EVERYONE loves a punt ahead of a Major and, with the PGA Championship coming up, its good to know where to put your hard earned cash.
Most punters stick to the overall winner – but Sun Sport’s resident golf expert Andy Taylor has some other sneaky tricks up his sleeve to bash the bookies.
First Round Leader
It’s not often a player will go wire-to-wire (lead from day one and win the tournament).
You will often predict a golfer to be quick out the traps without necessarily fancying them to win the overall tournament.
Betting on the leader after 18 holes can be a quick moneymaker for those who aren’t keen on waiting four days for a return.
It’s a great way to back a player you don’t think will cope with the pressure on a Sunday but fits all the factors needed for the course.
Also look out for players who finished strongly on the previous Sunday.
Top 20 Finish
As much as outside bets are appealing on the eye, rarely will you get a player with odds of 150/1 or above finish inside the top six.
The top 20 market is perfect if you want to maintain interest further down the field.
It takes nerves of steal to finish inside the top six particularly for those not used to it.
A top 20 finish for someone of high odds is still regarded as a huge personal achievement.
This market is particularly good if you see a young amateur or senior professional coming into an event with solid form despite not being a regular on the tour.
Cross-tournament Betting
For avid followers of golf across the globe, these bets can be the most rewarding.
If you’ve bet singly on both the European and PGA tours then why not merge the two? An each way double of your most fancied picks from both tours will give you that lottery ticket sensation.
A 25/1 shot in its own right doesn’t exactly scream profit. But pair that in a double with another 25/1 from a separate tournament and you could be making some serious money.
A £1 each way stake on two 25/1 winners will see you making £700+ profit.
It doesn’t stop there either. You could add in more tournaments with the Web.com, Challenge, LPGA, Asian and Senior tours running alongside the PGA and European Tours on a regular basis.
In-play Weekend Betting
Maybe you’ve not had time to do your research before the tournament or all your bets have gone down the drain by Friday night.
Luckily bookmakers offer in-play betting throughout the weekend.
Saturday in golf is known as ‘moving day’ as players notoriously post low scores and surge their way up the leaderboard.
These bets are particularly lucrative if the players at the top end of the leaderboard are weak or faltering. Or if weather is predicted to get tricky just as the leaders are teeing off.
If an early weekend starter can post a low score just before the clouds roll in they could find themselves leading come Sunday morning.
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Top Nationality
This is a nice way of making a bit of profit away from your average outright bet.
A certain player might take your fancy but isn’t the top player from that country.
You delve into the top nationality market and see five players above them who you feel don’t have a chance.
Suddenly to make profit your pick only has to finish above five other players as opposed to the whole field.
The pleasing thing about this bet is your pick doesn’t even need to finish high up the leaderboard to win.
Group Bet Accumulators
If you have the time to analyse each pairing that tees off there’s money to be made. This bet simply requires you to predict who is going to win over 18 holes out of players in a particular group. It’s another instant impact bet that doesn’t require waiting four days. Merge each group bet into a larger accumulator for the chance of a lucrative payout.
Match-Play Betting
The opportunity to bet on match-play events only happens a couple of times a season. The events are split into brackets where you can predict the winner of each via an accumulator. As the route to the final is pre-determined it allows you to plot the potential paths of each players making betting that bit more easier.
All Four Major Accumulator
A token bet that should always be embraced at the start of any golf season. What makes this bet interesting is that we know what type of course each major is going to throw at us even if they do change year on year. It’s yet another chance at a huge potential payout from minimal outlay.
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