Bob Bubka No Longer Welcome In Some Parts Of Ireland

Mark Herrmann reports that the radio voice of golf is a marked man for daring to correctly pick Lucas Glover to win the U.S. Open. What'd disturbing is how many Irishmen listened!

Paddy Power, a legal betting firm, lost the equivalent of $1.6 million because Bubka's prediction had set off "a betting frenzy," according to the Irish Times and other media outlets in Ireland.

The odds on Glover, 29, who had won one PGA Tour event and never had made the cut in a U.S. Open, had been 175-1 before Bubka appeared on Newstalk radio Wednesday night, June 17. After he mentioned Glover as the favorite, the odds had dropped to 11-8 by Monday, June 22, the final day of the Open.

This is beautiful...

A spokesman for Paddy Power told Ireland's TalkSport radio, "We're hoping Bob gets a bad case of laryngitis the week before the British Open and keeps his mouth shut."

Bubka does not have a favorite yet for the British Open. But he did say he had picked Angel Cabrera to win the Masters this year, too.