PGA Lessons Learned For Bookies & Strategies For Managing Golf Betting
The Professional Golf Association is back after the great Tiger Woods won the 2019 Masters Tournament, the first major tournament of the year.
It was Tiger’s first major championship since 2008 when he took home the U.S. Open trophy even though he struggled through pain caused by a knee injury.
Golf Betting Bookie Lessons Learned from Tiger’s Masters Win
Tiger’s victory should rocket interest in golf and in golf betting.
That’s an excellent thing for online bookies. The more different sports on which players wager, the more profit bookies will make. Although Tiger winning the Masters is good news for bookmakers, there are some lessons that we can learn from Woods’ victory.
Tiger’s awesome march to his fifth green jacket
Many thought Woods had a shot. He was at +700 heading into Saturday’s third round. He shot well enough on Saturday, a 67, to finish the round only two strokes off Francesco Molinari.
Molinari had looked unbeatable on Thursday and Friday.
Francesco shot a 70, 2 strokes under par, on Thursday before blasting a 67 on Friday. His 67 on Friday put him ahead of the competition. After the 66 on Saturday, many felt he’d easily handle his business on Sunday.
For a while, they were right.
Molinari and Woods played with Tony Finau in the final group. Dreading the forecasted rain, Augusta National decided to start to play early. Not only that but instead of pairing golfers together, they put golfers in groups of three.
Finau, Molinari, and Woods were in the finald group while Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, and Ian Poulter were in the second to the final group.
Finau and Woods kept pace with Molinari on the front nine. It was on the back nine where things got wonky for both Tony and Francesco. There’s history at Amen Corner, holes 11, 12, and 13. Green Jackets are won or lost at Amen Corner.
In 2005, Jordan Spieth, looking for back-to-back Green Jackets, teed two golf balls into the lake on the par-3 12.
History repeated itself again at the 12th hole this past Sunday. Molinari and Finau had finished ahead of Tiger on the eleventh. They teed it off before Woods. Both, not just Francesco and not just Tony, drove it into the water.
What’s crazy is that right before Molinari and Finau dropped their tee shots into the water, so had Koepka and Poulter in the group before. Seeing this, Tiger shot it right where Jack Nicklaus, the Golden Bear, would have shot it, right on the green between the two bunkers.
Tiger offered overlay odds heading into weekend play
This is the most important lesson to learn from Tiger’s amazing win at Augusta National last weekend. Golf betting can lead to massive sportsbook wins and massive sportsbook losses.
Two strokes down heading into Round 4, Tiger was a +700 odds choice to win the Masters Tournament. Sounds crazy, but +700 made him one of the favorites along with then-leader Francesco Molinari, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson.
Tiger won, which means the +700 on Woods constituted overlay odds, but, really, Francesco Molinari, Brooks Koepka, and Dustin Johnson offered overlay odds as well. Until Molinari’s implosion on the 12th, he seemed in total control.
Every club Francesco brought out of his bag seemed to have been blessed by Bagger Vance. He could do no wrong until the 12th when the golf gods seemed to cut up his Green Jacket and seemed destined to fit a new one for Tiger.
And, that’s exactly the point. The thing about golf is what makes it attractive to pay per head agents is the same reason it’s attractive to players.
Golf betting odds are always overlayed from a bookie point-of-view because no player will ever offer odds less than even money to win any golf tournament.
The Line mover was the key per head tool to use
Unlike Vegas sportsbooks or giant online books, most of which had to go with the +700, maybe +650, odds on Tiger, online bookie agents can use PPH tools like the line mover to change odds. Once Tiger got within 2 strokes of Molinari, he was a +500 choice.
Heck, +500 might have been generous. The reason is that playing with Tiger’s almost as bad as having to chase Tiger.
Once Woods got the lead on the 12th, the real implosion began. Nobody came close except for Brooks Koepka and he flubbed a birdie try on the 18th, likely because he knew he was chasing Woods.
Tiger’s Masters victory is a huge win for golfing fans, golf betting players, and online bookies.
For bookies, with every new revenue stream comes important ways to manage action. By using the line mover, per head agents could have lowered the odds on Tiger and make other betting options more attractive.
For more information on how PayPerHead tools can help you manage your sportsbook, call a PayPerHead rep at 800-605-4767 or start your sportsbook today with PayPerHead.com!
