If this guy (or girl) has a sports gambling crystal ball, there’s a good chance a lot of people would like to get their hands on it. An unidentified gambler in Australia placed an extremely tame $1 bet on the BMW PGA Championship and walked away with a huge payout. The individual had to wait patiently as each of the 20 legs of the parlay bet came true and, when the final one hit, it’s possible the excitement could be heard across the whole of Australia. That $1 had just turned into AUD$679,894 ($482,045).
The bet was made through Sportsbet.com.au, and the sportsbook didn’t waste time revealing the win on Twitter. The tournament had taken place at the Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey, England, and the individual should be thanking all the golfers that made the outcome what it was. While there have been impressive sports gambling wins over the years, this has to rank up there as one of the best.
While it’s not possible to get inside the gambler’s head to understand how the choices were made, we know from the sportsbook’s post that he or she had chosen Graeme McDowell over Thomas Aiken, Richie Ramsay over Sean Crocker, Pablo Larrazabal over Thorbjorn Olesen, Bernd Wiesberger over Danny Willett, Kiradech Aphibarnrat over Joakin Lagergren, Lee Westwood over Robert MacIntyre, Martin Kaymer over Matt Wallace, Andy Sullivan over Alex Levy, David Horsey over Jordan Smith, Robert Rock over Julien Guerrier, Marcus Kinhult over Matthias Schwab, Masahiro Kawamura over Andrew Johnston, Ian Poulter over Wade Ormsby, Tommy Fleetwood over Sami Valimaki, Patrick Reed over Ryan Fox, Scott Hend over Gavin Green, Eddie Pepperell over Grant Forrest, Joachim B. Hansen over Adri Arnaus, Tyrrell Hatton over Victor Perez and Shane Lory over Matt Fitzpatrick. Of those options, one quarter were nail-biters that were ultimately decided by one stroke.
Hatton, sporting his controversial hoodie, finished the last day of the tournament with a 67 to take the win. The Arnold Palmer Invitational winner from this past March started the day with a three-shot lead over Victor Perez, who fought back with a birdie and an eagle to close the gap. However, Hatton wasn’t done, and added a slew of birdies of his own to ultimately win by four strokes and take home $1.16 million. He said after the match, “It’s unbelievable. This was a goal of mine to win this tournament in my career and part of me is sad I didn’t get to experience the crowds, but it’s just amazing to win this trophy.”
Golf hasn’t always ranked high on the list of options with sports gamblers, but some recent wins, and partnerships between the PGA and sportsbooks, could change that. In addition to this incredible parlay bet, William Hill U.S. had to pay James Adducci $1.19 million last year when he bet $85,000 that Tiger Woods would win the Masters Tournament at 14-1 odds.
