How to bet (and win!) a 3-ball bet in golf

Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on April 4, 2023. It has since been updated.

The Masters returns to Augusta this week as 89 players enter the field chasing a green jacket.

Masters Leaderboard: Live leaderboard, Schedule, Tee times

As you look through the tee time pairings this week, you may be intrigued by some of the groupings. And if you wanted to bet on who would win a mini tournament between those players, you can do so with what’s called a three-ball bet. This occurs when golfers are tripled off in threesomes in the early rounds.

The three-ball bet itself is on who will perform best out of the trio in a specific round. There are normally plus-odds, and they’re usually offered for every round.

For clarity, golfers are often paired off in duos for the final rounds, which is where two-ball betting and a similar rationale comes from.