Golf betting can be one of the toughest betting options out there if you haven’t researched it fairly in-depth. With so many events offered in the PGA Tour, and so many different courses it can be tough to keep up with which golfers play especially well at which locations. It may sound crazy that a golf course can make a golfer play better or worse, but that’s what the stats are for. The PGA Tour is the main golf tour in the United States for men’s golf, and is based out of Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The PGA Tour branched off from the “Professional Golfers Association of America (PGA of America) back in 1968, and adopted the name PGA Tour in 1975. The PGA Tour is set up over 43 weeks with different professional golf events, and includes some of the biggest tournaments in golf, such as “The Players Championship”, the “FedEx Cup”, and the “Presidents Cup”. The PGA Tour though, also runs events such as the Nationwide Tour, which is a developmental tournament, and the Champions Tour for golfers 50 and above. There are four majors in the PGA Tour, with three of the four running over an eight week span between June and August. As well as the FedEx Cup, which runs from January through mid-August, and has players compete in a regular season of events to earn FedEx Cup points. At the end of this regular season, the top 125 players compete in the playoffs, which consist of four events between mid-August through September. From that point, the field gets reduced from 125 to 100 to 70, and finally down to 30 for the Tour Championship; and at the end of the championship the top point winner is the season champion.
Golf Odds and Betting Types
While there are a few different ways to bet on golf, there is definitely one way which is more profitable than the others. The two main ways are betting on someone to win out of the entire field (which can be tough when the field is fairly large), or betting on match-ups. The golf betting option to bet a player to win a tournament will have odds that vary anywhere from 2-1 all the way to about 100-1 or more. You’re essentially picking one golfer to win a tournament and are paid based on his or her odds if they win. There is also a “field” betting option with this bet to go with the rest of the players listed. There are typically 144 players in a golf tournament, and some of the players may be unknown; where the sportsbook will then put them in the “field” category. This type of bet can be tough if you don’t have a strong feeling or a good angle on one or two of the golfers playing in the tournament.
The better golf bet is typically the match-up bet. In this bet, you’ll bet on one golfer against another golfer in a “match-up”. Of course these two players aren’t actually going against each other in a one-on-one format, but it’s set up this way with odds for each golfer. For example, you could have Phil Mickelson against Rory McIlroy. So if Mickelson is a -200 favorite, you would be risking $200 to make a $100 profit if you were to bet on Phil Mickelson. If you were going to bet the other side and take McIlroy, his odds would most likely be around +160. This means that if you were to bet $100 on Rory McIlroy, and he won; you would gain a profit of $160 since he is the underdog in the match-up.
Between the two types of betting, you aren’t going to get as great of odds in a match-up format; but it’s considered to be a much “smarter” bet, by most professional gamblers. It’s a bit obvious though that it’s easier to win the match-up bet, as your player would only have to beat one player, compared to beating 143 other players. That’s not to say that placing a bet on one single player to win it all is always a bad bet, but that’s where the research comes into it. Betting on a player to win the whole tournament is similar to betting on a college basketball team to win the NCAA Tournament, while betting on a match-up is similar to betting the money line in a hockey game.
Major Golf Events to Bet On
Golf betting features multiple events and match-ups, but four majors that are the most popular to bet on. The four majors are The Masters, the US Open, the British Open, and the PGA Championship. The Masters is played at Augusta National, and takes place in April. The US Open is played at different courses each year, but is typically considered to be one of the harder events of the Tour; it’s played every year in June. The British Open is the only event to be played outside of the United States, and is normally played in either England or Scotland; the British Open is played in July. The PGA Championship is the last of the four PGA Tour majors, and is played in the middle of August. A player who wins at the PGA Championship is exempt from having to qualify to enter a major tournament for the next five years, which is huge for every player. The PGA Championship is also played at different courses every year.
Golf Betting Tips and Betting Strategy
When betting golf, the most obvious bit of advice is to not get too crazy betting on one player against the field. This can be one of the hardest bets to win, and can essentially be a waste of money if you don’t do your research. If you go into an event and don’t know much about the players or odds that are offered, don’t just place a bet on a big name. The best thing to do is to do some research and see if a player has a competitive edge against the field which could be based on his play as of late, or how he’s played at the specific course in the past. When betting on golf match-ups, the best thing to do is to take the player that you find who has an advantage, and place a bet on him against another player in who’s competing in the tournament. You’ll likely find some good odds on those players, especially if the two players listed are a bit unknown. If you feel very strongly about one player to win the entire tournament, it’s not bad to place a bet on that player if the odds are good; but also place a bet on the player to win in a heads-up match-up as well. If you follow those basic tips, you’ll be good to go when you’re doing your golf betting!