Ernie Els’ improbable British Open win allows bettor to pocket $32,000 on a $70 bet

Ernie Els took home the Claret Jug and a cool $ 1.452 million for coming from six shots back to win the British Open at Royal Lytham and St Annes. But he wasn’t the only guy who cashed in on Sunday afternoon.

As betting website WagerMinds.com reported, someone had the chutzpah to throw $ 70 on Ernie Els to win the British Open at 469-to-1 odds when Adam Scott had a four-shot lead with four holes to play.

Crazy bet, right? There was no way Scott was going to lose … at least that’s what most of us thought at the time. When Scott came unglued over the final four holes, the bettor, who placed the wager through a site that allows you to bet during the round, cashed in on his $ 70 Hail Mary bet and walked away with a tidy $ 32,830.

[Brian Murphy: Welcome to the era of choking at majors]

Not a bad day’s work if you ask me. But wait, the story gets even crazier: This isn’t the first time a bettor has made over $ 30,000 betting on the British Open. Just last year, a gentleman placed a $ 300 futures bet on Darren Clarke to win the British Open and pocketed just over $ 37,000.

What does this story tell us? If you want to bet on a long shot, do it at the British Open. There’s a good chance you could walk away with a once-in-a-lifetime story … and at least $ 30,000 in cold, hard cash.

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