Mobile Betting: Golf – Rory McIlroy Just Does It
In the often overlapping worlds of sport and celebrity it seems impossible to keep a secret nowadays, and when golfing sensation Rory McIlroy was photographed recently using Nike gear on which his name was etched while preparing for this week's HSBC Champions tournament in Abu Dhabi, the official silence surrounding his impending big money sponsorship deal was deafening.
Thanks to the world number one’s ability to leave the field in his wake the 23 year-old is causing online bookmakers the same kind of grief that Tiger Woods used to deliver in his pre-scandal days, when non-golfers would happily bet on him to keep up his winning ways week after week.
The modern era allows McIlroy to inspire an even bigger following as the masses have their mobile devices on which to read about him and watch his exploits before placing a bet, which explains why we can no longer find the most generous odds on tournament outright winner markets, where he stands atop these large, quality fields.
Bet365, for example have, not surprisingly, installed the Boy Wonder from Northern Ireland as a 5/1 favourite to take the title in Abu Dhabi, with Tiger Woods at 7/1. It should be noted from a betting perspective, incidentally, that Woods might well benefit from being in his young rival’s shadow, away from the intrusive glare of the cameras, and his three wins on the PGA Tour last year will have been duly noted by both his fellow players and the bookmakers.
Said to be worth around £155 over 10 years, the deal puts McIlroy second in earnings to only Woods himself, but even before the ink on the press releases has dried there is already speculation as to whether form will be the price to pay for having to switch from the trusty Titleist clubs (and ball) that have served McIlroy so well thus far.
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