week as he’s recovering from a sixth back surgery, but Scottie Scheffler is back to defend his title after claiming a three-stroke victory over Sepp Straka last year. Prior to his win last year, Scheffler finished as the runner-up in both 2022 and 2021 to Viktor Hovland.
Scottie Scheffler to win outright
The field at this year’s Hero World Challenge will only feature three players – Scottie Scheffler (No. 1), Ludvig Abert (No. 5), and Wyndham Clark (No. 6) – in the top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings. However, there’s no shortage of talent in the small field, leaving plenty of value on the board from a betting perspective.
The Albany Course is an Ernie Els-designed links-style coastal course, which will play at a long 7,499 yards this week. Players can also expect breezy conditions, putting more of an emphasis on accurate approach shots. Online sports bettors should also know there is no cut in this week’s 72-hole stroke-play format.
Let’s take a look at the 20 players in the field and their corresponding odds to win the Hero World Challenge outright:
Outright odds
| Golfer | bet365 odds | NorthStar Bets odds |
| Scottie Scheffler | +220 | +200 |
| Justin Thomas | +1000 | +900 |
| Patrick Cantlay | +1100 | +900 |
| Ludvig Aberg | +1100 | +1000 |
| Russell Henley | +1400 | +1400 |
| Sungjae Im | +1400 | +1200 |
| Sam Burns | +1600 | +1200 |
| Wyndham Clark | +1800 | +2000 |
| Tom Kim | +1800 | +1600 |
| Sahith Theegala | +2000 | +2200 |
| Jason Day | +2200 | +2200 |
| Aaron Rai | +2500 | +2800 |
| Robert MacIntyre | +2500 | +2000 |
| Akshay Bhatia | +2500 | +2500 |
| Brian Harman | +3300 | +2200 |
| Cameron Young | +3300 | +2800 |
| Keegan Bradley | +3500 | +3300 |
| Sepp Straka | +3500 | +3300 |
| Nick Dunlap | +4500 | +4500 |
| Matthieu Pavon | +9000 | +8000 |
Best bets
- Sepp Straka top-10 finish (-120 @ NorthStar Bets): We’re getting outstanding value here on last year’s runner-up at the event to finish in the upper half of this small field. In addition to finishing second last year, Straka finished 10th in 2022, but it would’ve been a much better result had he not fired a two-over 74 in the second round. Straka missed the cut in his last event (The RSM Classic), but he has turned in three top-five finishes and four top-10 finishes in 25 tournaments this season. He has some of the longest outright odds in the field (+3500), and might be worth a half-unit play as a deep sleeper, although it’s obviously Scheffler’s tournament to lose.
Sepp Straka top-10 finish
- Justin Thomas top-five finish (+137 @ bet365): Thomas has an excellent track record at this event, posting a top-five finish in four straight trips to Bermuda (3rd, 5th, 5th, 5th). It’s been a disappointing season for JT, who has six top-10 finishes but no wins, but he did post an impressive T2 result at the ZOZO Championship in his last competitive event in October. BetMGM is reporting 10% of its outright tickets are on Thomas to win outright as of Wednesday morning, the second highest amount behind Scheffler (16.3%).
