When it comes to golf, hitting a winner (or two or four) can result in some big paydays. Here are 10 of the biggest we’ve seen.
RENOWNED BETTER WINS BIG
Narrowing down a field of 156 players to 25 who have a chance to win can be difficult enough, but to pinpoint who is going to have their best stuff on a given week is nearly impossible. That’s what makes this bet from “a renowned golf punter in Australia” so impressive. What’s more? The guy didn’t just pick Henrik Stenson to win the Open Championship — a fairly straightforward wager — he went ahead and put all of his eggs in the Aaron Baddeley at Barbasol basket, parlaying the two winners on a $50 bet. Elvy only identified the winner of the $86,700 ticket to be a well-known Austrialian golf bettor, but regardless of who hit the Henrik Stenson/Aaron Baddeley double, we’re fairly certain he’s either a genius or a guy who liked Stenson at Troon and Aussie-homered Badds at Barbasol.
Photo via @Luke_Elvy on X
FOUR-WAY PARLAY HITS
Some of the biggest golf bets are those that include more sports than just golf. This one person put a $10 wager on a four-leg multi-bet at odds of 9,972.22 to 1. It included Ricardo Santos as firing the lowest round one score at the African Open golf ($41), Dustin Johnson to card the lowest score in the first round of the Northern Trust PGA golf tournament in the US ($23), Brisbane Roar’s win in the A-League grand final (at $2.35) then Hawthorn to win the 2014 AFL Grand Final ($4.50). In the end, it somehow hit and he won close to $100,000!
Photo via @tabcomau on X
RORY MCILROY’S DAD CASHES IN BIG ON 10-YEAR-OLD BET
Often, fathers tend to talk up their children as if they’re the “next big thing” in their respective sport. Few, however, are willing to bet £400 (or roughly $500 USD) on their child to win a championship, never mind a major championship. Gerry McIlroy is one of those fathers. And that’s exactly what he did. Ten years ago, when Rory McIlroy was just 15 years old, his father and three friends bet £400 on 500-1 odds for Rory to win the Open Championship by the age of 26. Then when Rory won in 2014 at Royal Liverpool Golf Club, the bet cashed in big time. Like, $341,730 big time.
Photo via @rorymcilroy on Instagram
LAS VEGAS HEAT
Erick Lindgren is a poker player that loves to let it ride, even if it’s not at the poker table. One time he made a golf bet with friends that just kept escalating. The terms were that he needed to play four rounds in 100+ degree Las Vegas heat carrying his clubs, from the tips and had to break 100 each time. He did it and pocketed $340,000
Photo via @lindgren_erick on Instagram
BIG MISTAKE
Back in 2012, a man from Belfast thought he backed Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano to win the Qatar Masters and Kyle Stanley for the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a two man parlay. When Fernandez-Castano didn’t win he thought his bet was shot. However, he accidentally placed the bet on Paul Lawrie who actually won, as did Kyle Stanley. When he woke up Monday morning, he had a $177,000 surprise waiting in his bank account.
Photo via @golf_inmorocco on X
PALMER MONEY GAMES
Reason 38,734,902 why Arnold Palmer is the best. While it usually wasn’t a large sum of money at one time, it’s said the King used gambling to provide for his wife Winnie and get out of debt at the same time. One time at Pine Valley in New Jersey, Palmer offered his partners this bet: he would get $100 for every stroke he finished under 70. If he played poorly on the notoriously tough course, he would shell out $100 for every stroke he finished over 80. Although he bogeyed the first hole, Palmer repeatedly used this system along with a variety of side bets to wriggle out from under $5,000 in debt in a single weekend.
Photo via @arniesarmycf on Instagram
SERGIO GARCIA’S MASTERS WIN COMPLETES PARLAY
Sergio Garcia may have raked in $1.98 million for his Masters win, but one lucky sports bettor also had a lucrative day thanks to Garcia’s major triumph. On Tuesday, prominent sports betting outlet Bovada posted this unbelievable winning ticket of a two-way golf parlay which one of their users made prior to the Honda Classic, where Rickie Fowler won back in February. The wager was $60. The payout? A whopping $41,773.92!
Photo via BovadaLV on X
LEFTY CASHES IN
We can’t have a gambling list without Phil Mickelson. While Lefty is known for his Tuesday money games, he’s also known for his affinity for big sports betting. Back in 2001, he was part of a group that picked both the Baltimore Ravens (28-to-1) and the Arizona Diamond (38-to-1) to win their respective world titles. They put $20G’s on each. Needless to say, it paid out.
Photo via @the_legends_of_sports on Instagram
SI WOO KIM’S LONG-SHOT WIN
Gambling is fun, especially if you win big. Back in 2017, 21-year-old Si Woo Kim become the youngest winner of the Players Championship in the history of the event. Just how big of a long shot was the South Korean? His odds were 500-to-1! As it turns out, an Irish gambler, who either knows way too much about golf or is incredibly lucky, took a chance on the youngster putting down $220 on an each-way bet. By Sunday evening, that person netted more than $66,000!
Photo via @swinguapp on X
MJ LOSES BIG
Michael Jordan is one of the most competitive people on the planet, let alone the golf course. It’s not uncommon to see large sums of money exchange when his Airness plays. However, things didn’t go his way on this one golf trip where it was reported he was down $1.25 million over a span of 10 days. He did cut it down to $902K after a few more games.
