Amateur as betting favorite? Luke Clanton tops ISCO Championship odds
Luke Clanton may not cash a check this week at the ISCO Championship, but oddsmakers certainly like his chances as the amateur opened as a clear betting favorite for the 156-man event in Kentucky.
Clanton just wrapped his sophomore season at Florida State, and Sunday he became the first player since Billy Jo Patton in 1958 to record back-to-back top-10 finishes on the PGA TOUR as an amateur. His summer to remember began at the U.S. Open, where he made the cut en route to a T41 finish in his first TOUR start, then he followed with a T10 result at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The 20-year-old went even better last week at the John Deere Classic, where he closed with a final-round 63 to finish T2 behind Davis Thompson. Now he heads to Keene Trace Golf Club with a unique distinction, as the first amateur in recent memory to headline a PGA TOUR field as the betting favorite.
Clanton opened at +1100 at BetMGM Sportsbook, ahead of another recent college standout – Michael Thorbjornsen, who recently left Stanford as the No. 1 player in PGA TOUR University rankings. Thorbjornsen is listed at +1400, with a big gap to the next player, former TOUR winner J.J. Spaun (+3000). After Spaun sits a collection of players at +3300, highlighted by four-time TOUR winner Daniel Berger.
Odds to win ISCO Championship (via BetMGM)
+1100: Luke Clanton
+1400: Michael Thorbjornsen
+3000: J.J. Spaun
+3300: Ben Silverman, Carson Young, Mac Meissner, Daniel Berger
+4000: Dylan Wu, Hayden Springer, Joel Dahmen, Michael Kim, Neal Shipley, Rico Hoey
+4500: Chesson Hadley
Oddsmakers at BetMGM believe Clanton is the first amateur to hold the distinction of pre-tournament betting favorite. He will look to follow in the footsteps of Nick Dunlap, who earlier this year became the first amateur to win on TOUR since 1991 when he captured The American Express. But Dunlap’s victory came as a +50000 pre-tournament longshot, not as the outright favorite.
This will be the ninth edition of the ISCO Championship, which has been held at Keene Trace outside Lexington since 2018. Last year Vincent Norrman earned his maiden TOUR win in a playoff over Nathan Kimsey.