Traveling to a warm-weather location for a golf tournament with a $5 million purse, wedged into the holiday season, is a lovely way to wrap up 2024. And there’s nothing like some serious star power to perk up the betting activity for the Hero World Challenge.

“Action has been brisk,” said highly regarded Las Vegas golf oddsmaker, Jeff Sherman. “As of now, it is the most we have seen since our local event, the Shriners (Children’s Open).”

It is the annual trip to the Bahamas and Albany GC, where Tiger Woods plays tournament host and 20 invitation-only players make up the field in this four-day, no-cut tournament. All participants rank inside the top 40 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is receiving top billing as the defending champion. In fact, in his three trips to Albany, Scheffler has finished 2-2-1. Despite the loaded field that Woods has assembled, that man continues to drive the bus.

“Sharp support for Scheffler has driven his price down,” said Sherman.

“The majority of the money is on Scottie (Scheffler),” added Tristan Davis, senior manager at Mandalay Bay Race and Sportsbook.

Data Analyst at BetMGM Sportsbooks Drew O’Dell reports, “Scheffler is No. 1 in ticket count (16.3%), No. 1 in handle (37.8%), and is our biggest liability.”

It is worth pointing out that Justin Thomas, Ludvig Åberg and Akshay Bhatia are also garnering interest.

“Thomas is No. 2 behind Scheffler in ticket count (10%)," O'Dell added. "Åberg is No. 3 (9.7%), second in handle (11.4%) and is our third-biggest liability. Bhatia has the third-highest handle percentage at 9.2% and is our second-largest liability.”

A bit of a different tune however for Thomas Gable. Gable is the race and sports director at The Borgata in New Jersey, a BetMGM sportsbook. “One last time in 2024 to bet Scheffler at a ridiculous price, +225 to win against a small field," said Gable. "We’ve seen bettors take him all year long but for this one, maybe the return is too small because he isn’t attracting much action."

“We have liability on Åberg at +1100 and Sahith Theegala at +1800 but it is pretty much all recreational money on this tournament so far,” Gable continued.

An interesting twist in the action for Hall of Fame Las Vegas bookmaker, Nick Bogdanovich. “I would say the action is below average so far but we have pretty big liability on Aaron Rai and Sam Burns to win it all – and Matthieu Pavon," he said.

Personally, I am represented across the board here as I bet Scheffler to win it all – as I did successfully last year – and I also played Åberg and Burns. I have literally had the runner-up in three events in a row on TOUR so I am hoping to close out the year by doing one better, and landing on the winner – but Bogdanovich went on to point out that some bettors at his shop are taking Scheffler on and going against him.

“They’re betting Russell Henley ‘NO’ to finish Top 5, and Scheffler on the ‘NO’ to finish Top 5 is also drawing some action," Bogdanovich said.

Over at Mandalay Bay, another BetMGM sportsbook, Davis noted some respected money that has come in on full-tournament head-to-head matchups, saying: "Sungjae Im to beat Tom Kim has gone from -125 to -145," he said. "Jason Day to beat Wyndham Clark has moved from -110 into -120 and Sepp Straka over Nick Dunlap, from -120 into -145.”

A few little stocking stuffers to hold you over for the next month before we speak again in January when they tee it up for The Sentry at Kapalua in Maui. Enjoy the Hero World Challenge.