Rory McIlroy may be doing his best to make betting on golf easy for punters at the moment by winning every tournament he enters, however it still remains a tough task to pick out the winner of most golf events.

That’s why spread betting on golf offers an attractive alternative to fixed odds golf betting.

Ahead of the US PGA Championship, the fourth and final major of the golfing season, McIlroy was the 5/1 favourite after back-to-back victories at the Open Championship and WGC Bridgestone Invitational.

But as most people who bet on golf will testify, since Tiger Woods’ dominance faded a few years ago, it’s not often the favourite who ends up winning most golf events.

When it comes to fixed odds betting, a favourite tactic among many punters is to back a relative long-shot each-way in the hope they can get quarter of the odds for a top six, seven or sometimes eighth place finish.

Alternatively the fixed odds may pay out on a player topping the leaderboard after day one rather than day four of a tournament.

However, the spreads can offer a wide variety of bets that can make betting on golf far more interesting.

Golf spread betting markets explained

To start off, the spread betting Leaderboard pays out on the top eight players at every event based on the winner receiving 80 points, the runner-up 40, third-placed finisher 30, fourth-placed 25, fifth-placed 20, sixth-placed 15, seventh-placed 10 and eighth-placed 5.

Each player is then given a spread so for example McIlroy ahead of the start of the US PGA Championship was 21 – 24 with Spreadex. If you bought McIlroy for £5 and he won the event you would make £280 ((80 – 24) x £5), however if McIlroy finished outside the top eight the market would make-up at 0 and you would lose £120 ((0 – 24) x £5).

As the example above shows, it’s important to remember that with spread betting although the profits can be great if the bet goes your way, should the bet go against you it can mean you losing more than your initial stake or deposit.

That’s why another popular golf spread betting market Finishing Positions is offered on a max 70 make-up or a no max make-up to allow punters to limit their risk or play on more volatility.

Finishing Positions work by every player being given a spread based on where the spread betting company thinks the player will finish in the field. Ahead of the start of the US PGA Championship, McIlroy’s Finishing Positions spread was 20 – 23 on the max 70 make-up market and 24 – 29 on the no max make-up market.

Here you are going against the usual mantra of spread betting and selling a player’s spread if you think they will do well or buying if you think they’ll do poorly. So if you sold McIlroy for £5 a point at 20 and he won the event (market make-up 0) you would return a profit of £100. However, if McIlroy had a shocker and finished in 40th place you would lose £100 ((20 – 40) x £5).

To give you an interest in a particular three ball you can play on the spread betting 10-3 Matchbets, effectively betting on how one player will do against another player regardless of the outcome of the whole tournament.

Here the spread between two named players is based on 10 points being awarded to the player with the lowest round score and a further 3 points per shot won by. McIlroy’s first round 10-3 Matchbet Supremacy spread over Martin Kaymer ahead of the start of the US PGA Championship was McIlroy/Kaymer 8 – 11.

So if McIlroy had carded a round one score two shots better than Kaymer, the market would have made-up at 16. But if Kaymer had carded a round one score three shots better than McIlroy, the market would have made-up at -19.

The spread betting firms also often put out Group Indices which allow you to bet who will come out on top in a selected group of players.

Golf spread betting specials

Additionally punters can play on a variety of golf spread betting specials which cover the full tournament rather than specific players. E.g. you can choose to buy or sell on the predicted Winning Score spread (sell if you think the eventual winner’s combined four round scores will be less than spread, or buy if you think it will be higher), Winning Margin spread (buy if you think the winner will prevail by more shots than the spread suggests, or sell if you think it will be less) or number of Players Under Par spread (buy if you think more players will end up below par than the spread suggests, or sell if you think there will be less).

Other specials include Cut Score (spread betting firms’ prediction of the score at which the cut will be made), Lowest Round Score (prediction of lowest round score carded at a tournament), Highest Round Score (prediction of highest round score carded at a tournament), First to Last (predicted number of shots between winner and player finishing last at a tournament from those who play all four rounds) and Hole in One Yardage (total yardage of all holes in one scored during a tournament).

So next time you are looking at the field ahead of a golf tournament scratching your head about who to back on the fixed odds, maybe taking a look at the spreads could suit you to a tee.