A Window Into Golf's Gambling Future: How Tuesday Observations Might Go Over With PGA Tour Players

I’ve heard from a few folks not understanding my views expressed on recent podcast about pro golf gambling. They have not seen me turn a Daily Racing Form into a whip or turn to my Bovada app as a PGA Tour Sunday unfolds and a 20-1 shot sitting three back has an eagle putt.

Gambling could be a great thing for PGA Tour coffers, their media partners and fan interest. With “fantasy” stakes invested in players, fans will find a way to sit through the tedium that is the five-hour round (and growing). But even if the focus is building a lineup each week and rooting for your selections based on research, today’s players seem unlikely to handle the scrutiny well. All too many have come to believe that their every move is a private matter where the exercise of playing in front of fans and media is nothing but an annoyance. And this is without legalized gambling.

Say, in 2021, many states have legalized sports bettering and you can wager on PGA Tour golf, consider what fans will want to know and what media will be obligated to report: every observable pre-tournament detail that will be of interest to fantasy players and gamblers.

Today, during the closed-to-the-public practice round at the Farmers Insurance Open, I observed things that would be of interest to those making a lineup this week. Names will not be included, but imagine how upsetting these observations would be if names were involved and social media employed to help gamblers make a wagering decision. A sampling:

—________, who was once addicted to his Trackman, was seen hitting balls without it and talking to someone who is not the instructor he has been officially linked to.

—_______ cancelled a planned nine-hole practice round to keep working with the new driver he’s trying to put in his bag. Tour team members were busy making adjustments and trying to find him a gamer.

—_______looked lost on the practice putting green, using alignment tools, instructing his caddie to record every putt for video review, and appearing utterly confused.

—________came to the course today but appeared under the weather and instead went to the fitness trailer for medical aid.

—Because of a balky back, ________ was heard saying he can practice his putting for more than 30 minutes and hasn’t been able to hit balls how he’d like as he prepares to kick off his 2020 season on a course he’s played well at.

I could go on and on but you get the drift: players will face a new kind of scrutiny. It’s hard to see them liking any of this shared by a media member, or worse, through private channels by insiders observing facts of interest of handicappers.

Maybe the riches that come with the PGA Tour’s stake in gambling will offset the new invasion of their privacy. But given the decline of media, the potential for non-media to cash in on insider information, and the thirst for insight into any wagering edge, I remain doubtful that players are ready for what is yet to come.