Unless you are an avid golf fan that lives and breathes the sport, you probably will admit that watching a golf tournament does not rank up there on an excitement level with watching the Super Bowl or the NCAA Final Four. One thing that golf does have in common with the NFL, college hoops and all the major sports is the widespread interest in betting on the game.
There are PGA golf tournaments held almost every week of the year. Interest in both watching and wagering grows proportionally with the importance of the tournament. While the Masters may be steeped in tradition, they are hardly immune from the less than pure aspects associated with betting on golf.
Las Vegas sportsbooks and online betting sites always look forward to the Masters and other big golf tournaments because it means more money will be bet on golf. While purists might think that betting on the game somehow tarnishes golf’s image, bettors and those that do not object to the practice, feel that betting on golf increases the excitement of watching golf. Watch the Masters online and get leaderboard updates from CBS.
There are a number of different ways to bet on golf. One can make a wager on an individual golfer winning the tournament. Odds are assigned by the sportsbook based on the likelihood of each particular player actually winning the tournament. A player in good form and ranked in the top 5 in the world is likely to have odds of 5:1 or even lower. When Tiger Woods was winning almost every tournament he entered, it was almost impossible to find a Las Vegas sportsbook that would offer betting odds of more than 3:1.
Another type of golf wager that is quite popular among the fans is the Player versus Player bet. In this type of bet, two players are matched up against each other throughout the tournament and the player who winds up finishing ahead of the other player is the winner. It does not matter how well they do in the actual tournament. If one player finishes in 17th place and another finishes in 25th, the player that finished number 17 is declared the winner for betting purposes. Players do not have to be paired up on the golf course. Only the scorecard and the number of total shots matter. This type of bet encourages interest in following the two players even if they have no chance of actually winning the competition on the course.