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Open Week Betting Game

We all need games. Something fun to break up the day to day. Or to break up work from the next work. And making up a game might be the best thing of all. To create something with a friend that makes it all a little easier. Because then you have this light and airy thing to look forward to, that you made, with someone who isn’t work. It’s kind of amazing. So take this blog and maybe make up your own thing. Or please use ours. But no matter what…
Don’t forget. Fun is important.
It might be the most important.
I have a best friend. His name is Brian. We’ve been friends since 1994. So I got that going for me. (In order to take fun seriously in your life you do not need a best friend that you’ve kept since 1994. But it helps.) Our parents knew each other and our families all hung out for the first time, way back then, at a local park. That park had a pond. And that pond had ducks. We bonded over our mutual appreciation for the classic Nintendo game Duck Hunt and how well green, unripe pinecones could fly when you threw them as hard as you could.
We were 13, man. What can you do?
Over the years we’ve shared our appreciations with each other, beyond Duck Hunt. The obvious standouts, of course, being girls, beer, an unbelievably perfect rope swing we built over the Mary’s River, and golf. That rope swing was choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up. I’ll circle back to talk about it later. It deserves its own moment.
Now, Brian and I live hundreds of miles apart. But we still talk multiple times a week. And so, when we can’t drink beer and play golf together, we’re at least usually talking about it over the phone. And given that we love it so much, we came up with a betting game to make sure that the four weeks out of the year that major championships are played, while super important to the PGA players, and incredibly fun to watch, are also weeks that are important to us. Because it adds even more excitement to an already extremely enjoyable week.
Who doesn’t love winning? Or losing… graciously…
We start on a weekday before the championship. Like today. Or tomorrow. Or Wednesday. So if you have a buddy, or a spouse, or a highly intelligent dog that wants to have a little fun, then you’re set!
The winner of our game, while he does not receive world renowned glory or fame, gets a pretty nice bottle of scotch. So you know. Same same.
The loser gets to pick the bottle. And gets first pick next time. That way, I don’t have to buy him a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue, and he doesn’t get to pick first every time.
So here it is. A little fantasy. A little bet. And the best kind of fun.
The rules:
You need only two players.
One of you gets 1st pick. And that person picks the name of any of the players in the field. (Probably their favorite.) Hopefully, for them, because the order in which you pick your players matters, someone really talented and carrying a hot putter. And then you alternate back and forth, until you each have ten players.
We do it via text so it’s easy to keep track of.
And this is how you score points to find out who, on Sunday, is the winner:
If your 1st pick gets 1st place you get 100 points.
If your 1st pick gets 2nd place, or tied for second, you get 10% less, 90 points.
If he gets 3rd, or tied for 3rd, 80 points.
And so on down to 10th place where your 1st pick would receive 10 points.
No points are rewarded for placing outside of the top 10.
Your 2nd pick starts out at 90 points if he wins. 90 points is the maximum amount your second choice pick can receive.
And 10% less if your 2nd pick gets 2nd, 81 points.
3rd, 72. And so on down to 10th place, where your 2nd pick would receive 9 points.
Your 3rd pick: 1st: 80, 2nd: 72, 3rd: 64… 10th: 8.
Your 4th pick: 1st:70, 2nd: 63, 3rd: 56… 10th: 7.
Your 5th pick: 1st: 60, 2nd: 54, 3rd: 48… 10th: 6.
And on and on it goes until at the very bottom of the scale you get 1 point if your 10th pick comes in 10th place, or ties for 10th.
We’ve come up with a few extra rules to make it fair and more fun:
Like if you picked the winner, no matter if he was your 1st pick or your 10th pick, you get 50 bonus points.
And then you have missed cut penalties for your first 3 picks:
If your 1st pick misses the cut you lose 20 points.
If your 2nd pick misses the cut you lose 15.
If your 3rd pick misses the cut you lose 10.
And then no more penalties for your 4th through 10th picks. Who wants to go negative?
And finally this:
After the 2nd round, and before the 3rd round starts, you get a bonus pick at the cut line. You can pick anyone in the field of players that’s still in it who is at least 3 shots outside of the lead. So no picking the 36 hole leader. And whoever picked first in the beginning draft goes second. Your bonus pick accrues the same amount of points as would your 5th pick in the beginning draft.
And that’s it! Have so much fun! Play to win beer, or scotch like us, or anything else… You know… That’s legal. Or not supremely dangerous.
And HAPPY OPEN WEEK!!!

P.S. My beloved, beautiful, perfect wife made a spreadsheet that you can download for free as a Excel Sheet to make the whole thing 1000% easy, for your added pleasure and enjoyment.
CLICK LINK AND DOWNLOAD GAME NOW
 https://golfingemporium.com/a-betting-game-for-open-week/

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