How to Bet on Golf: The Best Markets Revealed
There is no secret sauce to betting on any sport unfortunately, which is why so many of us turn to tipsters that are experts in their field and have a long-term, verified set of results that analyses their profitability.
Golf is an interesting sport to wager on because there are a couple of simple rules you can follow that gives anyone a fighting chance of backing a winner (or securing place money): if the player is in form and has played well at the host course before, they have an excellent platform on which to build.
Tournament Win (With Places)
The most satisfying golf betting market to play is the tournament winner – if only it was easy to pick out the champion from the 156 or so players that tee it up in an event!
That’s why betting each way is vital. With Betfair golf betting, as just one example, you could secure eight paid places on the majority of PGA TOUR tournaments and sometimes more for majors – that means that for the Open Championship, you can secure a return if popular golf betting tips like Jordan Spieth (20/1), Dustin Johnson (28/1) and Justin Rose (33/1) finish in the places without necessarily threatening to win.
What a week Pebble Beach 🏆 Thanks for this cool video @PGATOUR 🙏🔥 pic.twitter.com/RQafavmNaT
— Justin ROSE (@JustinRose99) February 7, 2023
First Round Leader
This is the same as betting on the tournament winner market – albeit with fewer places paid.
What’s interesting about the First Round Leader (FRL) market is that the odds for each player at the head of the market are slightly longer than their main tournament betting prices – enabling us to squeeze extra value out of the big guns. There’s more variance to wagering on an 18-hole market than a 72-hole category, with more ‘shock’ results likely.
There are instances where punters can gain a genuine edge in the FRL market. Some golf courses play harder later in the day – maybe the wind has picked up, or the sun has come out and firmed up the course, also making the greens run faster.
It’s worth looking at the weather for a tournament, which will typically get underway on a Thursday, to see if there is a potential draw bias – half of the field will start their round in the morning, while the other half tees off in the afternoon.
Top Finishes
When you have a feeling that an outsider is going to play well, but not necessarily challenge at the top of the leaderboard, you can instead bet on them to deliver a Top 20/30/40 finish.
You’ll get shorter odds than in the main outright market, of course, but have so much more margin for error – especially when betting on the Top 40 finish category.
To offer some context, the 2023 Memorial Tournament was won by 18/1 shot Viktor Hovland. But finishing inside the top 30 on the leaderboard were players available in the outright market at around 100/1 – creating a handsome return even for those betting in a more conservative fashion.
Can’t spell Viktor Hovland without….
O-H-I-O, 1st victory in the US comes here. #theMemorial x @PGATOUR pic.twitter.com/8yo7rvWKhL
— the Memorial (@MemorialGolf) June 4, 2023
Luke Donald – who was a whopping 300/1 before the off – finished tied 38th; netting Top 40 backers a decent 7/2 winner without him getting anywhere near to the trophy.
Top Nationalities
Many bookies break a PGA TOUR field down into smaller categories; one of which is centred around the player that will finish as the Top American, Top British & Irish, Top Asian and so on.
These markets are interesting because, where there are enough players, each way places are paid. For example, at the 2023 Canadian Open there were eight players vying to be Top Continental European – that means three places are paid. This is a unique way of betting on fancied outsiders like Vincent Norrman, who was available at 80/1 to win the tournament and 4/1 to best his continental compatriots.
So there are many different ways to bet on golf in a fun and responsible way – most of them don’t even require you to back a tournament winner to profit.
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