Top 10 Golf Bets:
How Profitable Bettors Play Them

How do top 10 golf bets work?

You pick a player and a finishing spot: top 5, top 10 or top 20. Some books also offer top 30 or top 40. If your player finishes inside that number after 72 holes, you win. If he finishes outside it, you lose.

You don't need him to win. You just need him inside the line on Sunday night.

Here's a clean example:

• You bet $10 on a player to finish top 10 at +300.
• He finishes solo 6th.
• You win $30 profit and get $40 back.

At +300, every $1 wins $3. At -120, you risk $1.20 to win $1.

Books also let you bet the other side on some players. A "no" or "miss" bet, like miss top 5, wins if he finishes outside the spot, as Action Network explains.

Why do top 20 bets cash more often but pay less?

Only one player wins a golf tournament. Twenty or more finish top 20. That's the trade. More ways to win means a shorter price.

Here's what one player's odds might look like across markets in a normal PGA week. These numbers are an example, not a quote from a real book:

"Implied chance" is just the odds turned into a percent. For plus odds, it's 100 divided by (odds + 100). So +400 is 100 / 500, or 20%.

An outright at +4000 can lose 30 weeks in a row and still be a fine bet. That's brutal to sit through. A top 20 at +170 should cash a lot more often, so your bankroll swings less. You give up the big score to get there.

Do top 10 golf bets include ties?

Yes. Anyone tied inside the number counts. If your guy finishes T4 in a top 10 bet, you get paid in full, no matter how many players share 4th.

Ties only cause trouble when they cross the line. Say you bet top 10 and your player finishes T9. Spots 9 and 10 are the only two left inside the top 10. If four players are tied for 9th, four guys are fighting over two spots. That's when dead heat rules kick in.

Here's a quick way to tell:

• T8 with three players: they fill 8th, 9th and 10th. All three fit. Full payout.
• T8 with four players: they need 8th through 11th. Only three spots are inside the top 10. Dead heat.
• T3 with five players: they fill 3rd through 7th. All inside the top 10. Full payout.

Golf ties happen all the time. At the 2021 PGA Championship, 16 players ended up counting for the top 10 because of a pileup at 8th place, per Action Network. Ties at the cutoff are not some rare edge case. Plan for them.

How do dead heat rules work on top 10 bets?

Most books cut your stake. The formula is simple:

Spots left ÷ players tied = the part of your stake that gets paid as a winner.

The rest of your stake is graded as a loss. PGATour.com and Action Network both walk through this method.

Worked example: $10 at +300, T9 with four players

• You bet $10 on a player to finish top 10 at +300.
• He finishes tied for 9th with three other players. That's four players.
• Only two spots are left inside the top 10: 9th and 10th.
• 2 spots ÷ 4 players = 1/2. Half your stake wins. Half loses.
• $5 is graded as a winner at +300. That's $15 profit, plus the $5 back, so $20 returned.
• The other $5 loses.

You put in $10 and get $20 back. That's $10 net profit, not the $30 you'd get with a clean finish. Same player, same bet, same week. The tie took two thirds of your profit.

What the same $10 bet at +300 pays in different ties

Read that last row twice. You can "win" a top 10 bet and still lose money. The shorter your price, the easier that happens. On a top 20 at +150, a three-way tie for 20th pays back $8.33 on $10.

A few books have cut the American odds (your profit) instead of the stake. On a $100 top 20 at +200 with a two-way tie for 20th, that odds cut returns $200 and a stake cut returns $150, per Action Network. That kind of odds cut is kinder to you, but stake cuts are more common. Careful: cutting the decimal odds, the way DraftKings does it, pays the same as a stake cut.

For every version of the tie math, see our full dead heat rules guide.

Which sportsbooks pay ties in full on top 10 bets?

As of its April 2026 update, Action Network reports that BetMGM pays ties in full on finishing position bets like top 5s and top 20s, with no dead heat reduction. PGATour.com says the same, even when a pile of players tie for the last spot.

The catch: both sources say BetMGM's prices on these markets are worse. The book isn't being generous. It's charging you for the tie protection up front. Another catch: BetMGM's own Massachusetts house rules (March 2025) show a dead heat split on a top 5 example, so some BetMGM markets may still split ties. Read the market name and the bet slip before you bet.

So the real question is never "who pays ties in full?" It's "which price is better after ties?" A +350 with dead heat can beat a +280 paid in full, because ties at the line are only one of many ways the bet can finish.

House rules change. Before you bet, open your book's golf rules and check how it settles ties on that exact market. Don't take any website's word for it, including ours.

How is a top 10 bet different from an each way bet?

An each way bet is two bets in one. Half your money goes on the player to win. The other half goes on him to "place," which pays a fraction of the win odds (often 1/4 or 1/5) if he finishes inside a set number of spots, like top 5. Action Network covers the terms.

A top 10 bet is one bet with its own price. No win half. No fraction.

Each way is a UK habit. Action Network names bet365 as one of the only US books to offer it, with BetRivers selling it as "Win/Place." If your book doesn't have it, you can build your own: put half on the outright and half on a top 5 or top 10. That way you shop each piece for the best price.

More in our each way guide.

What happens to a top 20 bet if my player misses the cut?

It loses. At most full field PGA Tour events, only the low 65 players and ties after 36 holes play the weekend, per Golf News Net. Everyone who misses the cut is ranked below everyone who made it, so a missed cut can never sneak into a top 20.

Withdrawals follow the same idea. If a player withdraws before he tees off, the bet is usually voided and refunded. If he withdraws during Round 1 or 2, it counts as a missed cut and finishing position bets like top 20s lose, according to Action Network. Books define "teed off" a little differently, so check your book's rules.

That's the hidden cost of top 20 bets. A guy you liked can be done by Friday afternoon. Pick players who make cuts.

When do placement bets beat outright bets?

Outrights get the headlines. Placement bets often make more sense. Here's when we lean on them:

• The player is steady but doesn't close. Some guys strike it great every week and rarely win. That type fits a top 10 or top 20 far better than a +3000 outright.
• A monster favorite is in the field. When one player is a big chalk pick, everyone else's win odds get crowded. But the top 10 market still has 10 spots. One great player only takes one of them.
• The long shot's form is real but raw. A +15000 player playing well might be a fair top 20 at +400. You don't need a miracle Sunday to cash.
• You want fewer dry spells. Outrights can go months without hitting. Top 20s cash more often, which helps you stick to your plan when things run cold.
• You want a ladder. Some bettors split one opinion across markets: a small outright, a top 10 and a top 20 on the same player. A good week pays at least one leg.

Placement bets are worse when the price is short and ties are likely. A -110 top 20 has a thin margin for error, and dead heats chip away at it.

Our golf betting strategy guide covers how to size these next to outrights and matchups.

Why does line shopping matter so much for top 10 and top 20 bets?

Books build a fat cushion into these markets. One golf betting newsletter, On the Juice from Juice Reel, estimates the house edge on top 5, 10 and 20 bets at roughly 20% to 30%, versus about 4% to 8% for matchups. That's an estimate, not an audit. But it tells you the starting price is often bad.

Golf odds also differ a lot from book to book. The same top 20 can be +250 at one book and +300 at another.

Here's what that gap costs you:

• $10 at +250 wins $25.
• $10 at +300 wins $30.
• Over 20 winning bets, that's $100 you handed the book for nothing.

On top 10 and top 20 bets, you'll cash more often than outrights, so small price gaps add up fast. Have accounts at a few legal books and check them all before you bet. Prediction markets like Kalshi, Novig and Polymarket list some golf markets too, so compare those as well.

That's why every bet on our card shows the price at every major sportsbook and prediction market. You open it, you see who's paying the most, you take that number.

How do we use top 5, top 10 and top 20 bets on the card?

The card drops every Wednesday at 8:00 PM Eastern, the night before Round 1, every PGA Tour week. Top 5, top 10 and top 20 bets sit next to the outrights, matchups, 2-balls, 3-balls and first round leader picks.

Each bet lists the odds, the stake in units and a confidence rating from 1 to 3 golf balls. The picks come from a full-time golf bettor of 4+ years who works in golf and watches every shot of every round.

We don't claim results here. Every official pick is graded in units, win or lose, on a public page. Judge it on the record.

Be honest with yourself about variance. Golf has long odds and cold stretches. A great week of top 20 picks can be followed by three weeks of guys finishing T22. Bet a size you can keep betting.

Only bet with licensed, legal sportsbooks in your state. You must be 21 or older.

For this week's plays, see golf picks this week.