Will We Ever Be Able To Bet On The Premier Golf League?

Image source: Fars News Agency, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Indian Premier League is massively popular. The English Premier League one of the best in the world. So why not then have a Premier Golf League too? Well the investing Raine Group have proposed just that. Golf isn’t pleased. Indeed it has banded together against this invader. That’s why you can still find plenty of odds on golf at online sportsbook sites in the US like Bovada but won’t be able to bet on the Premier Golf League just yet. If you ever can.

Many of us, over the Christmas period, will be glancing at the odds on the 2021 US PGA or European Tours. We’ll idly speculate who might win. Perhaps take a punt on it. A bet on golf over an entire season is a bit long term, but fun nonetheless. However whilst a bet on the PGA is simple, the same can’t be said of the Premier Golf League. A bet on the Premier Golf League appears even further away now than at its inception. Traditional golf has taken a firm stance.

The “strategic alliance” between the US PGA and European Tour is historic. It clears the way for co-operative events, better coordination, and joint board members. To begin with that means Jay Monahan, PGA commissioner, will sit on the European board. The PGA has bought into the European Tour. This “alliance” is a business deal, pure and simple. However, it just might prevent you putting at bet on the Premier Golf League at online sportsbooks in the US like Bovada.

“I value that I have autonomy of freedom over everything that I do. But if you go and play this other golf league you’re not going to have that choice.”

• Rory McIlroy 

Into All Lives Some Raine Must Fall

Perhaps it was obvious the traditional tours weren’t going to roll over and see their status diminished. The old four masters tournaments didn’t need the competition. So they were always going to stand against the formation of a breakaway, rival, organization. That they’ve put aside their differences to join together in such definitive way is the surprising bit. It would seem the Raine Group may find their bet on the Premier Golf League was, at the very least, premature.

2021 USPGA Odds

• Patrick Cantlay – 25/1
• Hideki Matsuyama – 25/1
• Collin Morikawa – 22/1
• Xander Schauffele – 16/1
• Justin Thomas – 14/1
• Bryson Dechambeau – 14/1
• Brooks Koepka – 14/1 
• Rory McIlroy – 12/1
• Jon Rahm – 11/1
• Dustin Johnson – 9/1
• See more odds at Bovada…

It doesn’t help that some of the big names they’d need have roundly rejected the idea. Rory McIlroy has been very dismissive. Partly because it thinks it would curtail player freedom. Mostly because he doesn’t want to play in a Saudi financed sports contest. He isn’t unique in his views. That means the Raine Group faces an uphill struggle before a bet on the Premier Golf League is just as commonplace as any other bet on sports in the US at Bovada. Sisyphusian perhaps.

Bet On The Premier Golf League At Bovada

It also doesn’t help that the PGA got a superb multi-year TV coverage deal and there are precious few slots in the calendar. You can bet on the Premier Golf League to find venues and time, but without a competing tournament? Perhaps not. Worse still the PGA has let it be known you can’t really play in both. It’s one or the other. Can you see many players gambling on a new untested format? I can’t. They may attract one or two, but it’ll never be the tournament they would wish.

“Ultimately, we felt partnering with the PGA Tour was the best option for our members and for global golf.”

• Keith Pelley – European Tour CEO

Anyone in the US gambling laws of finance apply easily to sport need take heed. The Raine Group might have worked out the numbers, but not the sentiment. You can bet on golf to resist their mercenary efforts. You’ll find odds on the Masters, be able to bet on the European Tour or bet on the PGA, but that bet on the Premier Golf League will have to wait. Golf is not football or cricket. It doesn’t wish to be the same as other sports. Golf enjoys its elitism, Raine doesn’t get that.

Click here to visit the Bovada Sportsbook

We take a look at why if you were waiting to be able to bet on the Premier Golf League you probably won’t want to hold your breath.