Things are quite busy on the PGA Tour, which is in Ohio this weekend for Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament and then has a major coming up Father’s Day weekend when the U.S. Open is played at The Country Club in Brookline, Mass.
However, the story dominating the golf world right now is the first event of the controversial LIV Golf Invitational Series, which is scheduled to take place June 9-11 at Centurion Club in London, England.
The LIV is backed by the Public Investment Fund, which essentially is an arm of the government of Saudi Arabia, a regime that has been accused of major human rights violations. Golfing great Greg Norman is serving as chief executive officer.
The new, eight-event series will take place from June thru October with five U.S.-based events scheduled, including one at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey (July 29-31). Other U.S. stops include: Boston, Chicago, Miami and Portland, Oregon.
Can I Bet on New Golf Tour?
The question here is: Can New York mobile sports bettors and others around the country possibly wager on the new tour when it starts next week?
Mobile sports betting operators have to work with individual state regulators in order for wagers to occur on a new league or event. Sometimes, the process to get something approved can be quick or it could take some time.
I checked with a few operators to get the latest:
“We are currently working with regulators/compliance on offering odds. We are hoping to be able to offer an individual stroke play winner market pre-tournament each week,” said John Ewing, public relations data analyst for BetMGM.
FanDuel and WynnBet are also checking with state regulators on approvals to offer another golf tour to their customers.
“We are not currently offering futures and odds for LIV Golf’s Invitational Series, but will continue to monitor their development with the hope to provide markets as quickly as we can,” said Jeffrey Altstadter, director of publicity at PointsBet.
Meanwhile, FanDuel currently lists Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Scottie Scheffler atop the odds for the U.S. Open at +1200.
Details on LIV Tour
For next week’s tournament in London, the biggest name is Dustin Johnson. Joining DJ are familiar names such as Sergio Garcia, Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Talor Gooch and Kevin Na.
It remains to be seen if these players will be penalized by the PGA Tour for competing in the inaugural LIV event.
According to the tour’s website, (livgolf.com), each regular season event will be two simultaneous competitions: an individual and team event.
Individual: Scored just like a stroke-play tournament, but each tournament is 54 holes (rather than PGA Tour’s 72) with shotgun starts and no cuts. The player with the most ranking points after seven events will be named the Individual Champion for the Series.
Team: Over the first two rounds, the best two-stroke play scores will count for each team. For the third and final round, the best three scores will count, with the lowest overall team score after 54 holes being named the team winner.
It will feature 12 teams of four players each. Since each event will be made up of a different field, teams will be decided via a draft the week of each event (for the first event, it will be held June 7).
Each team will have an appointed team captain who will select their three open team positions via a snake draft format. The captain will be one of the four starting players but also will have the responsibility to set the lineup each week, choose the scores that will count and act as an on-and off-course captain for the team.
Team Championship: Will be the eighth and final event of the season and will be a seeded four-day, four-round, match play knock-out.
Stay tuned, golf bettors. The new series starts next week.
