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Types of Golf Bet
European Order of Merit
This market is for which golfer earns the most European Tour prize money by the end of the golfing season. Expect to have your money tied up for up to a year with this market so choose your bets wisely and only bet if you are in a financially liquid situation.
Group Betting
Betting on which of a group of usually five players will perform best during a tournament. A useful market if you fancy an outsider to perform above his odds but not win or even place in the tournament itself.
Example
You back Lee Westwood to beat the four other players the bookies have put in his group.
If he beats all of them the bet is a winner.
If any one of them beats Lee Westwood the bet is a loser.
To Make The Cut
Some bookmakers allow punters to be on which players will make the cut. The odds are usually very restrictive for the more fancied players which sometimes makes it more of a layers market.
Outright
This is the betting on which player will win the tournament. This is a very competitive sport so backing at short prices is not normally recommended. It is often best to look out for bigger priced players who are value odds to back each way. Most bookmakers now allow you to choose your each way terms, usually between 1/4 odds first five places and 1/5 odds first six places. The more confident you are of your player placing, the bigger place odds and less places you should be looking to take. Golf is one of the few sports where it is generally profitable to back a few selections in the same tournament as the odds are so big.
To Place or Top 5 Finish
Some bookmakers offer place only betting. You won't receive the same odds as you would if backing each way but there is the added incentive you won't lose your win money on a selection that isn't likely to win because you have only backed him to place. Shop around between the bookmakers and the exchanges as prices can often vary greatly.
3 Ball Betting
Betting on who will win the individual matchups on each round of play. This can be particularly profitable if you are prediciting quick or slow starting players.
US PGA Money List
This market is for which golfer tops the US PGA Money List at the end of the golfing season. Like the European Tour Order of Merit market, you should expect to have your money tied up for up to a year with this market so again choose your bets wisely and only bet if you are in a financially liquid situation.
Spread Betting Golf Markets
The range of spread betting markets are fairly limited on golf but there can be some nice opportunities
to sell players in tournament markets.
Tournament Index
This is like outright betting but the spread betting equivalent. Points are assigned to the first eight finishing positions with more points assigned for a better finish. Each player is quoted with a spread of points they are expected to get. The advantage this has over traditional outright betting is that more places are rewarded and the more your choice outperforms expectations the more you will win. Of course it works the other way and the more your selection underperforms the more you will lose.
Example
You back a player whose spread is 90-94 points (Buy at 94)
He finishes third and earns a final make up of 200 points.
You win your unit stake multiplied by 106 (200-94).
The total liability for the bet was 94 times your unit stake (how much you would have lost if he had finished outside of the top eight, earning no points).
Golf Major Performance
This is similar to the tournament index except it refers to performance in all four major tournaments. For this you will need a player who is versatile and consistent enough to play well in all the tournaments.
Exchange Betting on Golf
Despite the fact some golfers appear to be quite dominant in the sport many tournaments often throw up big priced winners. This is suited to exchange betting as the bigger the odds of something, the bigger percentage of odds increase you are likely to find on the exchanges when compared to the odds at traditional bookmakers. You won't find picking winners any easier by backing on the exchanges, but by picking the winner you can often win a lot more if it is an unfancied winner.
The big priced winners are not always massive shocks (they are usually in the top 30 in the money list for that season) but because of the competitive nature of the sport most runners will be big prices (certainly offering each way value at least).
In the markets such as to make the cut or 3 ball betting there can often be value gained in laying short prices. Of course a random laying of all short prices is not recommended but opposing slow starters or any players who seem very underpriced should be profitable in the long run.
In Running Golf Betting
In running betting on golf tournaments is available with most bookmakers these days as well as exchanges. You may wish to see how some players start before backing them and this allows you to do exactly that. Of course, the better a player starts the more his odds will have decreased since the pre tournament betting stage but it may mean far fewer stakes are wasted backing no hopers.
It also allows punters to lay players that may have become artificially short prices. Players who normally start well may be trading lower than they should be considering their tendancy to fade as the tournament goes on and players who have started well but don't normally perform well in tournaments have probably just had things go their way so far. Both types of player are likely to end up performing much worse than their early tournament odds indicated making them both value lays.
Laying Off
The exchanges also allow punters to lay off bets they have already placed. It may be a case that you have backed a 100/1 shot who is now trading at 10/1 and you want to either cover your stake by laying the player slightly or lock in a bit of profit. The lower the odds have tumbled to, the more profit you will be able to guarantee yourself by laying off. However this means you will win far less than you would have originally if you had stuck to your bet.
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