PGA Championship: Why You Should Bet On This 100-1 Longshot To Win
We’re about a week away from the second Major of the year, the PGA Championship, which is slated to begin on May 18th. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been paying close attention to one golfer in particular as the tournament draws closer.
Rickie Fowler
At one point Rickie Fowler was considered to be one of golf’s bonafide rising superstars. He was ranked as the number one amateur golfer in the world for 36 straight weeks in 2007 and 2008. He turned pro in 2009 and got his first win in 2011 at the Kolon Korea Open.
In 2016 he reached the highest World Golf Ranking (WGR) of his career, No. 4 overall. He currently has five PGA Tour victories including winning the coveted PLAYERS Championship in 2015. His last win came four years ago in 2019 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open. Four long, long years, (for all of us no doubt).
His impressive performances early on in his career, along with his genuinely likable personality made him an instant fan favorite. All signs have always pointed towards a victory-latent and successful career for Rickie.
… So What Happened?
In the years since his last win (2023 excluded), Rickie has been inconsistent at best and has struggled to find his proper form and reach his true potential. For example, last year in 2022, based on his poor performance and declining WGR, he only qualified for one out of four majors. He finished the season with only one top-10 finish and he also missed nine cuts in 22 starts. His WGR dipped as low as No. 185 in September 2022, the worst world ranking of his professional career.
The Turnaround
Fowler started the 2022-2023 season ranked No. 103 and has been steadily climbing the rankings since. He finished the first three tournaments this season with a T6 finish at the Fortinet Championship, a missed cut at the Shriners Children’s Open, and a T2 finish at the Zozo Championship. He hasn’t missed a cut since.
After finishing T14 last week at the Wells Fargo Championship, Rickie moved up six more spots and is currently sitting comfortably at world rank No. 50. He’s finished top-20 in seven of his last eight starts. As his play has improved, it’s become glaringly obvious that he’s got his sights set on the ultimate prize in golf. A major victory.
One of the noticeable trends in statistics for Rickie this season concerns his iron play, which has been truly extraordinary. Since January, only Tony Finau, Jon Rahm, Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and Collin Morikawa have outpaced him in approach play. Rickie is having a career-best year in terms of approach play and simply put, his irons have been on fire.
He’s credited his increase in consistency and noticeable improvements this year to coaching legend Butch Harmon, and Butch’s brother Craig. Butch predicted that Rickie would notch a much overdue win this season, and so far, the outlook is promising.
With all of the pieces falling into place this season for Fowler, you have to wonder if his time to shine has finally come. After all, he’s considered one of the best golfers ever who hasn’t won a major. In 2014, he joined Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, and Jordan Spieth as the only players to finish in the top-5 in each of the four majors in one season. Seeing as how those are three of the greatest golfers of all time (cut Spieth some slack, ok?) It’s clear Fowler is in elite company, and predictably it shouldn’t take long before our boy Rickie once again hoists himself up into the topmost echelons of professional golf.
Please Ramble Responsibly
At 80-1, 90-1, 100-1, you are basically stealing from your sportsbook. Though it remains true that Rickie Fowler hasn’t procured a victory in four years, his career trajectory is seemingly currently headed toward many more. The first of which could come as early as this week during the PGA Championship.
Then again, it could be four more years… or never. Nobody really knows. I’d be a fool to claim otherwise.
However, the optimist in me feels as though the time has come for Rickie Fowler to comfortably step back into the spotlight and permanently etch his name beside and amongst the most legendary figures to ever play the game. It’s only a matter of time before Rickie takes home another first-place trophy to add to his undoubtedly impressive collection of golf awards already obtained thus far.
So as long as he keeps playing like this, and for as long as his odds remain overinflated, I’m betting on him. Every tournament. (Please gamble responsibly.)
Fowler has everything required to achieve a first-place finish at the professional level, as he’s proven so at least five times before. It’s time to stop sleeping on Rickie Fowler.
Pretty much everyone is, at this point, regardless of his popularity. It seems as though people in general have forgotten how close to greatness Rickie originally was during the earlier stages of his career.
I remember watching him for the first time during one of those majors in 2014 before I became a regular golf viewer. I can’t cite any specifics, but I CAN tell you that on that day, I became a fan of his for life. He was equally as proficient charismatically as he was skilled at golf during that run of top-5 finishes, and from what I can remember, he stole the show back then without even trying. A true superstar. I honestly wouldn’t even be surprised if he ends up with 30+ wins by the end of his career, sometimes destiny takes a little longer than you’d expect it to.
Let’s Talk Turkey
Experienced gamblers bet in systematic increments known as units. My unit is 20 bucks on average, but $100 is more typical for most people in the world of sports gambling (especially golf).
If you bet $100 on Rickie Fowler at 100-1 and it hits, you would win $10,000.
Based on everything we just discussed, there’s no way in hell I’m not taking this bet. Every. Single. Time.
$100 isn’t enough money to do anything important with, the average person would probably spend it on DoorDash, legal marijuana, and streaming services that they won’t use. It’s throwaway money basically, even if you’re hopelessly poverty-stricken like I am. You can’t really change a life with $100.
To some people, $10,000 is nothing. For example, Rickie Fowler has a net worth of $40,000,000. But to most people…
$10,000 might as well be $40,000,000.
People kill each other all the time for less than $10,000. People risk their lives for far less money than this on a daily basis…
In my opinion, betting on Rickie Fowler is the easiest way to make this kind of money since cryptocurrency. You don’t even have to risk your life or take your chances in a volatile marketplace. All you need to do is place your bet and believe.
Rickie will win eventually. Likely soon. When he does, his career trajectory, talent, and intangibles will instantly skyrocket him to being considered one of the top guys in the sport. His 100-1 odds will quickly be replaced with something more akin to typical Jon Rahm or Scottie Scheffler odds (around 17-1). This man is not going to have these astronomical odds forever. This is a limited-time, once-in-a-lifetime, chain of circumstances that has delicately delivered a champion into our laps at the perfect time.
Closing Thoughts
There’s a small group of us out here who are going to make a lot of money when Rickie returns to glory.
Or perhaps, he never wins again and in turn, I find myself on your secret list of people to kill…
Sorry in advance if something inexplicable happens to hinder Rickie’s perfect trajectory toward becoming one of the best players of all time. Based on the timeline we’re in currently, I honestly wouldn’t be super surprised if some type of impossible-esque development occurs where he decides to hang up the clubs for good and run for office or become a pro wrestler or something.
The PGA Championship takes place next week on May 18th-21st, 2023. Find 20-100 bucks and wager it on Rickie to win. Even if he doesn’t, these odds are simply too good to ignore.
Go, Rickie!
Also just throwing this out there… The Cincinnati Bengals are going to win the Super Bowl this year.
UPDATE: Between the time I wrote this article and the time I posted it, Rickie Fowler’s PGA Championship odds have decreased to 65-1 or +6500. I’m not going to update the article for cohesion’s sake, and also because 100-1 makes for a far more enticing title than 65-1. Don’t look at me like that. You don’t know me…
We should be friends though…
See you around friend.
DISCLAIMER: Gambling should be done responsibly, in moderation, by people who can justifiably afford it (and also me sometimes). For this particular wager, I would strongly advise against betting more than 100 dollars this time around, even if you think you can afford it. This is a longshot bet, and an article written purely for entertainment purposes. Anything can happen in this crazy world we live in… but don’t bet the farm on this obviously.
If we lose this bet (collectively), I apologize for planting the idea in your head that this was a good idea. Sometimes you just have an unexplainable gut instinct on something and you gotta roll with it. That’s where we’re at.
So yeah, don’t send me any messages on Social Media if you lose money on this. But if he does win, feel free to send me any complementary/thankful messages that you’d like and also around 25% of your payout.
pic.twitter.com/0wd9g3E4Kj — Pat Keefe (@PatKeefe12) May 13, 2023
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