Adam Scott’s Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Fred Couples, Phil Ivey and $10K

The Action Network spoke with several of today’s top professional golfers to find out their favorite personal golf betting stories.

• Who: Adam Scott
• When: About nine years ago
• Where: Shadow Creek GC (Las Vegas)

Scott rarely plays money games, but was part of a memorable one nearly a decade ago, playing with Fred Couples and professional poker player Phil Ivey. They started with a small bet, which quickly ballooned into a much bigger one — and then another.

“We had a really soft bet at the start of the round and [Ivey] wasn’t happy about it. Fred and I were playing pretty lackluster golf the first five holes and he said, ‘I didn’t come out here to watch you play like this, but I’ll bet that you can’t make 10 birdies between you for the rest of the round, from the sixth hole on.

“It was a $5,000 bet. I was pretty sure that Fred and I could handle it, so we agreed to the bet.

“We had it all under control, then we slowed down. I should’ve birdied 16, but I didn’t, so we needed three birdies between us for the last two holes.

“The 17th is just a wedge par 3 to an island green and the 18th is a reachable par 5.

“On the 17th tee, Phil knew his chances weren’t very good. It was likely one of us was going to stiff a wedge and both of us could birdie the last. So, he threw a curveball at us. He said, ‘I’ll bet you another five grand that you both can’t hit this green.’

“I’m like, oh my goodness, this is too good to be true. He’s giving us five grand to hit the green on a 140-yard hole.

“We take the bet. Freddie gets up there first. I think he was thinking so much about the second bet that he fanned it into the right bunker. It was just devastating, because now we’ve lost that bet and we might lose the first one.

“I hit it on, but only made par. So it was a lost cause. We both birdied 18, but came up one short, so we were scrounging around for the checkbooks.

“It’s a really good story, but I was completely devastated.”

Other golf gambling stories from the Tour

• Adam Scott's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Fred Couples, Phil Ivey and $10K
• Tony Finau's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A $500 Hole-In-One
• Justin Thomas' Favorite Golf Gambling Story: 36 Holes With Michael Jordan
• Paul Casey's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A Winning Pitch vs. Lefty
• Marc Leishman's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: The International Hustle
• Rickie Fowler's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: 1-on-1 with Michael Jordan
• Zach Johnson's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: When Doubling Down Goes All Wrong
• Brendan Steele's Favorite Golf Gambling Story: Ratted Out for Winning Too Much