The return of Tiger Woods to the PGA Tour has the sporting world in a buzz.
Woods will make his 2018 debut at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on January 25, and while many of his recent returns have been unremarkable, a strong showing at the recent Hero World Challenge has fans wondering if the Tiger of old is back.
As a result, BetDSI Sportsbook has posted a number of betting odds on how Woods will perform both at the Farmers Insurance Open as well as how he’ll do throughout the 2018 calendar season.
Will Tiger Woods win a PGA Tour/European Tour event prior to January 1, 2019?
Yes +1700
No -4000
Woods has won the Farmers seven times, and he also won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, which was his last major championship victory. However, Woods missed the cut here last year in his lone PGA start before taking the rest of the year off.
Woods looked very healthy at the Hero World Challenge where he fired three rounds in the 60s and finished T-9. The Hero World Challenge is little more than an exhibition, however, with wide fairways and forgiving roughs, which is why the oddsmakers aren’t putting too much weight in his performance at the Bahamas. Woods is now 42 years old and has only made the cut in 11 of his last 19 PGA Tour events.
The European Tour addition is an interesting wrinkle in the betting line, but Woods has not publicly committed to compete overseas, likely because he doesn’t know how his body will react.
Will Tiger Woods win a major prior to January 1, 2019?
Yes +3000
No -7000
According to the oddsmakers, Woods’ chances of winning any event are miniscule, which makes his chances to win a major even smaller.
The 2018 U.S. Open will be played at Shinnecock Hills where Woods finished T-17 in 2004. Carnoustie gets the 2018 Open Championship and Woods finished T-7 there in 1999 and T-12 in 2007. This year’s PGA Championship will be played at Bellervie where Woods has never teed it up in a professional event.
At this point, just making it to the final event would be a success for him given that he’s only made 19 PGA Tour appearances since the start of the 2014 season. The golf world just wants him to qualify and be healthy.
Then there is the 2018 Masters, a storied event that Woods has won four times. There might not be a course he knows better than Augusta National, so that’s probably his best shot.
How many cuts will Tiger Woods make during 2018 calendar year?
Over 4.5
Under 4.5
The total for made cuts during the 2018 calendar year for Woods is 4.5 (for tournaments that have a minimum field of 100 players). Right now, making the cut is the main objective for Woods because the more cuts he makes, the more rounds he gets under his belt and ultimately see how his body feels. The total of 4.5 is a really low number so the oddsmakers are not showing much faith in the Woods comeback.
Furthering that point is the fact that some odds are posted on a Woods meltdown. You can bet on whether Tiger will shoot 80 or worse in a round in 2018 with ‘Yes’ at -130 and ‘No’ at +100. One interesting point to note is that there is a good chance that Woods will withdraw from the event before it happens. He has recorded 80 or higher four times in his career, twice in majors and most recently at the 2015 U.S. Open in the first round. As bad as he’s been in recent years, he hasn’t topped that number in awhile.
If you’re an optimist, you can also bet on if he’ll shoot 64 or better in a round in 2018 with ‘Yes’ at +100 and ‘No’ at -130. Woods has shot 64 or better 10 times, twice in majors, and most recently in 2013 at the WBC-Bridgestone Invitational.
If Woods can just stay healthy, you never know what will happen. We will all be watching.
