In a seismic announcement within the golf world on Tuesday, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund announced a unification program.
The newly formed entity amongst the three major governing bodies of the respective tours—Saudi Arabia’s PIF controls the controversial LIV Golf—brings an end to years of litigation and offers a path forward for LIV members to reapply for membership on the PGA and DP World Tours, formerly known as the European Tour.
“After two years of disruption and distraction, this is a historic day for the game we all know and love,” PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said.
Added PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan: “We are proud to partner with the PGA Tour to leverage PIF’s unparalleled success and track record of unlocking value and bringing innovation and global best practices to business and sectors worldwide.”
The PGA TOUR, DP World Tour and PIF announce landmark agreement to unify men’s professional golf.
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 6, 2023
While the implications for standard play are immediately obvious, how does this announcement impact the golf betting sphere?
Here are three takeaways we have:
Golf Betting Market Types Could Expand
Hidden within the announcement is the fact that LIV Golf’s team concept—where players operate as individuals and as part of a team—could feature within this new structure.
Monahan hinted toward the inclusion within his statement, saying, “[T]he PGA Tour’s history, legacy and pro-competitive model and combines with it the DP World Tour and LIV–including the team golf concept–to create an organization that will benefit golf’s players, commercial and charitable partners and fans.”
For golf bettors, that feature could produce new markets for gamblers.
In addition to outrights, head-to-head matchups and finishing position markets, sportsbooks could introduce a market allowing bettors to wager on the winning team or head-to-head matchups featuring teams rather than individual players.
Golf Betting Handle Could See Uptick
Gambling on golf is legal in more than 30 sports betting states. While the golf handle is dwarfed by the most popular team sports, the game is still a meaningful piece of the pie for online betting sites.
Colorado is among those sportsbook states, and its sports betting regulators release some of the most comprehensive handle data in the country. Earlier this month, the Centennial State announced betting data from its first three years of regulated sports gambling.
From May 2020 to April 2023, bettors in Colorado wagered $145.4 million on golf, the 10th-highest total in terms of sports. Leading the way was the NBA with $2.9 billion and the NFL with $1.9 billion, according to the Colorado Division of Gaming.
While golf reaching those handle levels is virtually impossible, the presumed reincorporation of stars from the LIV Golf league can only help boost golf wagering.
Although it’s unclear if the departure of stars like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson impacted PGA Tour handle, giving bettors the chance to wager on those players outside of the majors could produce a meaningful uptick in golf betting.
Comparing Players Now Easier for Bettors
With LIV golfers limited to majors, the process of evaluating them against PGA Tour competition proved to be a difficult task for golf bettors.
Given LIV members played on different, oftentimes less-difficult courses with no shotlink data to reference, bettors often had to rely on form from their PGA Tour days to evaluate their chances in a major tournament.
With this announcement, the process of comparing all golfers against one another will be simplified. Presumably, the newly defined entity will see all players featured on the same courses with underlying data available for each golfer.
As a result, golf bettors can feel confident in their selections in the hopes of cashing a few tickets each weekend.
