Why One Golf Fan Has Bet $6,575 On World No.146 To Win The Mexico Open After Social Media Post Backfired

After a social media post backfired spectacularly, one golf bettor in New York has placed a massive bet on Carl Yuan to win the Mexico Open

Carl Yuan has had a huge bet put on him for the Mexico Open
(Image credit: Getty Images)

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.

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.

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."

Paul Higham
Contributor

Paul Higham is a sports journalist with over 20 years of experience in covering most major sporting events for both Sky Sports and BBC Sport. He is currently freelance and covers the golf majors on the BBC Sport website.  Highlights over the years include covering that epic Monday finish in the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor and watching Rory McIlroy produce one of the most dominant Major wins at the 2011 US Open at Congressional. He also writes betting previews and still feels strangely proud of backing Danny Willett when he won the Masters in 2016 - Willett also praised his putting stroke during a media event before the Open at Hoylake. Favourite interviews he's conducted have been with McIlroy, Paul McGinley, Thomas Bjorn, Rickie Fowler and the enigma that is Victor Dubuisson. A big fan of watching any golf from any tour, sadly he spends more time writing about golf than playing these days with two young children, and as a big fair weather golfer claims playing in shorts is worth at least five shots. Being from Liverpool he loves the likes of Hoylake, Birkdale and the stretch of tracks along England's Golf Coast, but would say his favourite courses played are Kingsbarns and Portrush.