Is Sports Betting Ruining Golf? Nope, but Losers Could

Golf isn’t under siege by depraved and degenerate users of sports betting sites. It’s just experiencing a recent rash of idiocy and loud-talking on the course that has been and will always be there. 

The most recent example of this came when a fan was tossed from the PGA TOUR’s BMW Championship last weekend for allegedly heckling with hopes that Max Homa would miss a putt and earn said fan a whopping $3. Homa made the putt and said he gave the fan a piece of his mind. 

While the fan was reportedly ejected, the golf gods were appeased, and the world continued to spin, it looks like we’re again having a moment of reflection about legal sports betting. The Homa putting incident was preceded by somebody screeching during Mardy Fish’s backswing at the American Century Championship celebrity tournament in July on the very last hole, which was an allegedly gambling-related occurrence.

"I feel like we hear it every single round," Masters champion Jon Rahm told Yahoo Sports this week. "In golf, spectators are very close, and even if they're not directly talking to you, they're close enough to where if they say to their buddy, 'I bet you 10 bucks he's going to miss it,’ you hear it.”

Rahmbo may be describing more of a turn of phrase rather than actual wagering, but it’s never a bad time to ponder legal sports betting, as we’ve come a long way with event wagering in North America in a relatively short amount of time. It’s possible to place a bet from almost anywhere now (depending on where you live), including at a PGA TOUR event. The tour itself has even partnered with sportsbook operators such as bet365, as it aims to lure new fans through the power of gambling. 

So, yes, maybe it is time to reflect a bit about how sports betting is affecting the game of golf. That is especially true given the unique nature of a game that lets you get oh-so-close to the people playing it, with PGA TOUR President Tyler Dennis noting this week that they have always had to balance the proximity of fans to the action and ensuring the safety of participants.  

“What is most special in golf is that every fan can have a front-row seat,” Dennis said. “It's unique among sports.”

Same as it ever was

OK, so we’ve got a sport you can gamble on, in real-time, that affords you the ability to shriek in someone’s backswing, potentially affecting the outcome of the event and the wagers placed. There’s potential for shenanigans. 

Same as it ever was, though. Even before 2018 and the Supreme Court decision that paved the way for an expansion of legal wagering, not only could you go to a PGA TOUR event and scream “LIGHT THE CANDLE” in a player’s backswing, but you could bet on it, too. 

You could turn to your friend and bet $20 on the next putt, then throw a beer can at the golfer as he lined it up (don't do this). You could have bet $10,000 in Las Vegas and then flown to the event and made trouble. And you could have gone online and used an offshore sportsbook to place a bet on a PGA TOUR event, even from the course itself, about which local regulators and the tour would have no idea, even as you started clearing your throat for a heckle on the 18th green. 

But either it just didn't really happen all that much, or people just didn't talk or care much about it. For instance, I just finished reading the autobiography of Billy Walters, who famously bet millions on sports for decades, wagered plenty on the PGA TOUR, and had an, ahem, controversial relationship with Phil Mickelson. There’s nothing in the book about sending a guy to the course, à la Happy Gilmore, to disrupt a golfer and ensure a winning wager. 

Bozo eruptions inevitable

Yet golf will never be able to entirely stamp out the threat of stupid comments and backswing heckles. Well, not unless all fans agree to wear a ball gag as a condition of entry. Until then, we’ll have bozo eruptions every so often.

When it happens, we'll all be furrowing our brows with concern once more if it's in any way connected to gambling. What's worse, having it happen over and over again may actually prompt some kind of far-reaching — and bad — policy decision by the regulators of golf or sports betting.

So what's to be done? Well, the PGA TOUR is already reminding everyone of the policies they have in place for fans at tournaments. Scream at a golfer in their backswing and you'll likely be escorted from the property.

"We have a robust and comprehensive fan code of conduct," Dennis said earlier this week. "We have an extensive security apparatus and plan each week and we feel really confident about all the aspects of that. We spend a good deal of time monitoring it each and every day and we take it very seriously."

Grow up

Yes, the PGA TOUR has a plan, but it's not going to stop people from gambling on golf and, perhaps, trying to influence outcomes on the course. If anything, the PGA TOUR wants people to keep gambling on golf. The remaining questions, then, revolve around people being exposed to more legal wagering opportunities and if they are responding to that exposure by heckling golfers, or worse, during an event to try to win a bet. 

For this, I think the responsibility falls to both government and individuals. What we’re talking about here is people who can’t — or won’t — control themselves. If you have an overwhelming urge to heckle someone to ensure you win a golf bet, which will probably get you kicked out of the event, you’ve got a problem (and/or maybe ease up on the Michelob Ultra).  

States and provinces should already be investing more in addiction education and treatment in a way that is commensurate with the sports betting surge. That just seems like table stakes for the massive expansion of gambling we’ve seen.

That said, we also need people to grow up and mature along with the legal sports betting market. Yes, betting on sports can be fun and everyone wants to win, but everyone — EVERYONE — loses. Bet within your budget and learn how to take a loss. If you bet a football player to go Over their rushing total, and they get hurt in the first quarter, just take the L and leave the sportsbook's social media team alone. In the same vein, don't heckle at golf tournaments to try to win three bucks. 

We’ve got civics classes to give people the bare minimum amount of information about their democratic rights. We make people take a test before they can drive a car. Maybe it’s time we make people pass a course about sports betting before they start wagering so much that they feel compelled to chirp Jon Rahm’s approach shot. Better yet, maybe we should just let Rahmbo deal with hecklers however he sees fit. 

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