Masters Wagering

I mentioned earlier that the Duval bet in '98 definitely added to my enjoyment of that event (although it the end I felt sick). The fact is betting on golf is incredibly fun. Here's why:

Most of us have one or two favourite players, guys we'll follow in the John Deere classic, if they're playing in Asia, whatever. It's obviously fun to bet on these guys, but what if they miss the cut or withdraw due to injury? A bet on a few other players that you think have a chance, but that you don't otherwise follow, gives you a few more horses in the field and increases the likelihood that you'll have someone to root hard for coming down the stretch.

A popular format for Masters betting is the Masters pool. You get to pick 4 or 5 players using some formula involving World Ranking, commissioner decreed groupings or current money list standings. At the end of the week, the total earnings or positions of your players determines the pool winner. Not only does such a format give you several guys to root for for the whole week, but it makes you follow THE ENTIRE TOURNAMENT more closely. You'll wake-up early on Saturday and Sunday to follow the early starters on the internet to see if your guys are moving up the board. There is obvious excitement here, but it also makes you a much more knowledgeable fan. The more players you follow closely, the better understanding you have of their games, how the course is playing, who it favours etc. Betting in a Masters Pool is a great way of improving your golf IQ.

For me this weekend I have a series of bets:

First, I'm in a season-long pool with a team of 10 players. This pool takes everything I said about Masters' pools and multiplies it by ten. The major championships are given a premium in this league and currently my partner and I (my buddy from college, Greer) sit 4th out of 12 teams. This is a big week for us. We've got five of our ten players in this week (about the league average for this limited field event). They are:

Els
Garcia
Stricker
Rollins
Oberholser

Having read the Els article I posted earlier, I'm hopeful Ernie will have a good week. Stricker and Oberholser both had top-10s last week, and Rollins has been one of the most consistent players on tour so far this year. Sergio is Sergio. Honestly, I was surprised to notice his how poor his record at the Masters has been. Given the success of his Spanish colleagues here, I would have thought he'd have done better. As always with Sergio though, he only goes as far as his putter will take him and Augusta isn't exactly an easy putting course. So that's my season-long pool.

I'm in a second pool (just joined today) that asks you to pick 5 players whose World Golf Ranking Avg. adds up to less than 25 points. Tiger himself has 20 points so I've gone with this team:

Mickelson
Els
Singh
Howell III
Tom Watson

The top four need no explanation, so why Watson? Well after the first four, I had less than a point to play with, so I decided to go with experience and sentimentality. One of those decisions where if Watson makes the cut and manages a top-20, I look like a genius, if he shoots 80 on Thursday and misses the cut and I lose the pool by a small margin, I look like an asshole. (Note: This pool's winner is determined by adding up your team's earnings at the end of the week).

Finally, Greer and I also have some wagered on Geoff Ogilvy. I love Ogilvy's game and I love his honesty with the press (Check out his interview: http://www.golfdigest.com/newsandtour/index.ssf?/newsandtour/gw20070302opinion.html). Anyway, Greer and I got terrific 30-1 odds on him. I'm a little surprised by these odds, but I'm not complaining. Phil and Tiger both spoke yesterday about how important it is to have had experience at Augusta and in major championships before you enter the cauldron that is the back nine on Sunday. Ogilvy's been in it at Winged Foot, and has done remarkably well in the Match Play event the last two years. There are shorter odds on a lot of players with less experience and not demonstrably better games.

I'll be back later with a note about today's press conferences and my official picks for the weekend. (Official? Yeah, really official!)