While we know plenty of players on the PGA Tour gamble during practice rounds, gambling during tournament rounds is even less discussed.

Of course, officially, nobody on the PGA Tour gambles and the practice is prohibited. Unofficially, well…

As much as the PGA Tour takes a Judge Smails tack with the matter, players gamble during tournament rounds, as the Undercover Tour Pro tells Golf Digest.

The pro says he never starts a tournament-round wager on the first tee. Rather, a situation will arise like the following: The pro and the player in his pairing are both well outside the cut line. In order to make things interesting, he decides to make a wager.

Likewise, if both players are near the bottom of the leaderboard on Sunday.

The pro says:

“Even if I shoot 65, I move up maybe 10 places. And a solid round like 69 or 70 is going to yield something like $1,500 more in prize money, pre-tax. It might sound illogical, but the glory of taking a few hundo off a colleague becomes more interesting than a potentially slightly larger cut of a purse.”

He also offered this unique perspective on inside-the-ropes in-tournament wagering.

“At the end of a disappointing week, the last thing you want to do is grind. But if you’re not always trying to get it going, you’ve got about zero chance of discovering that thing—some little key or thought—that turns your game around.”

So there you have it, it’s fun for the pros and for the good of the game.