Sports Gambler Bet Nearly $2 Million Fading Players At The Open To Win A Staggeringly Small Amount Of Money

When betting on golf, you're typically wagering on players to succeed. Whether it's putting some money on a certain player to win or finish in a certain position, you're pulling for their success and not their demise. Professional sports gambler Rufus Peabody takes a different approach when it comes to gambling on golf, and he's a few bucks richer after the conclusion of The Open at Royal Troon.

When I say a few bucks, I mean it, at least relative to the sum of money he wagered to begin with.

What makes gambling on golf so intriguing are the odds you can find all over the board. While top players such as Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Rory McIlroy fetch odds around 15-1 and shorter at the start of the week, those are still incredibly enticing odds compared to other sports. Sprinkling a few bucks, responsibly of course, on long shots that have 100-1 or longer odds draws bettors in as well.

Peabody doesn't get drawn in by the plus-money odds, however, he plays the heavy, heavy favorites based on his action for The Open.

According to sports betting guru Ben Fawkes, Peabody placed a $330,000 bet on Tiger Woods not to win The Open with odds of -33,000. This netted him a profit of $1,000.

Peabody wasn't done there, he was just getting started, because he also wagered close to $2 million on a group of eight other golfers he didn't think would win The Open. He ended up risking nearly $2 million to earn $35,000.

Among the golfers Peabody bet on not to win The Open included Bryson DeChambeau, Tommy Fleetwood, Brooks Koepka, and Cam Young who were all on plenty of other people's cards to actually hoist the Claret Jug this past Sunday.

While Peabody's approach is as unique as it gets, he's the one $36,000 richer, while the vast majority of everyone else who placed a wager on The Open ended up winning nothing.