PUNDIT Steve Palmer left bookmakers hundreds of thousands of pounds out of pocket with a record breaking 200-1 tip.

The Weymouth journalist and author writes a column in the Racing Post newspaper and saw his best-ever tip come off when Danish golfer Thomas Bjorn won at the Qatar Masters.

Steve was at home in Knightsdale Road watching the golf when he realised his bet had worked out and he was ‘a few thousand pounds’ better off himself.

Steve, 32, said he then realised his readers would have taken home big winnings too to leave the bookies at a loss.

He said: “I didn’t know it was a record tip at the time but found out afterwards that the previous record was 150-1.”

The former Wey Valley School and Radipole Primary School pupil said finding out how much his followers had won gave him the most pleasure.

He said: “I made a few thousand quid out of it myself but I’m more pleased for the army of loyal readers who follow my tips each week. They’ve been contacting me and a lot of them have just had the biggest betting win of their lives. It makes it all worthwhile.”

Bookmakers William Hill revealed they would normally make £50,000 on the event but were among the betting shops who lost out with Bet 365 paying out more than £100,000.

The golfer won by four shots on Sunday, making Steve’s tip the highest-priced winner in the Racing Post’s 25-year history.

He has worked for the paper for 11 years and is its chief golf writer.

He previews tournaments in the paper each Wednesday and has won the Sports Journalists’ Association Betting Writer of the Year award every year since it started in 2008.

He said he has been betting for too long to get over-excited but was surprised how easy Thomas Bjorn won.

The Dane had gone four years without a win until a tournament in Portugal last year and his odds were so long because he was outside the world’s top 60 players ahead of the Qatar tournament.

Steve said: “I just wish I’d bet enough to retire. But sometimes betting is like taking candy from a baby. I think the oddsmakers underestimated Bjorn because he looks so old but he is only 39 and still has plenty to offer.

“I’ve got no sympathy for the bookies who’ve been taken to the cleaners.”

Bet 365 spokesman Steve Freeth said: “Steve has a cult following and his tips never go unbacked. It betters any tipping achievement I can ever think of and we doff our caps to him.”

Steve spent four years living in London when he started at the Racing Post and then seven years commuting from Brighton to the paper’s offices in Canary Wharf.

But a year ago he moved home to Weymouth and sends his work in.

Steve is about to release his first book Born To Punt – My Betting Year.