The Loop
Behold the greatest—and craziest—parlay bet in golf history (If it's real)
In 2017, a British man named Jordan Baker was 75 percent of the way toward winning a 1-million-to-1 parlay bet on golf's four major championships. Baker correctly predicted Sergio Garcia to win the Masters, Brooks Koepka to win the U.S. Open and Justin Thomas to win the PGA Championship that year, but his one whiff, Rickie Fowler at the British Open, cost him a £2 million payoff. On Sunday, though, a mystery gambler appears to have pulled off something nearly as improbable with a wager that was certainly more random.
Thanks to UK-based golf writer Ben Coley, an incredible betting slip has taken Golf Twitter by storm. As you can imagine, the odds (about 8,500-to-1) and the payout (£126,875.88 or about $163,000) are significant, but the four legs of the parlay are what have everyone talking. The parlay won thanks to Jon Rahm's victory at the DP World Tour Championship that also gave the Spaniard the European Tour's season-long Race to Dubai title. But it actually began at the beginning of the year.
This prescient person picked Xander Schauffele to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions (22/1) in January and Tiger Woods (11/1) to win the Masters in April. Check and check. In addition to Rahm's season-long bonus (9/1), the bet required Brooks Koepka to win the PGA Tour's season-long money title (5/1), which he did when Rory McIlroy's $15 million FedEx Cup bonus isn't added. Have a look at this eclectic collection of bets:
Absolutely amazing. Of course, some people questioned the ticket's legitimacy. After all, who in their right mind would turn those four bets into a parlay stretched out more than 10 months? Then again, who would make up something like that?!
Coley added a follow-up tweet explaining the ticket wasn't his, but that it came from someone who follows him on Twitter.
We'd tell this mystery person lucky SOB that with their good fortune, they should buy a lottery ticket. But they'll be pretty set for money after cashing this ticket. Must be nice.