Sports

Bookies tank with Tiger

MEDINAH, Ill. — Tiger Woods’ gentlemanly gesture to give Europe’s Francesco Molinari that last putt of the final match of the Ryder Cup cost bookies millions of dollars, according to reports.

Woods, playing in the last match, held a 1-up lead on Molinari on the 18th hole, but when Europe clinched its 14th point to assure itself of retaining the Cup, the Woods-Molinari match did not matter in the final outcome — except for the bookies.

Had Woods beaten Molinari, the Ryder Cup would have ended in a 14-14 draw and, even though the Cup would have gone to Europe as defending champion, the bookies would not have had to pay the bettors who gambled Europe would beat the Americans.

Woods missed a 3-foot par putt and decided not to force Molinari to make his par from a similar distance. That conceded the hole to the Italian, halved their match and gave Europe the outright 14 ½-13 ½ result that few had predicted at the start of the day, with Europe trailing 10-6.

That left bookies having to pay the bettors who placed bets on a European comeback win.

A number of betting firms yesterday said they were facing huge payouts in what was their most expensive Ryder Cup ever, despite the fact just moments earlier, they had been looking at their ideal result of a draw.

Woods said he conceded the putt to Molinari because the Ryder Cup result “was already over.’’

“We came here as a team; this is a team event, and the Cup was already retained by Europe, so it was already over,’’ Woods said. “It’s pointless to even finish. So 18 was just, ‘Hey, get this over with. Congratulations to the European team.’ ’’

Molinari said he was ready to concede his match to Woods while the two were in the 18th fairway and the Europeans were madly celebrating their team victory on the green since the Cup was going to stay with Europe.

“I thought about giving him the halve [of the hole] on the fairway, but then the captain [Jose Maria Olazabal] was there, the chairman was there [and] they told me, ‘It’s not the same, winning or halving, so get focused and do your best,’ and that’s what I did. So I just tried to win the hole, to win the tournament, basically.’’

Molinari said he was “getting ready to hit the putt’’ for par to win the hole when Woods gave it to him. “I wasn’t expecting him to give it to me,’’ Molinari said.

Industry experts said the result cost UK betting companies around £10 million in total.

A Ladbrokes spokesman told MailOnline, “No-one bets on a tie. It cost us just over £650,000 (approximately $1.049 million) last night on Tiger’s miss. Tiger is not a bookie’s friend this morning. It was a nightmare result. The USA were heavily backed pre-tournament.’’

A William Hill spokesman told MailOnline, “From a trading point of view we were USA supporters throughout. Tiger normally costs us because he wins, but this time he cost us because he lost.’’

A Paddy Power spokesman said, “It was mad the way it changed it the last round. It was bonkers. It was an unbelievable night, but it cost us a fortune.’’

A Betfred spokesman said, “It cost us a lot of money, but sometimes you’ve got to pay out with a smile. It was a bad night for the bookies, but a great night for sport.’’

Ryder rides high ratings

The Ryder Cup’s final day drew its highest preliminary television rating since the last big comeback 13 years ago.

Sunday’s coverage on NBC earned a 4.1 overnight rating and 9 share. The network said that was the best since a 6.3/15 for the U.S. comeback in 1999 in Brookline, Mass.

The rating was up 21 percent from the last Ryder Cup in the U.S., a 3.4 for the event in Louisville, Ky., in 2008.

With AP