Golf Betting April 2024
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Golf is a glorious pastime enjoyed by legions of fans around the world, offering players both young and old the chance to get outdoors and enjoy a top sport with a history of rigorous competition.
Golf betting may not sound like a complicated proposition; surely you just pick the guy who you think is going to win, right? Well, not exactly. That’s because even the very best player in the world cannot be expected to win every competition.
Picking an outright winner from a field of over 100 players is a difficult task, but golf offers a wide array of different wagers that can’t be found in other sports markets at the top New Jersey sportsbooks and top Pennsylvania sportsbooks.
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Golf Betting Tips
Major Golf Betting Tournaments
The PGA Tour in the US and all over the world offer a wide variety of tournaments to bet on throughout the year and around the world. While most only have one individual winner there are even some team competitions for betters to keep an eye on in order to shake things up.
PGA Majors
The majors are four of the most prestigious and popular golf tournaments of each calendar year hosted by the Professional Golfers’ Association of America. These are the “big ones” and draw a huge amount of media attention and betting action.
The Masters
Maybe the most well-known and most talked about tournament of the year, the US Masters takes place in the state of Georgia at legendary Augusta National Golf Club. The winner receives the iconic green jacket and often gains worldwide acclaim. The tournament usually tees off the week of the 2nd Sunday in April.
The Players Championship
The tournament that offers one of the highest prize funds in golf ($10.5 million and higher), the Players Championship is held in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. It’s been hosted by the TPC at Sawgrass course since 1982 and was established in 1974. It’s often referred to as the “fifth major” due to its popularity.
Ryder Cup
The Ryder Cup takes place every two years and is unique in that it’s a team event pitting the US against Europe. Established in 1927 the tournament switches courses between Europe and the US each occurrence and assembles the best of the best each side has to offer for a star-studded showing. Being a team event, it has its own special bets that set it apart from most other tournaments.
The US Open
Usually ending on Father’s Day, The US Open is hosted on a variety of courses throughout the country. An American staple since 1895, the tournament has a long, rich history of thrilling finishes and unforgettable moments.
The Open Championship
Also known as the The British Open, the Open Championship is the oldest of the major tournaments getting its start back in 1860. The championship always contains the third Friday in July and is regularly held outside the United States and is the only major to hold that distinction. A favorite location is the Old Course at St. Andrews considered to be the oldest golf course in the world.
The PGA Championships
The final major of the year, the PGA Championships, takes place on the third weekend prior to Labor Day, but will be moved to the third weekend of May in 2019. Like the US Open, it’s host course varies year-to-year and the winner receives membership on the PGA Tour for the five following seasons, automatic invitation to the other three majors and eligibility for life to the PGA Championships.
FedEx Cup
The FedEx Cup is essentially the PGA Tour’s version of “playoffs” in which players earn points for every event they play throughout the year. It’s viewed as a yearly “championship” to determine the best golfer in the world or at least on the PGA Tour. One thing to keep in mind is the player with the most wins is by no mean guaranteed to win the FedEx Cup.
World Golf Championships
The WGC consists of four annual events created by the International Federation of PGA Tours. While these are usually ranked lower than the majors and Player’s Championship in terms of popularity and prestige, they still offer plenty of excitement. The events featured established in 1999 are the WGC-Mexico Championship, the WGC-Dell Match Play, the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and in 2009 the HSBC Champions event was added.
Golf Betting Markets to Consider
Picking the outright winner of a golf tournament is obviously the most straightforward way to bet, but with a vast field of so many names and possible outcomes there are a host of other ways to wager. Golf offers some of the most unique markets in any sport given the individual vs. the field nature of the game and major tournaments.
- Outright Winner & Round Leader | Outright involves basic bets on the player that the better thinks will win a given tournament and receive the trophy. Round Leader is a bet on the player that will sit at the top of the overall leaderboard for each round of a tournament.
- Place Betting | With so many players in the field, it can be beneficial to bet on a specific place other than first for a player or for a player to finish in the top 5, 10 or 20. This may lessen return, but increase chances of winning. To Make/Miss Cut is a bet on whether or not a player will make or miss the cut that takes place after the opening rounds of a tournament. The cut usually occurs after the first 48 holes and disqualifies most golfers placing below 70th place. Straightforwardly, To Finish Last is a bet that a golfer will finish in last place in the selected tournament.
- Tournament Group Betting | This betting involves first naming a selected group of golfers and then picking which of them will finish highest on the leaderboard in the tournament or betting on other various results involving that group?
- 2-Ball & 3-Ball Betting | 2-ball betting involves picking two different potential winners of a tournament. It’s an attempt to increase chances of winning while hedging one’s bet that’s on of the unique opportunities offered in golf wagering. 3-Ball Betting is the same as 2-ball betting but instead the better picks from a field of 3 players and thus further hedges their return in hopes of increasing their chances.
- Ryder Cup Betting | Unique to the Ryder Cup, Top Overall/European/USA Points Scorer involves picking the top point scorers for either or both the US and European teams. Top Euro/USA Points and Europe/USA to win the Ryder Cup is a parlay option that allows for betters to pick both the best Euro and USA points getters and which country will end up winning the tournament.
Understanding Golf Betting Odds
American golf odds are based on positive and negative figures and indicate how much money a bettor must wager to win $100 or how much a $100 bet would win. Negative numbers indicate how much you must bet to win $100. For example if Jordan Spieth has odds of -140 to win the Masters it means you must bet $140 on him to win $100.
Positive numbers indicate how much you'd win from a $100 bet. So if Tiger Woods has odds of +160 to win the Player's Championship, it would mean a potential win of $160 on a $100 bet. To work out how much you'd win on a different bet amount, you just have to scale the figure up or down proportionally.
Golf Betting Strategy
Looking at a golfing line-up for a big championship, it is likely that your eyes will initially veer towards the familiar names of Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson and the like. However, it is frequently the slightly less talked-about players that emerge from the pack and challenge for the big events – just look at Jordan Spieth and Billy Horschel as examples from the past few years. These players are usually dismissed in the market and so it is the punter’s duty to sieve out these dark horses and find some real value.
Perhaps the most difficult task, however, is trying to asses which golfer is backing himself – i.e. who is riding high on confidence before the first tee which, in turn, will lead others to have confidence in him. The intricacies and eccentricities of golf mean that players go in and out of form constantly; indeed, a player could be out of form for two years and then go and win the Masters.
However, there are concrete signs to watch out for. The fluctuations in golf betting markets can often provide a big clue. If a player who has been off-form is fancied in the market, then clearly there is confidence behind him. As well as this, you must watch out for recent tournaments because, as with most sports, recent form is always a decent yardstick with which to measure potential success.
Knowing the Course
Although as discussed, players do not necessarily need to have excelled prior to a tournament to perform well. It is therefore a good idea to look at the different courses that respective golfers perform well on. For example, at next year’s Masters, it will be worth looking at Bubba Watson, but also at Peter Hanson, K.J Choi, and Phil Mickelson, for whom Augusta holds no fears.
Researching Weather
Other variables to look out for include weather conditions, the ability to handle pressure and the intruding effects of any niggling injuries. Perhaps the most important thing to remember when betting on golf is not simply to back the favourite. In more cases than not, during the event itself the odds of each player will fluctuate dramatically and the favourite can finish at a much bigger price after the close of day one or two.
As such, wait for the event to start and, if you find that your pre-tournament fancy has dropped a couple of shots, you will be glad that you did not back him. Alternatively, if you see your pick playing well, then pile in.
Fnding Value Picks
- Analyse the course and expected conditions. | Different courses play very differently, and certain players are particularly suited to certain types of fairways and greens. Different lengths of course, different types of rough and different designers can all play a key role in categorizing a course. Certain players enjoy playing in the desert, while others excel on windy coastal links.
- Picking out players suited to their surroundings. | There is an abundance of statistics available to analyse golfers who will be taking part in any given tournament, from the most basic information such as driving distance and greens in regulation, to more obscure and unusual statistics such as strokes gained through putting and approaches from the left-hand rough. These will provide invaluable for your golf outright betting.
- Match-up the demands of a course to the most important statistics. | The important thing is to match up the demands of a course, determined from its characteristics, to the most important statistics to take advantage of that course. If it is well-known for its length, looking at those players that score highly on the driving distance ranking would be wise. Similarly, if it is known for having a lot of well-positioned bunkers around the green, looking at those players with a strong sand save percentage would be smart.
- Study golfer’s current form. | Form is another key aspect to note in golf betting. As in any sport, success often breeds more success. If a player is repeatedly achieving top-10 or top-20 finishes, they are often worth keeping an eye on. In golf betting, you are always looking for a player to place, as much as to win. A top-5 finish for a player at decent odds can cover your stakes for the next couple of weeks, so a player that is consistently around the top of the leader board can prove profitable, even if he is not winning.
- Look at golfer’s previous performances at the tournament. | Finally, look at previous performances at the tournament. As noted earlier, history can be important and if a player’s game is suited to a particular course where he has achieved success before, chances are he may go well again.
Golf betting can be a very frustrating business, as you can go weeks without seeing any returns. Golf is unlike any other sport, because you can have a different leader every five minutes. However, when your 80/1 shot finally tops the leader board, it will cover any losses and provide additional funds well into the future.
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