Talking Tiger, Rory prop bets and golf gambling in general with BetOnline’s Sportsbook Brand Manager

With big wins for Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy during the Asian swing along with the PGA Tour’s announcement that on-site gambling will be rolled out at Tour events from 2020, it’s as good a time as any to talk golf gambling. This week, we got the chance to speak to BetOnline.ag’s Sportsbook Brand Manager, Dave Mason, to discuss a range of Woods and McIlroy prop bets for 2020 and more.

BetOnline.ag is an online betting platform with a ‘focus on the player’ approach, who offer live lines for all major sporting events, including NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, Golf, Soccer, Tennis, Rugby and more.

With the Presidents Cup captain picks coming up this week, you’ve priced Tiger Woods up as a very warm 1/5 (at the time of speaking) favorite to choose himself. How difficult a market is that to price up, and how big of an effect did Woods’ recent Zozo Championship win have on the market?

Dave: The Zozo victory certainly allowed us to increase the juice on the captain’s pick price. But he was already a decent favorite for the pick when we offered these odds a few months back. Tiger is still one of the most confident athletes on the planet, and I’d be shocked if he didn’t put himself on the team. Even in what feels like the twilight of his career, he’s just too darn competitive not to be out there.

Another of your Tiger prop bets is his major wins in 2020. You currently have him at 1/8 to win none and 4/1 to win one or more – do you expect to take a lot of action on that 4/1 considering his excellent history at both of next year’s opening major venues?

Dave: Yeah, every year we take the most action on ONE Major. So far, it is the most popular option and will definitely be the highest bet count come early April. Traditionally we are just about always exposed on each of the options besides ZERO. We expect that to be even more exposed than usual in 2020 due to Tiger finally winning a major last year and golfing at a competitive level again.

Staying with Tiger, there’s a commonly held belief amongst golf gamblers that because of his popularity, he’s often underpriced. Is there much truth behind that assessment?

Dave: Yeah – definitely. He is always one of the more popular bets and we just about always have a healthy liability on him. So from a pure risk management point of view, we and (and the industry as a whole for that matter), keep Tiger’s odds shorter than we should. We do try to always offer the most competitive price week of the event however.

You have the same major prop bet market available for Rory McIlroy (4/11 no wins vs 2/1 one or more). Considering his five-year drought at majors, how tricky is it to gauge his correct number for the four slams and how popular will he be amongst punters?

Dave: McIlory is a tricky one to handicap. He is arguably as talented as anyone on the tour but has come up short in recent years. When the Masters tees-off it will be exactly five years since his last major. He is still one of the more popular golfers to bet from the public standpoint; however, the action on him is nothing like it was five or so years ago. He has been losing popularity from the punters a bit every year.

Who do you expect to take up the bulk of your action next year at the majors between Woods, McIlroy and Koepka?

Dave: Kopeka is definitely #1 now. Tiger is definitely #2. McIlroy a distant third. Of course, that could all change if one guy goes on a tear. Just looking at the early Masters bet count, Koepka is by far the most popular bet. Tiger is second. Then DJ and Xander. Rory is fifth.

Besides the outright market, what is the most popular market amongst golf gamblers at BetOnline.ag?

Dave: We have a ton of ways to bet golf. Top-10 is always popular along with a long list of props for the bigger events. Match-ups definitely get the most action; especially for the big name guys.

And finally, with the recent news that the PGA Tour is to have on-site gambling at events next year, how big (if any) a spike in the popularity of golf gambling do you think we could be looking at over the coming years?

Dave: With Tiger’s resurgence and Koepka doing what he is doing, there has already been a huge spike in golf betting. And now with sports betting being promoted everywhere – including the PGA events like you mentioned – we expect even an extra push. That’s what we are seeing in other sports with everyone talking betting odds now. We expect that to continue with golf as well in 2020.

You can check out all of BetOnline.ag’s golf prop bets here. You can also keep up to date with them on , Instagram, and you can follow Dave Mason on .