Betting on Golf

Aussie Golfer’s advice to anyone thinking about betting on golf is…don’t. I realise that there’s a few websites out there devoted to providing statistics and offering expert golf knowledge in order to make your bet in informed one but in truth, it’s still a suckers game and golf must be one of the hardest sports to bet on.

This hasn’t stopped yours truly from sticking a few dollars on the odd golfer now and then and I’m amazed at some of the ridiculous odds provided by some of Australia’s leading sports betting organisations. I always assumed they’d entice suckers sports fans with some half decent odds, not be put off by scenarios that have less chance of happening than Ian Baker-Finch winning the Colonial Open.

For example, before the US Masters you could place a bet on golfers that they to finish in the Top 10 at every major this year. Apart from you-know-who, is there anyone you would seriously consider doing put some money down for?!

The bet is still available but obviously restricted to those players who finished in the Top 10 at Augusta, here they are:

Tiger Woods 2.10 Shingo Katayama 26.00
Phil Mickelson 3.75 Steve Stricker 15.00
Jim Furyk 11.00 Sean O’Hair 15.00
Hunter Mahan 17.00 Steve Flesch 26.00
Angel Cabrera 15.00 Chad Campbell 19.00
Kenny Perry 13.00  

Let me highlight so problems with this. Tiger Woods, the world’s best golfer has only ever done this twice (‘00, ‘05)! Figjam has achieved it once before (‘04). At only 2.10 and 3.75, are they really worth a bet? Kenny Perry decided not to play The Open last year and Campbell, Mahan, Katayama, Stricker and O’Hair have never played all the majors or made the cut in a year yet the longest odds are at $26! Does anyone really think it’s worth a bet on Furyk at $11?

I’m not saying one or more of these guys could achieve this feat but the odds don’t seem realistic enough in terms of how difficult the task is. I’d love to know how many people actually bet on this scenario.

One more thing. I placed an each way bet on a golfer recently meaning he could win the event or finish Top 5. He surged on the final day to finish 5th. More specifically, a three-way tie for 5th. I was fairly happy with that little wager until I was informed that because it was a tie, the dead heat rule applies and my winning dividend was divided by 3.

Tipping the winner of a golf tournament is extremely difficult. Tipping a golfer to finish Top 5 or Top 10 is still difficult. All of the large Australian betting agency’s appear to use this dead heat rule and it is in the fine print.

I’m making the print a little bigger so if you bet on golf in future, you’re now a little more informed.

4 thoughts on “Betting on Golf

  • it’s ridiculous really, I suggest we just keep our golf betting activities to on course wagers amongst ourselves, you might not win as much but it’s be more fun!!

    AD

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  • My golf bets stay on the course too. But I find I do play much better when a few bucks are on the line. Makes those 3-foot putts much more interesting.

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  • You’re both right.It makes us think for those few seconds “so this is what it must be like as a pro!”. Before we miss the putt and realise we’ve only lost $1.

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  • I actually have dedicated my sports writing to PREDICTING winners of golf tourneys. I am pretty good at it. I have picked 5 winners so far this year, and 18 guys that finished T5 or better.

    I have a pretty solid system and good intuition. It also is a LOT of work crunching TONS of stats and doing lost of historic research. Thank god for the internet!

    If you are interested, the easiest way to see my articles is to go to bleacherreport.com From there just search my name JJ Gallant, and you can see all of my coverage for 2009.

    I have been doing this on a Sirius satellite sports radio station for 3 years now. By no means do I ever advocate gambling large amounts on golf, but $5 or $10 can pay HUGE dividends.

    I would have had six winners so far this year, if Kenny Perry didn’t choke at the Masters. I was so upset. I love Kenny Perry, but bu $10 was so close to turning into $600, as KP was 60/1 odds to win that week!

    Check my stuff out, at the very least you will find it to be an entertaining read.

    Peace,

    Bottom Line Jay

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