Remember Tiger Woods?
The athlete who was supposedly saving golf in the mid- and late-2000s, only to ultimately fall from grace when he backed his car into a fire hydrant, sparking years worth of scandals, including a divorce from his supermodel wife? The man who has been battling various injuries over the course of the last several years and hasn’t even been on a golf course competitively since August 2015? A man who hasn’t finished better than 10th in a professional golf event since 2013?
Yeah, that guy is back.
Tiger Woods’ Return to the PGA Golf Odds
And with his first tournament coming in October at the official start of the 2016-17 PGA Tour season, the organizers for the Safeway Open are already expecting a boon in ticket sales of at least “30 to 40 percent.” Television ratings for a tournament nobody normally would have cared about will go through the roof because that man is back on the links.
Of course, with Woods back in the fold, bettors are going to have a plethora of props to bet on for his return. BookMaker.eu has a handful of Tiger Woods props listed at the moment regarding his play at the Safeway Open, and they don’t look anything like the tale of a player who used to be golf’s most dominant figure.
Perhaps the most humorous yet sad prop listed for the Safeway Open is on Woods and whether he would withdraw during the event. Golfers pull out of events all the time with various ailments, but never at a rate quite like Woods did in 2014 and 2015 when he withdrew from three of his 18 events.
That said, you can get a price of +450 if you think Woods is going to run into problems again on the links in his first tournament back and not be able to complete his time out there.
Tiger Woods Betting: Will He Even Play?
Perhaps the better question is whether Woods will make the cut at the event. We know that Tiger had one of the greatest runs in the history of golf when it came to making cuts when he was in his prime, but one has to wonder if he legitimately should even be a favorite to stick around for the weekend in his first tourney back. At this point, the price on Woods to make the cut is set at -230, but we really question whether that’s fair or not.
Sure, Woods will be up against lesser competition at the Safeway Open than he would be at the Masters or even one of the more notable non-major events on the PGA Tour calendar, but he’s missed the cut in five of his last 12 events dating back to the end of his 2014 campaign.
What is the reasonable expectation for Woods in a tournament that golfers routinely need to shoot in the -15 to -18 range in order to win? -5? Par? At his course last year, Emiliano Grillo won the event at -15 and the cut came in at -2.
Golf Props: Making the Cut
In order to finish in the Top 10 of the Safeway Open, Woods is going to have to fire at least -13, one would assume. He’s shot better than -10 in an event exactly once since his last win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, and in 2015, he carded more rounds at or above par (19) than rounds below it (14).
Perhaps the best price on the board features Woods to not finish in the Top 10 at -400. The golf odds for him to not finish in the Top 5 are even greater at -2000 and is a little chalky for our blood, but unless Woods looks fantastic in his practice rounds leading into the Safeway Open, we can’t imagine he’s going to be anything near a contender in this event.
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