How Do Golf Outright and Each-Way Bets Work, and What Do Dead-Heat Rules Do to a Tie?
An each-way bet is two equal bets: one to win, one to place at a fraction of the odds. Ties for the last paid place cut your payout under dead-heat rules.
September 27, 2026 at 5:21 PM EDT
6 min read
A golf outright is a bet on one player to win a tournament against the whole field, which is why the prices are so long. An each-way bet splits your money into two equal bets: one on the player to win, and one on the player to finish in the top few places, paid at a fraction of the win odds. A "$10 each-way" bet costs $20.
When players tie on a paid position — which in golf happens constantly — most books apply dead-heat rules. Your stake is divided by the number of tied players sharing the places that are left, so a "winning" ticket can return less than you staked. The worked examples below show exactly how much.
Outrights: long prices because the fields are huge
A golf tournament is not a two-sided contest. The 2026 U.S. Open field was completed at 156 players, according to the PGA Tour. Regular tour events are smaller: from the 2026 season the Tour's policy board cut single-course open fields from 156 to a maximum of 144 (or 120 to 132 when daylight is short), but it is still a field of well over a hundred names. Even the best player in the world is an underdog against that many opponents, which is why nearly every name on the board carries a long price.
MGM Springfield's rules settle a playoff in the obvious way — the playoff winner is the tournament winner — and apply dead heat to all placings.
Why the margin on outrights is high
On a two-way line you add two implied probabilities and see a total of about 104–105%. Do the same on an outright board and the total is far higher. An illustrative 150-player board:
| Players | Price each | Implied each | Group total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 favourite | +600 | 14.29% | 14.29% |
| 4 | +1500 | 6.25% | 25.00% |
| 10 | +3000 | 3.23% | 32.26% |
| 20 | +6000 | 1.64% | 32.79% |
| 40 | +15000 | 0.66% | 26.49% |
| 75 | +50000 | 0.20% | 14.97% |
| 150 | 145.79% |
These numbers are made up to show the method, not taken from a real board. Run the same sum on any real outright market before you bet it. What the sum means: if you spread money over the whole field in proportion to each price, you would get back 100 ÷ 145.79 = 68.6 cents per dollar whoever won.
Why books can charge that much:
- Many outcomes. A small overcharge on each of 150 prices adds up to a large total.
- Longshots. Bettors like big numbers, and the prices on the tail of the board are where books tend to be least generous. A 500/1 player who "should" be 300/1 costs the bettor a lot in relative terms but looks like nothing on screen.
- Hard to compare. Nobody lines up 150 prices across five books by hand. Shopping is the defence, and the Academy's guide to hold and vig shows how to measure what a board is charging.
Each-way terms: place fraction and number of places
Every each-way bet comes with two terms: the fraction of the win odds paid on the place part, and the number of places paid. ELITE Sportsbook's Iowa house rules list fractions of 1/2, 1/3, 1/4 and 1/5, and give their own example of a Masters paid at "Top Six places at 1/5 of the odds." Terms change by event and by book; more places usually come with a smaller fraction.
Worked example
$10 each-way on a player at 40/1 (+4000), terms 1/5 odds, 8 places. Total staked: $20.
- Place odds: 40 ÷ 5 = 8/1.
- Player wins: win part $10 × 40 = $400 profit + $10 stake = $410. Place part $10 × 8 = $80 + $10 = $90. Total return $500, profit $480.
- Player finishes 5th: win part loses. Place part returns $90. Profit $70 on the $20 staked.
- Player finishes 11th: both parts lose. −$20.
The place part is its own bet. It wins if the player wins as well, which is why a winning each-way ticket pays twice.
Dead heat: when players tie
ELITE's rules say it plainly: "Dead-heat rules are that it is the stake that is halved not the betting odds." The stake is split in proportion to the number of places left for the tied players. DraftKings' Massachusetts rules reach the same payout by dividing the odds instead, and publish the formula for multi-position bets: divide the number of tied players by the number of remaining positions, including the one the selection finished in, then divide the decimal odds by the result.
Worked example: tied for the last place
Same bet as above: $10 each-way at 40/1, 1/5 odds, 8 places. The player finishes tied for 8th with three other players.
- Four players share positions 8 through 11. Only one paid place (8th) is left.
- Place stake is reduced to 1/4: $10 × 1/4 = $2.50.
- $2.50 at 8/1 returns $2.50 × 9 = $22.50.
- The other $7.50 of the place stake is lost, as is the $10 win part.
- Total return $22.50 on $20 staked: +$2.50.
Had the player finished alone in 8th, the ticket returned $90. The tie cost $67.50.
Top 5, 10 and 20 bets
At DraftKings, MGM and ELITE, finishing-position markets settle the same way. Pinnacle is the exception among the rulebooks we read: it pays top-X bets at full odds on a tie, however many players share the place. At a dead-heat book, $50 on a player to finish top 20 at +150 (decimal 2.50). The player ties for 19th with four others:
- Five players share positions 19–23; two paid places (19th and 20th) are left.
- Stake fraction 2 ÷ 5 = 0.4, so $50 × 0.4 = $20 at 2.50 = $50 returned.
- A "winning" top-20 ticket pays back exactly your stake — profit $0.
Players who never tee off are refunded under MGM's rules; a player who starts and then withdraws is a loser in top 5/10/20 markets. Pinnacle takes the same line: once a golfer tees off, markets including them have action even if they withdraw.
Matchups and 3-balls
Matchups pit two named players against each other over a round or the tournament. MGM's tournament match bets make "Tie" the winner if both finish level, regardless of any playoff; if one misses the cut, the other wins. For 2-balls, MGM pays the tie if it was offered and cancels bets if it was not.
3-balls pick the lowest score among three players, usually the group they are drawn with. Ties are settled by dead heat at MGM and ELITE. A worked example: $30 on a player at +150 in a 3-ball who ties for lowest with one other player. Stake halves to $15; $15 × 2.50 = $37.50 returned — a profit of $7.50 instead of $45.
What to check before betting golf
Four things: the each-way fraction, the number of places, whether ties are paid in full or dead-heated, and how withdrawals are treated. A single tie on the last paid place can turn a profitable ticket into a break-even one, as the examples above show. The Academy's fair odds guide shows how to price a place bet against its win odds, and the next guide in this series returns to soccer: corners, cards and props.