Charles Barkley was more confident than ever in his golf game heading into the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe this year, and the Hall of Famer put his money where his mouth was in a big way. Unfortunately, he didn’t play quite as well as he expected.
Barkley was minus-7 after his first round on Friday, which is not good in this context. The American Century Championship uses a modified Stableford scoring system where you get positive points for a par or better, 0 points for a bogey and -2 points for a double-bogey or worse. After that round, Barkley revealed in an interview with ESPN that he bet $100,000 on himself to finish in the top 70.
“I put $100,000 on myself, so I feel very confident,” Barkley said Friday. “I feel really good. I screwed up myself today. I could have played a lot better, but I’m very happy with where I’m at.”
According to ESPN’s David Purdum, Caesars Sportsbook at William Hill offered a yes/no prop bet on whether Barkley would finish in the top 70. It became an extremely popular bet, with the odds on “yes” opening at +1,600 before they were bet all the way down to +400.
Barkley finished tied for 76th with a score of minus-28. Former NBA coach Vinny Del Negro won the tournament at plus-69, which should give you an idea of how Sir Charles played.
While he proved fairly recently that he has fixed his once horrific golf swing (video here), Barkley clearly still has a long way to go.
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