The great thing about wagering on golf is that we see the unexpected happen all the time, which gives us plenty of opportunity to turn a small investment into a big score.
Just look at the past six weeks on the PGA Tour: Four of the winners had pre-tournament odds of 125-1 or more — Corey Conners, CT Pan, Max Homa and Sung Kang.
While it's certainly true these wins took place in much weaker fields than what we'll see this week at Bethpage for the PGA Championship, that shouldn't keep you away from targeting players at 150-1 or more.
My thought process for this week was to find a few golfers in this range who have impressive resumes against some of the toughest fields in golf, and I've done just that with the two players below.
Before we dive in, a quick word on my personal longshot betting strategy: I like also like to place a Top 10 and/or Top 20 wager on a golfer who I'm taking to win in this range. You can still get really good value on those bets, and there's nothing worse than having your lottery ticket hang around but ultimately come up a little short, leaving you with nothing to show for it.
Anyway, here are my two favorite longshot bets for this week's PGA at Bethpage. Good luck this week!
All odds as of Tuesday afternoon.
Si Woo Kim 150-1
Anytime Si Woo is listed at triple-digit odds, I add him to my bet slip and don't think twice about it. The biggest win of my sports betting career was Si Woo at the 2017 Players Championship, where he became the event's youngest winner at 21 years old and cashed outright betting tickets that ranged from 500-1 to 750-1.
The most fascinating thing about Si Woo — and why he is a golf gambler's dream — is his inconsistency. Oddsmakers use a player's current form to help set the market, and Si Woo’s propensity to flame out can be a huge boon for our purposes.
Before missing the cut at Hilton Head, Si Woo quietly finished T21 at The Masters and was the most impressive player at the Valero Texas Open for the opening three rounds, before finally running out of gas on Sunday for a disappointing fourth-place finish.
During the West Coast swing earlier this year, Si Woo finished third at Riviera and T4 at Pebble Beach, two courses notorious for their Poa greens, which is what the players will see this week at Bethpage Black.
According to Fantasy Golf National, Si Woo was a combined 11.6 strokes gained putting in these events, which were the last two times he has played on Poa greens.
Shane Lowry 160-1
Lowry has four wins worldwide, including one at the 2015 WGC Bridgestone Invitational, which always features one of the most elite fields in golf. He also finished second to Dustin Johnson in the 2016 US Open, which took place at famed Oakmont CC, one of the toughest courses on Earth and a track that features some absolutely diabolical Poa greens.
Last we saw of Shane he was contending at RBC Heritage a month ago, finishing T3. He won the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship on the European Tour earlier this year, winning in wire-to-wire fashion, which is a very impressive feat in professional golf.
Shane also finished T12 at last year's PGA Championship, which took place at a soft Bellerive course, similar to the soft conditions we will see at Bethpage this week.
Similar to Si Woo, Lowry's stretches of inconsistency can cause his odds to occasionally be longer than they should, but when these two are dialed in, they play nothing like your typical longshot.
