Woods Masters co-favorite

On the eve of the Masters, one of golf ’s major tournaments, Tiger Woods is at the top of the list of favorites, swinging like it’s 1999.

At press time, the odds of Woods winning the Masters, which will be held ThursdaySunday, April 5-8, in Augusta, Ga., were 9-to-1, equal to cofavorite Rory McElroy. Following close behind were Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson, who are both at 10-to-1. Jordan Spieth was 12-to-1 and Justin Rose 14-to-1.

Woods regained his stroke in March at two tournaments in Florida, finishing tied for second at the Valspar Championship and tied for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

“With his strong play recently, there is really no other option then to rank him amongst the favorites to win the Masters,” said Pat Morrow, head oddsmaker for Bovada.lv.

After an outstanding two years as a collegiate player at Stanford University in the mid-1990s, Woods was the PGA player to beat for more than a decade. Yet, during the past few years Woods has been hampered by a string of injuries, substance abuse problems and domestic issues.

Woods has won 79 PGA tournaments, including 14 majors (second behind Jack Nicklaus’ 18), and he has a knack for rising to the occasion when the pressure is on. That history, and the fact that recently he’s regained his stroke, are among the reasons why Woods is the co-favorite to win the Masters, Morrow said.

“We always see more action on Tiger than any other golfer, but before his most recent comeback we had noticed a definite decrease in players betting him. He was still the most bet, but not by a big margin,” Morrow said. “So this season, when his play picked up again, the bettors got excited and started betting Tiger significantly.”

Golf is tricky to handicap, Morrow added, because there are so many potential winners.

“In no other sport do you have so many different tournament winners all playing in the same field. For example, this season there have been 18 different winners of the 21 PGA tournaments,” he said.

For those considering wagering on golf, Morrow suggests looking at a player’s history on a course. Woods has won the Masters four times, with the most recent victory in 2005. In recent years he’s done well on the Augusta links, finishing tied for fourth or better in seven of the last nine Masters he has played, though he hasn’t participated since 2015.

Some of the bets on Woods may have to do with “excitement” that Woods is “playing well again, and in the past when he has played well he has made them money.”

“Everybody loves a comeback story,” Morrow said, “and looking at our position now, a Tiger Woods win would make a lot of people very happy.”

For the latest odds, go to www.bovada.lv. Michael Shapiro (www.michael shapiro.net) is author of “A Sense of Place.” Twitter: @shapiro writes