We get asked about this a lot at GoBet so here is a quick explanation for anyone who has seen these markets on a golf betting card and wondered what they were all about.
2 ball betting
A 2 ball is about as simple as golf betting gets. Two players are paired together in the same group for a round of golf and you bet on which one of them shoots the lower score that day. That is it. You are not trying to pick the tournament winner or predict where anyone finishes on the leaderboard. You are just picking one golfer to beat the other golfer in their group over 18 holes.
So if Player A and Player B are grouped together on Thursday and you back Player A, all you need is for Player A to post a better score than Player B. If he shoots 69 and the other guy shoots 72, you collect. What everyone else in the 144 man field does that day has nothing to do with your bet.
3 ball betting
Same concept but with three players instead of two. PGA Tour events send players out in threesomes during the first two rounds on Thursday and Friday so you will see 3 ball markets for those days. Pick which of the three guys in the group posts the best score for the round and if your pick comes in lowest you win.
On weekends the groups shrink to twosomes for the third and fourth rounds so the market switches from 3 ball to 2 ball from Saturday onwards.
What about ties?
This is the one thing you need to check before placing a 2 ball or 3 ball bet. Some sportsbooks include a tie option at its own price.
If you do not take the tie and two players end up posting the same score then your bet is usually refunded as a push.
Other sportsbooks handle ties differently so it is always worth reading the fine print on whichever book you are using. Do not assume every sportsbook has the same rules on this because they do not.
Why these bets are worth a look
The reason a lot of sharp golf bettors gravitate towards 2 ball and 3 ball markets is that they are easier to handicap than trying to pick a winner from a field of 144 players.
You only need to research two or three guys and figure out which one is most likely to play well that day.
Current form, course history, how they handle the specific conditions that week, all of that becomes a lot more useful when you narrow the field down to a small group rather than the whole tournament.
