Poker betting it can swallow golf hole

The World Series of Golf, an amateur prize tournament to be held next month at Primm Valley Golf Club near Las Vegas, appears to be the first golf tournament to fall to poker’s mighty sway.

Terry Leiweke, World Series of Golf CEO, lays it all on the line - golf would be way better is there was more poker action involved:

“We have a patent-pending method of play, where we have incorporated Texas hold’em poker into a golf format. The inaugural event, which is played in Las Vegas from May 13th through the 16th, is a buy-in event. Once you buy in, we have 36 groups that go the tee on Day One. When you get to the tee, there’s an automatic ante. The ante doubles every three holes. But the way the format’s played, which is really interesting, is that all the players hit their shot. And then whichever player has the button, which is determined on the first tee—and the hitting rotation is determined on the first tee—that player leads the wager.

After your tee shot and every shot thereafter, you place a wager, and you follow that rotation. Unlike traditional golf, it’s not the guy farthest away from the hole who hits. It’s the guy who has the button leads the betting. And that just adds this incredible strategy.

“So, I’ve forced the other players who have to hit before I do. So I check my bet, and then they went a round, and after I saw that they weren’t too confident about their shots, I put ‘em all in. So, we’ll see if they match the call.

And what you’re wagering on is whether you’re going to win the hole. And the objective of the game is very simple: take all the money from all the other players in your group.

The relevance of the game is: It’s strategy. It’s like no other golf game you’ll ever play.”

He’s got a patent pending on this thing, so look out. Still, I find it a sad blow to the world of golf. It’s quite apparent that poker - which takes far less physical exertion than golf, or even bowling, for that matter - is hell bent on taking over the sporting world.

Golf has already fallen to the seductive allure of “upping the bet’ and other sports will likely follow. Though, honest to God, for the life of me I can’t understand the allure of sitting in front of a TV watching people play cards. However, the immense following of poker cannot be denied.

So we’ll see if this grand experiment works, and if that patent ever gets its ok. Until then, have your nitro pills at the ready, because the thrill of poker and the excitement of golf are getting ready to come together, at last. Will it be a random PR move never to heard from again? You can bet on it.

–WKW