New Jersey bettor cashes in on Phil Mickelson’s historic win at long-shot odds | Sports betting

Phil Mickelson entered the PGA Championship at odds anywhere between 200-1 and 300-1 at most sports books.

“He got out as far as 400-1 after bogeying the first hole in Round 1,” said Pat Eichner, of PointsBet.

It was hard to imagine on Thursday afternoon after Lefty started off with a 5 on the par-4 that he would come back and become the oldest player ever to win a major.

The 50-year-old Mickelson turns 51 on June 16.

“We always write some tickets on him just because everyone loves Phil,” said Tom Gable, sportsbook director at the Borgata. “But Phil winning [was] a very good result for us.”

DraftKings might not agree. They had to pay out $300,000 to an unidentified New Jersey bettor who put $1,000 on Mickelson at 300-1.

Mickelson himself claimed $2.16 million for the second PGA Championship of his storied career.

Any liability for Mickelson’s win was paid with other losers, such as the $10,000 wager on Justin Thomas to win place at BetMGM. Thomas missed the cut.

Keegan Bradley (t-17th), Jordan Spieth (t-30th), and Viktor Hovland (t-30th) also were among the popular players bet on prior to the tournament.

PointsBet paid out $37,500 to a New Jersey bettor who got down on Lefty when he was at 250-1. They also booked a $5,000 live bet when he was a little over 3-1.

Eichner said Mickelson was still a healthy longshot at 100-1 after shooting a 70 on Thursday, He was 12-1 after Friday’s second round.

“Even coming into today, up two strokes, Phil was not the favorite to win the tournament,” Eichner said. “Brooks [Koepka] was at +150 [3-2 odds] and Phil was at +300 [3-1 odds]. “Bettors were not confident in Phil to win either -- the live liability/bets on Brooks came often this weekend.”

Koepka shot a 2-over 74 and finished tied for second, two shots back of Mickelson.