This week’s Phoenix Open is a tale of Scottie Scheffler vs. the field. Sandwiched between a pair of signature events — last week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and next week’s Genesis Invitational — many of the PGA Tour’s top players elected to skip Scottsdale for a second consecutive year. Not Scheffler. With Phoenix Open wins in 2022 and 2023 already under his belt, the world’s top-ranked player is returning to TPC Scottsdale in search of a third title in four years. That positions him as the runaway favorite for this year’s event. Here is the list of the oddsmakers’ favorites for the tournament, which begins on Thursday.
Scottie Scheffler, +280
Scheffler’s ridiculous 2024 season may have been the best year any player has had since Tiger Woods’ peak. He won seven official PGA Tour events, plus an Olympic title and the Hero World Challenge. He won the Players, the Masters and the TOUR Championship.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle. Last week, he began his encore encouragingly enough with a 15-under finish at Pebble Beach, good for a tie for ninth place. Now, it’s back to TPC Scottsdale, where he finished in a tie for third last season. That consistency makes him the clear favorite.
Justin Thomas, +1200
It’s been an inconsistent start to 2025 for Thomas. He finished second at the American Express, just two strokes behind Sepp Straka. But he struggled to a tie for 26th at the Sentry and a tie for 48th last week at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am. And while he recorded six top 10 finishes in 20 events last year, he hasn’t won a tournament since the 2022 PGA Championship. Put it all together and it’s easy to see why Thomas is No. 15 in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). His performance in Scottsdale, though, suggests he could be competitive this week. Since 2019, he’s recorded the following finishes at the Phoenix Open: 3, T3, T13, T8, 4, T12.
Hideki Matsuyama, +1600
A decade ago, Matsuyama was a consistent presence atop the Phoenix Open leaderboard. He won back-to-back in 2016 and 2017, finished tied for second in 2015 and tied for fourth in 2014. Since 2017, though, he’s recorded just one top 10 finish in seven tries, tying for eighth in 2022. That could explain Matsuyama having longer odds than Thomas despite being higher in the OWGR and last year’s FedEx Cup standings.
Sungjae Im, +2200
Im had a sneakily good 2024 season. After a slow start, he recorded eight top 10s in his final 15 events, including a tie for seventh at the Open Championship. That end to the season pushed him to seventh in the FedEx Cup standings. And with two top five finishes in his first four events of 2025, he’s shown signs of continuing that form. Still, Im has just two PGA Tour wins to his name and none since 2021. He currently ranks 21st in the OWGR.
Sam Burns, +2500
Three years ago, Burns was among golf’s hottest young names. From May 2021 to May 2022, he won four PGA Tour events, rising as high as ninth in the OWGR. Now, his place among the top five in the betting odds speaks to the frailties of this year’s field. Burns did finish 2024 well, placing in the top 12 in each of his final five events. But he’s coming off a tie for 22nd at Pebble Beach and is 24th in the OWGR. Strangely, though, his history at the Phoenix Open has been the opposite of his career as a whole. He missed the cut three times in four starts here from 2019-22 but has finished in a tie for sixth and a tie for third the past two years.
Other notables
