Is this the craziest golf bet of all time?
When Jon Rahm won the DP World Tour Championship and sealed the season-long Race to Dubai title, it escaped nobody’s knowledge that he would collect a staggering $5 million.
But the Spaniard wasn’t the only person collecting handsome winnings on Sunday.
Social media has seen plenty of golf bets gain some coverage, but unfortunately most turn out to be mere Photoshop jobs or don’t end up coming off.
The best example of a genuine viral punt is from 2017 when a British gambler fell just short of a 1,000,000/1 four-fold on the major winners of that season. He predicted Sergio Garcia’s Masters win, Brooks Koepka’s US Open win and Justin Thomas’ PGA Championship win but he’d selected Rickie Fowler to win the Open and fell at the final hurdle.
This week marked the end of perhaps the best and most random golf bet that we have seen.
The crazy bet was brought to light thanks to Sporting Life tipster Ben Coley, who shared the bet slip on Twitter:
Player of the year? Open to debate. Likewise rookie, performance, disappointment and so on.
Bet? Not sure it’s a contest. pic.twitter.com/pxPwZmFtP9
— Ben Coley (@BenColeyGolf) November 24, 2019
Having successfully backed Xander Schauffele to win the Tournament of Champions in January, Koepka to top the PGA Tour money list and Tiger Woods to win the Masters, the punter needed one final favour from one of Europe’s best.
The final leg of the bet relied upon Rahm winning the European Tour’s Race to Dubai and thanks to his win at the DP World Tour Championship, this came true.
Now, at least 11 months after the bet was placed the original £15.16 stake has turned into £126,875,88.
Have you seen or had a crazier golf bet that this? Tweet us and let us know.
Joe Hughes
Tour editor covering men's golf, women's golf and anything else that involves the word golf, really. The talk is far better than the game, but the work has begun to change that.
