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As the great Matthew McConaughey once said, “Sometimes you’ve got to go back to actually move forward.” With 2021 coming to an end and the New Year quickly approaching, we are left without golf until the PGA Tour returns the first week of January for the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Meaning there is no better time to take in the year that was in the world of golf.
From chalk to longshots, budding young stars to veterans over the hill, we saw just about every type of winner in 2021. While it was a memorable year for the average golf fan – and certainly some golf bettors – we caught up with our friends at PointsBet Sportsbook to highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly of this past year from the book’s perspective.
The Good (PointsBet’s Best Weeks):
The Masters: The four major championships tend to have the most turnover at sportsbooks due to heightened public interest and this year was no different as The Masters ranked No. 1 with the other three majors following closely behind. Not only did PointsBet draw their most action in the year’s first major, but it also marked their best week of the entire season.
Only five months removed from Dustin Johnson’s record-breaking Masters victory, the 2021 version of The Masters was a welcomed sight. Back to its usual place on the calendar, oddsmakers must have been sweating as popular public selections Will Zalatoris, Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth, and Jon Rahm all made legitimate runs at the green jacket.
All coming up short, it was Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama who came through, carrying not only the weight of a nation, but also that of a sportsbook on his shoulders. Overcoming a late blunder on the par-5 15th, the 29-year-old captured his first major title and thus a great week for PointsBet.
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The Travelers Championship: Hardly drawing the same type of action as the major championships, the Travelers Championship was arguably the most memorable tournament of the regular season on the PGA Tour. This happened to be a tournament which was kind to us as well – having tipped Harris English at +1400 before the final round – but it was not without some sweat.
Heading into Sunday, it was a jam-packed leaderboard with Bubba Watson leading the way and on the cusp of his fourth title in Hartford, Connecticut. Cameron Smith, Russell Henley, and Bryson DeChambeau were ready to factor in, yet it was the relatively unknown Kramer Hickok who gave English the most fits.
Making birdie on the 72nd hole, the Connecticut crowd immediately came to the Texan’s side as he matched English’s tournament total at 13-under. The two would go on to play eight additional holes trading blows as they cycled through Nos. 17 and 18 at TPC River Highlands. They both had their chances to win early on, but in the end, English prevailed, something he was unable to do the two weeks prior.
The Palmetto Championship: A relatively weak field on a new, quirky golf course, there were plenty of unknowns heading into the one and only Palmetto Championship. Then world No. 1 Dustin Johnson headlined the field, the odds board, and was well in control as he went into the weekend as a +100 betting favorite.
Stumbling on Saturday via a 2-over 73, Johnson left the door open for Chesson Hadley who headed into Sunday with a three-stroke lead over English at 14-under. However, the duo would walk straight into the doorframe as they both struggled with rounds of 75 and 74.
The rest of the field capitalized on the final pair’s woes as six players finished at 10-under and appeared ready to settle the tournament in a playoff. The problem? Garrick Higgo, who started the day six-strokes off the lead, finished at 11-under thus securing his PGA Tour status, his third victory of the calendar year, a great week for PointsBet, and of course a +3000 ticket for those who read along.
The Bad (PointsBet’s Worst Weeks):
The Open Championship: The final major of the year had it all as the world’s best went to Royal St. George’s for the first time since Darren Clarke’s Open title in 2011. With hardly any wind and only a slight wave advantage, the cream rose to the top in England with Louis Oosthuizen, Jordan Spieth, and Jon Rahm all contending.
Oosthuizen once again fell short on Sunday and Spieth’s late mistakes in his third round proved to be too much to overcome, giving way to Collin Morikawa to secure the second major championship of his young career in impressive fashion. With so many big names factoring in, PointsBet was bound to take a hit.
Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Robert MacIntyre, Daniel Berger, Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Tony Finau, Paul Casey, Corey Conners, Sergio Garcia, and Webb Simpson all finished inside the top-20 by week’s end, just to name a few.
The Players Championship: It is rare to have back-to-back weeks on the PGA Tour look almost identical, but that is exactly what happened this past spring in Florida. Seeing DeChambeau win the Arnold Palmer Invitational the week prior with Lee Westwood nearly playing spoiler, bettors flocked to the window to back them at The Players Championship the very next week.
Their conviction paid dividends as the odd, budding rivalry was the last pair to tee off in the final round with the Englishman leading the way by three-strokes at 13-under. Both would fall just short as Justin Thomas got to 14-under, playing his final 36-holes in 12-under to win the year’s fifth major.
One of the pre-tournament favorites, Thomas drifted to +5000 at the halfway point where many bettors made an investment or even bought the dip. Between the outright tickets on Thomas and top-5, top-10 wagers on the likes of DeChambeau, Westwood, Casey, Conners, Lowry, Berger, Garcia, Rahm, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Jason Kokrak, the public enjoyed a nice weekend in Florida.
Writer’s Note: It should be pointed out Will Gray accurately predicted DeChambeau at the API and Thomas at The Players, so his fingerprints are all over this.
Shriners Children’s Open: Vegas is rarely kind to the average joe, but this year at TPC Summerlin proved to be different. Sungjae Im’s final round of 9-under 62 propelled him to a four-stroke victory over a slew of popular plays.
Matthew Wolff finished runner-up for the second consecutive year with the defending champion, Martin Laird, finishing in a tie for 11th. Swing season stalwarts Marc Leishman, Aaron Wise, and Talor Gooch put together quality tournaments as well to add onto the pile.
The Ugly (Notable Big Bets Paid Out):
Collin Morikawa at The Open Championship: The Open Championship may have marked the last time we see Morikawa’s odds drift to the range of +3000 to +5000. Experience often spells the name of The Champion Golfer of the Year, but one keen bettor figured this year would be different.
Playing in his first Open and only the second time on international soil in his life, having played in the Scottish Open the week prior (I think about this article a lot), Morikawa’s odds dipped as the week began. This person took advantage of the odds discount, saw through the narrative surrounding Open debutants, and placed $2,000 on the 24-year-old at +3000 and eventually won $60,000.
At first, I assumed this was our colleague Drew Dinsick as he correctly forecasted Morikawa’s victory on Going for the Green, but as the Whale typically does, he got the best of the number at +3500.
Max Homa at the Genesis Invitational: The hometown kid was riding some serious form ahead of the Genesis Invitational having played well at The American Express, Farmers Insurance Open, and the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
A fan-favorite, Homa was a popular selection for a number of reasons and one bettor could not resist laying down $1,000 on the Los Angeles native. Listed at +6000, this individual must have experienced just about every emotion in the book during a 30-minute window late on Sunday.
First, Homa missed a three-foot birdie putt on the 72nd hole which would have secured the title. Instead, Homa needed extra-time where his tee-shot on the first playoff hole – the famous short par-4 10th at Riviera – settled behind a tree. Escaping with a par to match Finau, Homa won on the very next hole when he two-putted for par. The bettor escaped as well, collecting a cool $60,000 for his troubles.
Phil Mickelson at the PGA Championship: A recap of 2021 would not be complete without discussing Mickelson’s historic victory at the Ocean Course at Kiawah Island. Becoming the oldest man to ever win a major championship, one bettor saw in the 50-year-old what no one else did.
Placing $250 on Mickelson at +15000, this lucky individual cashed in on a $37,500 payday. It was not without some heart-stopping moments – which every Mickelson fan is used to. Koepka and Oosthuizen threw punches late, but once Lefty skirted by the daunting par-3 17th on Sunday with a putting grip different (!!!) from the one he was using all week, it was all but wrapped up.
Mayhem ensued, a perfect encapsulation of what happened in the world of golf (betting) in 2021.
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