They say gamble responsibly, but not everyone takes that advice, and there's no finer example than one golf bettor in upstate New York after a social media post backfired.
In what was no doubt a throwaway post on X, one New York bar owner said that "For every like this tweet gets in the next 24 hours I will bet $5 on Carl Yuan to win the Mexico Open."
The post, however, got over 1,300 likes, but our golf gambler was true to his word and went racing around the state, and beyond, to eventually place $6,575 in bets on Yuan to win the Mexico Open.
At odds varying from 120/1 to 80/1, the winnings could total $524,088, but World No. 146 Yuan doesn't go into the tournament in the best of form after two missed cuts and a withdrawal.
Yuan does, though, have a T4 finish this season at the Sony in Hawaii, and also had the same finish at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship at the end of 2023 so perhaps there is hope for this eventual wager to land.
Beyond the actual wager itself, though, the circumstances of the bet and process of actually laying that much money on a golf tournament has made the headlines through being comically documented on social media.
"You people are sick. My dumb ass golf tweets never get more than like 5 likes. This must be my enemies trying to bankrupt me. But I’ll get the last laugh you b******s," wrote our gambler @tomandmartys on X.
Receipts time!1315 likes= $6575 Shit.Before you call me a hedging bitch, just know that $3814 was absolute most I could lay to win on Carl using my 4 apps and 2 casinos in Binghamton NY.In total I bet $6575 to win $524,088Next tweet is breakdown followed by pics. https://t.co/YkpGLECn1JFebruary 21, 2024
What followed, due to rules and restrictions on how much you can place on betting apps and accounts, was a hectic drive around the state visiting casinos and betting kiosks.
"You know you’ve reached the nut low in life when you find yourself waiting for a sports book to open at some casino in the middle of nowhere just to get some Carl Yuan action in," he added in another post.
He even went venturing 160 miles to the Poconos to ensure he could get the full amount he promised on social media on his longshot bet on Yuan - and posted proof in the form of photos of the mass of betting tickets all on his man to win in Mexico.
In my rush to get my Carl action in, accidentally bet $100 on Badds instead. So it's comforting to know that if this whole Yuan thing goes sour, I've got a pretty good plan B already in place. pic.twitter.com/rmEKVSKofMFebruary 21, 2024
It was so much of a rush that our punter even managed to put a bet on the wrong guy! Instead backing Aaron Baddeley by mistake.
"In my rush to get my Carl action in, accidentally bet $100 on Badds instead," he admitted. "So it's comforting to know that if this whole Yuan thing goes sour, I've got a pretty good plan B already in place."
It looks like being a hugely costly mistake, but if, by some miracle, Carl Yuan does manage to make it into the best mistake ever and pocket him of half a million dollars?
"Boy are people gonna be confused when I rename the bar Crazy Carl’s next Monday."
