Live Golf Betting: How Does It Work & Top Places to Bet Live

One of the most revolutionary additions to the betting world was the introduction of live betting. This allows you to place wagers after an event had begun, oftentimes up until the final minutes of a tournament.

Previously, bets would close entirely once each golfer has teed off for the day, meaning you would have to place wagers the night before or wake up early before your golfers scheduled start time. Live betting makes everything much more stress free, giving you the opportunity to still get in on the action if you are late to the party. 

How Does Golf Live Betting Work?

Live golf betting begins after the first group tees off and goes up until the final minutes of the round. Golf tournaments take place over multiple days, and each day is a new round. Placing bets in between rounds is not considered live betting, this only takes place while golf is still actively being played.

Now that you understand what live betting means exactly, here is a more in-depth breakdown of everything you need to know.

• Outright Winner - The simplest bet to make in golf, this is a wager on a single player to win the tournament. You can place these wagers at any point during the tournament as odds are adjusted after each hole.

• Round leader - You can place wagers on who will score the lowest on one given day, or who will be leading the overall scoring at the end of the day. Similarly to outright winner wagers, you can place these bets at any point throughout the round as odds are adjusted per hole.

• Props - With golf being an individual sport, there is a large amount of player prop wagers you can place. You can bet on top finishers based on nationality, players to make the cut, and hole in ones. You can also bet on if there will be a playoff, if there will be an albatross, how many strokes the winner will win by, etc. Prop betting possibilities in golf seem endless.

• Placement - Picking a winner can be a bit of a shot in the dark, so thankful sportsbooks give you a better opportunity to win by providing markets for how high an individual player will score based on the field. You can bet on top 5, top 10, top 30, and top 40 placements for each individual golfer.

• Matchups - To further increase the amount of golf betting opportunities, sportsbooks set head-to-head markets for two individual golfers, similar to the moneyline in major team sports. They also set group markets than can include 3-6 golfers depending on your sportsbook – with odds for each player to record the lowest score of the bunch.

• Betting per hole - One of the best live betting markets, you can bet on outcomes for each of the 18 holes an individual golfer plays. You can bet on what their individual score will be or bet on them outscoring another golfer in the field if a head-to-head betting option is available.

Rules for live betting will vary based on your specific sportsbook so we highly recommend reading the terms and conditions before placing your first bet. Here are some general rules to keep in mind that will apply to most Canadian sportsbooks:

• If weather conditions suspend play before your bet is settled, your wager will remain live until 48 hours passes before play is resumed. At this point the bet is deemed void, meaning you are refunded. 
• Once a player tees off it counts as him playing and bets will not be voided upon player withdrawal. 
• If a player is disqualified from an event, all wagers will result in a loss. 
• Penalty strokes will count against a player’s overall score.

There is not one simple answer to being successful at live betting, but here are some tips we recommend to improve your chances.

• Hedge your bets - If you placed a pre-tournament wager on a player to win and it is a close race between them and another golfer, use live betting to place a small bet on that other golfer and guarantee yourself either a small profit or your money back.
• Look at scrambling percentage – if a player is in bad shape off the tee box, their odds to score par on the hole will decrease significantly. Some players have a knack for making the most out of these poor situations, meaning this could be a great time to bet on them at favorable odds.
• Look at recent performances – golf is one of the most difficult games in the world to master, and even the best golfers in the world go through difficult stretches and are constantly tinkering with their swings. The odds for one of the top known players in the world may seem incredibly favorable, but oftentimes this is due to poor showings over the past few events.
• Look at course records – some courses are tailored towards players of specific skill sets, so looking at their past performances at a course is a great place to start before placing a bet.
• Look at course conditions – course conditions change day-to-day, and this is something we recommend keeping up with. Some golfers tend to perform better than others under specific conditions (rain, wind, dry greens, etc.).

Unlike the big four sports in North America (Football, Baseball, Basketball, Hockey), the golf season takes place across multiple individual scoring tournaments rather than weekly head-to-head team matchups. Professional golf does host some team events each year, but the majority are solo events held for golfers on the top tours in the world such as the PGA, LPGA, European tour, and LIV Golf.

Four Majors

Similar to tennis, there are four majors in golf, and winning each in your career is known as a grand slam.

The Masters - The first of the four annual majors begins in April. The Masters takes place at the same venue each year – Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. The top players in the world compete for the illustrious green jacket.

The PGA Championship - Taking place in May at a different venue each year, the PGA is known for its difficult playing conditions making it one of the most difficult tournaments in the sport to win. 

The US Open - The US open takes place a month later in June but similarly to the PGA Championship, it is known for its difficult playing conditions, with the tournament champion oftentimes only a few strokes under par.

The Open Championship - The final major takes place in July and is the only one of the four hosted outside of the US. The tournament’s location varies year to year throughout the United Kingdom.

PGA Tour Tournaments

The PGA tour consists of 44 regular season FedExCup tournaments for the 2022-23 season. Qualified members of the tour compete for season long ranking points and a spot in the FedExCup playoffs – three events total that conclude with one tournament to crown a champion. Here are some of the most popular tournaments on the tour: 

• The Players Championship
• The Memorial Tournament
• The Tour Championship
• The Arnold Palmer Invitational
• Fed Ex St. Jude Championship
• AT&T Byron Nelson
• Waste Management Phoenix Open

LPGA Tournaments

The female version of the PGA, the LPGA hosts their own set of tournaments and majors as well. Here are the five annual majors:

• The Chevron Championship
• The U.S. Women's Open
• The Women's PGA Championship
• The Women's British Open
• The Evian Championship

Team events

Here are two of the most popular team events that professional golf hosts annually:

• The Ryder Cup - 12 of the best golfers from the United States team up against 12 of the best golfers from Europe in a match play event that takes place once every two years.

• The Presidents Cup - Played every two years opposite to the Ryder Cup, this tournament features the best golfers in the United States battling the top non-European international golfers in a match play event.