Jack Nicklaus won 18 career major championships.
Everybody knows that.
What everybody might not know is that Nicklaus also had 19 career runner-up finishes at majors. That’s the most all-time, of course, and commensurate with his overall close calls, which numbered 58 in total.
He probably wouldn’t appreciate the reminder, but he’s also the leader in that category, by one over Sam Snead. Speaking of Snead, he’s tied for the PGA Tour career victory record with Tiger Woods, but Woods has only 31 runners-up, which doesn’t even rank him inside the top-10.
Why are we talking about second-place results? Because starting this week, finishing second just got a whole lot better – if not for the players, at least for the rest of us.
Allow me to introduce you to BetMGM’s Second Chance.
Cash Back for 2nd Place
If your golfer doesn’t win the tournament, you’ll still get cash back if they finish in second place!
Log in to your account for full terms and info.
Remember during the football season, when any stake on a first touchdown scorer would be refunded in cash if your selection scored the second touchdown of the game? Well, that idea has finally come to golf.
Moving forward, any singular outright wager placed with BetMGM between Monday and Wednesday will be fully refunded in cash if your selection finishes runner-up.
Second place might be the first loser, but now it’s way better than third.
With all of this in mind, your weekly objective shouldn’t change: If you’re betting outrights, it’s still a good idea to try and pick the winner. I cannot overstate that enough.
This idea did, however, take me down the rabbit hole of examining second-place finishers in recent years.
Since the beginning of 2022, there have 123 different players to place runner-up in official PGA Tour events, from every superstar to the largely forgotten. (Nathan Kimsey, anyone?) Of that total, 57 have done so on multiple occasions.
The clubhouse leader in this category? Well, following Nicklaus’ blueprint, it’s the guy who’s also had the most wins – Scottie Scheffler with eight. Next on the list are Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young with seven, followed by Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay with five.
Among those also with more than one during this span? How about Brandon Wu, Zac Blair, Matt NeSmith and Scott Stallings.
Anyway, the point remains: Do your homework, make a pick, try to hit the winner.
My favorite outright play at this week’s Players Championship happens to be Collin Morikawa – and yes, the Second Chance could be a valuable tool for such a play, considering Morikawa is fresh off his 11th career runner-up finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and his fourth since his last victory nearly a year-and-a-half ago.
Following his latest second place, Morikawa offered up a social media post that ended, “This one stings.”
Even so, I’ve often maintained that most runner-up finishers will take more positives than negatives from the experience. After all, it’s better to finish second than, say, tied for 37th.
That usually hasn’t been the case for outright bettors, but it changes this week.
Second place might be the first loser, but with the Second Chance you won’t actually lose anything at all.
