With generous odds offered on dozens of competent players each week, golf betting can be remarkably rewarding. The problem is, while I've witnessed weekend sports gambling warriors making the occasional score, I've never heard of anyone who consistently beats the game, let alone makes a living at betting golf.
Of course, that shouldn't stop you from trying.
For the uninitiated, every golf tournament is its own mini future book, with odds listed for all (or almost all) of about 150 golfers. You can see the problem already, right? While, say, a Major tennis tournament future book will offer nearly as many (128) sports betting alternatives, your betting choice will need to beat just seven opponents to take the top prize. The others are eliminated by different players. Same thing with the 64-team NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament in March were the winner will have to defeat just six foes while other teams remove the remaining 57 hardcourt quintets. But in golf, your bet has to beat every other player in the field. That means, in order for you to cash, he has to overcome the hot player who plays well beyond his previous form and may never win again.
For a bettor, it's a daunting task.
The only real equivalent to golf betting is NASCAR, but those fields are limited to 43 drivers and, frankly, at least half of them have almost no chance of winning.
But that's certainly not the case with golf where someone like Paul Goydos (you're forgiven if you've never heard of him) won the Sony Open in Hawaii last January at odds of 250/1. And that's not an isolated incident.
Just three weeks later, Aaron Baddeley, a juicy 125/1 shot, took the FBR Open in Scottsdale, Arizona.
And if you think that upsets occur only in minor events, consider that when Zach Johnson won the Masters, he was 100/1. Chain-smoking Angel Cabrera was 150/1 when he huffed and puffed his way past Tiger Woods to win the US Open in Oakmont, Pennsylvania in June.
Given those enormous betting lines, it makes sense to just play longshots, then, right? Not so fast my friends. When Goydos won the Sony Open he was one of over 50 golfers at odds of 250/1 or more. Another 27 golfers were listed at 200/1 and 18 more at 150/1. Why not the equally obscure Rich Barcelo, David Branshaw, or Robert Garrigus at 250/1?
Okay, so maybe it's better to take the favorite, especially when it's Tiger Woods. Certainly Woods wins much more than any player on the PGA Tour - 61 times in 230 lifetime events - to be exact. That's a winning percentage of 26.5, meaning you'll need to average about 3/1 on Woods to earn a small profit.
Good luck.
When Woods won his first event of 2007, the Buick Invitational, he was 7/4. He was 5/4 when he tied for third in the Dubai Classic in late January of last year and 5/4 when he failed at the Masters. The fact is, unless he dramatically loses his form, we've probably seen the last of 3/1 or more on Woods.
So maybe the way to go is to bet on established, well-know golfers who aren't named Tiger Woods? Well, Phil Mickelson did win three PGA events in 2007, which still were not good enough for you to show a profit if you bet him in every start. Ernie Els didn't win a single event and Vijay Singh won just twice. Retief Goosen, a two-time US Open champion, got a goose egg, finishing a horrible 194th on the Tour in greens in regulation.
Perhaps one or more of the younger players on Tour, including villainous Rory Sabbatini, Justin Rose, or Adam Scott will prove to be good bets. Perhaps not.
If the weekly grind of trying to find a winner seems difficult, there are other propositions to explore.
For example, you can take odds on a variety of golfers winning at least one Major. It's 2/5 for Tiger, 3/1 for Mickelson and 7/1 that Sergio Garcia gets off the Major bagel.
Woods is 5/4 to win one Major, 7/2 to win two majors, 10/1 to win three majors and 22/1 to capture the Grand Slam. Take 11/5 if you think Woods won't win a Major this year.
Other props on Woods include his highest and lowest round, largest margin of victory and number of PGA Tour wins. You can get 7/1 on Woods scoring a hole-in-one this season.
The bottom line? Golf betting can be fun but it sure is difficult for it to be profitable.
This article was written by Luken Karel for
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