Phil Mickelson (200-1) Turns Back The Clock With 36-Hole Lead at Travelers Championship

Three Huge Longshots Top The Leaderboard Through 36 Holes At Travelers Championship Including Mickelson

The golf betting boom continues at the Travelers Championship. Lessons of longshots continue to be learned, or rather that favorites have no value when wagering to win. Along with a high house hold, the percentage of time one of the betting favorites of 25-1 or less wins a tournament just does not warrant a wager of significance.

Yet the sportsbooks continue to take most win wagers on those popular players and top of the market golfers. Perhaps Rory McIlroy (-9) or Xander Schauffele (-9) can make a move Saturday before the rains and thunderstorms hit in the afternoon over the TPC River Highlands course.

But for now, those stars will have to catch 44-time PGA Tour winner Phil Mickelson (-13), who sits atop the leaderboard and will tee off with two other longhots in threesomes Saturday. Will Gordon (-12), with just 22 ROUNDS of golf on the PGA Tour and Canadian MacKenzie Hughes (-12) will try to stay atop the leaderboard Saturday.

I provide the pre-tournament and 36-hole odds to win the tournament from the Westgate SuperBook in Las Vegas below. I also include the adjusted odds along with more information you can bet on in my mid-tournament update at Forbes.

 

My Travelers Championship Betting Guide at TheLines.

Mickelson has won 12-of-20 (60%) of PGA Tour events when holding the 36-hole lead in his career. The average on Tour since 2005 is 33%. Mickelson is also a +220 favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook to be the tournament leader following Round 3 Saturday. Hughes (+500), Gordon (+750), McIlroy (+750), Schauffele (+1000), DeChambeau (+1400) and Leishman (+1400) are next before the remaining lonshots above +3000.

More ways to watch and wager on the event with in-play betting or finishing position. Both Mickelson (-110) and McIlroy (-110) are favorites to finish top-5 as play begins in Round 3. Remaining tournament props of interest include Rest of the World players MacKenzie (+210) to finish best of a group with the top challengers Leishman (+300) and Ancer (+430) followed by Niemann, Oosthuizen and Kang at +1400.

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