SOURCE: Associated Press

(Edinburgh, SCT) — While Americans tend to bet on golf while playing with friends or neighbors or that egotistical cheater from work, golf-minded Britons tend to bet on golf while, well, breathing.

They bet on the British Open so reflexively and so enthusiastically that some of them this very week will wager not only on the winner or whether there will be a hole-in-one up the coast at Carnoustie, but on the daily color of Ian Poulter's outfits.

"I'm guessing Mr. Poulter's clothing will probably be looked at" as a betting concept, said Robin Hutchison of the wagering chain Ladbrokes.

Thereby does Mr. Poulter's notorious fashion iridescence come to epitomize a national pastime of betting not as a way to make money but as a way to watch an event with an added dose of zeal.

The guy who came into a Ladbrokes on Tuesday morning and bet $14,000 on Ernie Els probably wants to make some money, but most people merely want to lord a successful bet over others in the pub.

It's a matter of "my assessment of the situation versus your assessment of the situation," said Mark Griffiths, a professor of gambling studies at Nottingham Trent University.

"I think the vast majority of people who have a bet in England fully expect to have lost that money," said Rupert Adams, a spokesman at the William Hill betting agency. "The assumption is that it's gone already, the money."

That is certainly the assumption of the people who have combined for a total of 31 pounds (about $63) through Ladbrokes on 63-year-old Tony Jacklin at odds of 10,000-1, and it is certainly the assumption of Sheena Willoughby, who with husband Jack runs the Dunvegan Hotel pub at St. Andrews.

Absolutely everybody in the pub has put some pounds down on somebody, and absolutely everybody includes Willoughby. She has separate bets of 12.50 pounds (about $26) at 25-1 on Jim Furyk (a former customer she considers a decent soul), 20 pounds (about $41) at 100-1 on Charles Howell III ("He came in and ate nothing but chicken wings all week" during the 2005 Open) and 20 pounds at 200-1 on 48-year-old Tom Lehman (former guest at the hotel).

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