Nick Price’s Favorite Golf Gambling Story: A Longshot to Remember

The Action Network spoke with several of golf's biggest legends find out their favorite personal golf betting stories. In a previous series, we spoke with several of today's biggest stars about their favorite betting stories. You can find those here.

• Who: Nick Price
• When: 1991 Open Championship
• Where: Royal Birkdale Golf Club

Prior to the opening round, Price and instructor David Leadbetter were walking through the exhibition tent and saw betting odds for every player in the field. The number next to Ian Baker-Finch’s name piqued their interest based on what they’d seen of his game leading up to that event.

“I had played with Finchy two weeks before at Oakmont and he’d shot two really good scores, 68-67 or something, and beat us all like a drum.

“I look and see that he’s 33-to-1 to win The Open that week. So, I said to Lead, ‘That’s way too good a bet to pass up.’

“I’ve probably only bet on golf a handful of times and this was one of the first bets I ever made.

“So we put 100 pounds each on Finchy each-way (meaning half the bet goes on the player to win and the other on the player to finish top-5). He birdied four of the first five hole, he came out of the blocks fast. We ended up winning like 4,500 pounds when he won.

“I mean, I made the cut, but I wasn’t playing very well. I don’t know what I made that week, but I made more by gambling on him.

“We were so happy for him – and for us.

“I don’t think I’ve placed another golf bet since then.”