I love to gamble. It’s pretty straightforward; if you offer me a bet I bet you I’ll take it. With golf being my sport of choice, whether that’s playing on the pristine (not so much) fairways of Buckinghamshire, or planted well and truly into my imprint in the sofa enjoying Sky HD’s finest with a Budweiser, I love to get some money involved. Skybet have coined the phrase ‘it matters more when there’s money on it’ and I couldn’t put a more apt phrase into words on betting.

The PGA Championship week is an important week in golf and to quote Andrew Cotter, ‘the last shot at glory in the golfing calendar’. Being the last major of the year I felt it was only fair that I placed a sizeable wager on the event. Rickie Fowler was my first pick. Why wouldn’t he be? He came a close second the preceding week to a resurgent Adam Scott and at 25/1 he was a steal. I eagerly sipped at my bud whilst watching Rickie hit his 1st tee shot of the week, but slowly lowered my ice cold beer from my now gaping mouth as it went straight into the bunker resulting in a first hole bogey. Rickie would go on to shoot +4, thanks mate. Never to mind, at least I had backed Tiger Woods when he was -3 after his first 4 holes. ‘He’s back!’, I exclaimed to anyone who hadn’t already grown bored of my incessant announcements throughout the afternoon in the office. 21/1? A £10 stake is guaranteed to fill up the coffers with a healthy return then. I left the office and by the time I’d walked in Tiger had finished on +7 – never wanted that tenner anyway.

I now was forced to pin my hopes on Nick Watney who was level par after round one. I’m sure the man who carried a lead into the final day of two majors last season and failed to finish in the top 5 at the death will be a trusty bet. It turned out that no, Watney wouldn’t win me money.

As you read this and think ‘why bother?’, I’ll take you back to why. At the 2010 USPGA a rising star by the name of Martin Kaymer won his 1st major in a playoff against Bubba Watson. Guess who had a measly £3 on our lad Martin at 60/1? Safe to say that the imprint in my sofa has never been larger as I was glued to the 37" flatscreen for all 4 days. I genuinely think that my celebrations eclipsed Martins ten-fold as a result of my £180 windfall. It is for these moments that I have, and will continue to bet.