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Why Vegas is absolutely terrified of Branden Grace winning the U.S. Open
Branden Grace is a dangerous man. Just look at the guy:
OK, so the South African seems like a perfectly harmless and nice guy, but he's scaring one part of the country this week: Vegas.
It hasn't seemed like Grace is getting a lot of love from pundits making U.S. Open predictions, but apparently, he's got some backers at sports books. Some BIG backers.
Earlier this week, Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook manager and golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman tweeted out the golfers who were getting bet on the most, both in terms of number of bets and amount of money bet. No disrespect to Grace, but his name stood out among the list of major winners and/or superstars:
By Wednesday, support for Grace had grown even greater. Sherman told Golf Digest that Westgate had taken max wagers (To win $50,000) on Grace at 40/1, 30/1, 25/1 and 20/1 in addition to other bets. Guess the Grace family are big gamblers! Sorry, Branden, couldn't resist. . . Grace's odds eventually went back up to 30/1 as other wagers on the rest of the field came in, but he is currently the sports book's biggest liability.
A much less surprising name, Jordan Spieth, is No. 2 on the list of golfers Vegas stands to lose the most on. The defending U.S. Open champ played with Grace in the final round at Chambers Bay last year when Grace saw his chance to win disappear with an out-of-bounds tee shot on the 16th hole that wound up on some train tracks.
At 15-to-2 odds, Spieth is tied for second favorite status with Rory McIlroy. World No. 1 Jason Day is the favorite at 13/2.
Grace also contended at last year's PGA Championship and won his first PGA Tour title earlier this season at Hilton Head. He is currently No. 12 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he's No. 1 on the list of golfers striking fear into the hearts of Vegas. Yep, this guy:
UPDATE: Sherman tweeted this late afternoon on Wednesday:
So again, the five golfers with the most money bet on them the Big 3, Dustin Johnson, and Branden Grace. Go figure.