Hero World Challenge Betting Preview: Picks, Predictions, Odds for Albany Golf Course

The final unofficial PGA Tour event of the season is this week at Albany Golf Course and will have the strongest field we've seen in months. Only 20 golfers will be teeing it up at the Tiger Woods-hosted event, including Scottie Scheffler, Keegan Bradley, Jordan Spieth, and Robert MacIntyre.

Let’s take a look at the odds and my best bet to win this week’s marquee event.

Hero World Challenge odds

Odds via DraftKings Sportsbook

Scottie Scheffler +160
Robert MacIntyre +1000
Cameron Young +1200
J.J. Spaun +1400
Sam Burns +1400
Keegan Bradley +1400
Hideki Matsuyama +1600
Aaron Rai +1800
Akshay Bhatia +2000
Jordan Spieth +2000
Harris English +2200
Chris Gotterup +2200
Alex Noren +2200
Sepp Straka +2200
Justin Rose +2200
Corey Conners +2500
Brian Harman +2800
Brian Harman +2800
Billy Horschel +3000
Wyndham Clark +4500
Andrew Novak +4000

Hero World Challenge how to watch

Thursday: 1:30–4:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Friday: 1:30–4:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel)
Saturday: Noon–2:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 2:30-5 p.m. (NBC)
Sunday: 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel), 1:30-4:30 p.m. (NBC)

Hero World Challenge purse

Date: Thursday, Dec.1–Sunday, Dec. 4
Where: Albany Golf Course
Purse: $5 million ($1 million winner’s share)
2024 champion: Scottie Scheffler

Hero World Challenge notable golfers

Scottie Scheffler: The No. 1-ranked golfer in the world is the back-to-back winner of this event and hasn’t finished worse than runner-up here in four straight years. This will be the first time we’ll see him play since the Ryder Cup. The most recent PGA Tour event he played was the Procore Championship in September which, to no one’s surprise, he won.

Aaron Rai: The Englishman captured the Abu Dhabi Championship four weeks ago, so he is coming into this event with some momentum. He’ll hope his sharp iron play will be enough to compete with Scheffler over the weekend.

Hero World Challenge best bets

Akshay Bhatia (Winner w/o Scheffler) +1400

I think it would be wise to target the “Winner without Scheffler” market this week to avoid the best golfer in the world ruining our wagers by winning this event in runaway fashion. The first golfer I’m looking at in that market is Akshay Bhatia, who finished fourth at this event last year. He has been known to put up birdies in bunches, which is extremely important at Albany Golf Course, so it makes sense why he has a strong finish here in 2024. Let’s hope his irons are dialed in this week. He’s second in the field in strokes-gained approach over the past six months.

Andrew Novak (Winner w/o Scheffler) +3000

I’m going to take a shot on the golfer with the longest odds in the field, Andrew Novak. Sure, he doesn’t have the pedigree or name recognition as the rest, but he is coming off an impressive T7 finish at the RSM Classic and posted a T25 finish at the Tour Championship at the end of August. When his game is on, he can compete with some of the best golfers in the world, which he proved with a T6 finish at the FedEx St. Jude Championship during the playoffs. If he plays as well as he did two weeks ago, he could be in the conversation on the weekend.

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Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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You can check out all of Iain's bets here!