Sometime in the early 2010s, a golf reporter who once wrote for a Southern California metropolitan paper before going freelance heard PGA Tour player Jason Bohn talk about wagering games during a press conference at the Humana Challenge. For those of you unfamiliar with that now-defunct tournament title, think the post-Bob Hope, pre-American Express tournament in the Southern California desert.
The writer wanted to talk to Bohn about the various wagers that tour golfers engage in with each other during pre-tournament practice rounds for a magazine story. But when he put his interview request to the PGA Tour’s onsite media official, he was told in no uncertain terms that he would not make Bohn available to talk about betting or any gambling-related topic.
Yes, Virginia, there was a time when gambling talk at professional golf events was reserved for wink-wink, nudge-nudge references to Phil Mickelson. The stories about Mickelson’s early-week, practice-round wagering games with various players were an open secret on tour. Alas, an open secret nobody employed by the PGA Tour would discuss.
Golf & Gambling
Fast forward 15 or so years, and there’s a whole new definition of “action on the course.” Tour officials may not discuss Philly Mick’s wagering escapades, but everything else concerning the art of the bet?
Play away, sirs. And would you like action?
When the Supreme Court overturned the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act (PASPA) in 2018, the Tour played the sportsbook field before settling on FanDuel, DraftKings, and the now-defunct ESPNBet (now theScore Bet).
And the Tour went unapologetically all-in. In 2023, they announced a deal with DraftKings to open the DraftKings Sports Book at the TPC Scottsdale, the home of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, annually the most attended tournament of the season. When you need a break from the party animals on the 16th hole, you can repose in a 2,700-square-foot building with six staffed windows, 32 betting kiosks, and 3,400 square feet of video walls with your wallet in hand.
“Yes, I’d like $100 on Scottie Scheffler to win and $100 on Xander Schauffele to finish top-10. …”
You don’t have to be among the party crowd at the TPC Scottsdale to get down on professional golf. Every tournament is an open book. Will Scheffler win yet another tournament (like he did last week at the American Express)? Will J.J. Spaun finish top-5? And who will finish with the lower score between Jason Day and Keegan Bradley?
Let’s break down the types of golf wagers available.
Winner
Pretty self-explanatory. Who wins the tournament? This can often be a crapshoot, given the field size and capricious nature of golf. That’s why you’ll see ridiculous odds like Farmer’s Open defending champion Harris English to repeat (+3,300-+4,000). This week’s favorite as of this writing is Xander Schauffele at +1,300.
This is why you’ll often see the field broken up into categories for wagering: favorites, value bets, and longshots/sleepers. Many bettors will sprinkle wagers in each category.
Top-5, Top-10 and Top-20 Finishes
Again, pretty self-explanatory. This gives you a wider range to cash your bet, while preserving your bankroll. Hitting a few top-20s at +180 or +200 or a top-10 at +350 or +400 may not be as sexy as nailing a 40-1 winner, but since when is cashing a 4-1 ticket unsexy?
First-Round Leader
Yeah, again, no explanation needed. You’re wagering on who will jump out to the early lead. This week, for example, you can get long-hitter Cameron Young at +3,000 to bomb his way out of the gate at Torrey Pines.
Head-to-Head
We mentioned a relevant example of this bet above that you can make this week: Day vs. Bradley. You’re wagering which one will post the lower score, with the accompanying odds. You can do this over a single round or the full tournament. The full tournament takes away some of the game’s volatility.
Prop Bets
Here’s where it’s easy to cash—and easy to get into trouble. Golf props give you a wide range of options and a wide range of ways to whittle your bankroll away because, again, the capriciousness of golf. Will there be a hole-in-one? Will Tony Finau make or miss the cut? What will the lowest round be? The highest round? You get the idea.
There are also prop bets with a nationality twist. What country will the winner be from? Who will be the low European? The low Australian? The low American? If you bet the tournament winner is an American, you win the bet if an American player hoists the trophy. If you bet that Adam Scott is the low Aussie, you win if he beats his countrymen.
Some props are only available in the majors and events like the Ryder Cup, but this is a category with plenty of options each week.
Live Betting
Another way to get into trouble is with wagers that you make while the tournament is going on. There are several iterations of this high-wire wager.
Let’s say your pre-tournament wagers all blow up. You decide to leap on Hideki Matsuyama’s bandwagon for the final round. You’re betting he scrambles his way to victory over the last 18 holes.
Or you can wager that Matsuyama will beat his playing partner over the final 18.
You can even take this to the 18th hole. Say Matsuyama and Schauffele are in the final pairing and tied going into 18. You can back up your faith in Matsuyama with a live bet on the 18th hole.
Futures
Say you like the idea of Tommy Fleetwood finally shaking off his inability to finish at a major and winning the Masters. Here’s the way to do it months in advance—with built-in value.
You like Fleetwood at +4,000, where he currently sits. So you place a wager on him in January, which locks him in at that number. Should Fleetwood play well during the winter, or if other bettors on Fleetwood come late to the party, his odds will plummet. But not for you. You’ve got Fleetwood at +4,000—40-1.
Futures are a great way to find value on players you really like ahead of time. The drawback is tying up your money for months. But the potential for finding a sleeper at juicy odds outweighs that. For that reason, it’s generally not a great bet to take a low-odds favorite—like Scheffler or Rory McIlroy (both currently +550)—this far out.
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