In the year-plus that we've been covering how the public is betting on PGA TOUR events, few — if any — golfers have been as popular as Will Zalatoris.
And, at least in the outright market, he's let them down every time.
But there's no quitting on Zalatoris, who is searching for his first win on the PGA TOUR after months of peppering the top of leaderboards, including golf's biggest events.
According to data released by BetMGM on Wednesday, Zalatoris is the most popular play in terms of total bets and total dollars for this week's Wyndham Championship.
In the final tournament of the PGA TOUR's regular season, Zalatoris is the betting favorite along with Shane Lowry. Despite the short price of +1400, bettors are still flocking to the 25-year-old out of Wake Forest.
Zalatoris has double the bets of Billy Horschel, who is the second-most popular bet of tee week.
Even without a win, Zalatoris has had an impressive season. He's finished second three times and has eight top-10s in 21 events played.
He had close calls at two majors, finishing runner-up at the PGA Championship and U.S. Open, and lost in a playoff to Luke List at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Behind Zalatoris and Horschel is Sungjae Im, but it's actually Denny McCarthy who's the third-biggest liability. McCarthy's odds have dropped from +4000 to +3300 at BetMGM with only Zalatoris and Horschel taking more total dollars than him in outright market support.
Russell Henley (+2200) looked well on his way to a win heading into the back nine of last year's tournament, but a late collapse left him out of the playoff. Bettors are remembering the first 3.5 days of his play, making him the fourth-most popular player in terms of handle this week.
What should come as no surprise, the triple-digit longshot getting the most action is Rickie Fowler. Listed at +15000, Fowler has taken the 22nd-most bets in the field. Fowler has one win since 2017.
