Golf

Welcome to the Golf portal

After horseracing, greyhounds and football, golf is the fourth most-gambled-on sport. Over £100m is bet annually with bookmakers and spread firms in the UK and Ireland, and probably £300m matched on the betting exchanges - Betfair reported £29.6m to have been traded on the Open Championship in July '07.

Being over four days, golf is an ideal medium for betting in running and there are many, many types of bet available. The chief one, of course, is the outright market and with fields of up to 180 most bookmakers offer a quarter the odds the first five, although one or two are now paying out one fifth the odds the first six.

Bets are also offered on matches, groups, three-balls, top player by nation or continent and two-balls at weekends. There are also numerous speciality bets such as margin of victory, winning score and number of players finishing under or over par. With so many complex bets, golf inevitably produces its share of disputes.

Golf Case Study

Each-Way Betting Pointers

It is worthwhile making potential backers aware of some of the disputes we anticipate will be presented to IBAS this summer regarding golf markets.

Given the wide range of propositions available in golfing markets these days, no bookmaker... more

New Adjudication

... more

Events - View Sporting Calendar

Latest Golf Headlines

From BBC Sport

Donald set for PGA Championship exit
Luke Donald is set to miss the cut at the PGA Championship, ending his hopes of winning a third successive Wentworth title.
Tour chief sorry for 'coloured' remark
European Tour chief George O'Grady apologises for using the phrase "coloured athletes" while defending Sergio Garcia.
Big names falter at PGA Championship
Luke Donald makes an awful start to his defence of the PGA Championship title, while Rory McIlroy also struggles.

Watch your bets

In 2- or 3-ball betting it is important to refer to the company's rules. Some bookmakers stipulate that bets will stand once the players have teed-off on the first hole while others may void bets if any player fails to complete the round. In 3-ball betting some firms will allow bets to stand and apply a Rule 4 deduction if a player withdraws while other firms void bets in such circumstances.