How to bet Tiger Woods in his PGA TOUR return
PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – Tiger Woods returns to action on the PGA TOUR for the first time this season at The Genesis Invitational, and as usual, the betting public is fascinated to see how he will fare.
Despite not having won in his 14 attempts at The Riviera Country Club in the past, there are still plenty of people flocking to Woods as a betting pick with 8% of tickets at the BetMGM Sportsbook on the 82-time PGA TOUR winner.
Woods is +12500 to win the tournament, a number that would allow the run of triple digit odds winners on the PGA TOUR to hit seven in a row should he provide a week to remember. Another high odds option is Woods at +8000 to be the Top American player.
“A nice W would be nice, right?" Woods said Wednesday. "I played in this event since '92 and the years I've played I still have never won this event. Hopefully I can figure something out and get myself in there in contention and maybe get a W at the end of the week.
“I have traditionally not putted well here. This is a fader's delight, most of the holes are, for a righty, run left to right. I've driven it well here. There are small greens and traditionally throughout my entire career my iron game has been pretty good, but I have never really gotten hot with the putter at this course.”
Tiger Woods' practice round at The Genesis Invitational
As you can read in my weekly column, I’m not an advocate for Woods as a longshot, but outright betting is far from the only way to ride the 15-time major champion.
In terms of full tournament bets, the 48-year-old is +2200 to finish in the top five (including ties); +900 for a top 10 (incl. ties); +350 for a top 20 (including ties); +140 for a top 30 (including ties) and -135 for a top 40 (including ties).
From those 14 starts at Riviera, Woods has two top-fives; three top-10s; eight top-20s; eight top-30s; and eight top-40s.
Personally, I’d be cautious to go any lower than the top 40 option.
With 70 players in the field, a cut will be made after 36 holes to the top 50 and ties, and those within 10 shots of the lead. Woods is -105 to miss the cut and -125 to make the cut.
He has made the cut 11 of 14 times with the first two missed cuts coming when he was a very young amateur in 1992 and 1993. I’ll bend to the make the cut side here.
In addition to the full tournament betting options there are some based on Thursday’s opening round.
Woods is +8000 to be the tournament’s first round leader, with his opening scores ranging from a 4-under 67 to a 3-over 74. Six of his 14 opening rounds were in the 60s. He is +1100 to be inside the top-five and ties, and +500 to be in the top-10 and ties.
With a likely element of rust in his game, I’m not prepared to jump in here, but stranger things have happened!
You can get +2000 on Woods to be bogey free on Thursday. In his 46 rounds at The Riviera Country Club Woods has been bogey free just three times at two of those came back in 1999. The other time Woods managed a clean sheet was in 2001.
If you ask me, there will be bogeys. But there will also be some birdies and this could present some opportunities elsewhere in the markets.
Some other first-round specials are below and I’ve bolded those that intrigue me as an option:
- To eagle/birdie the first hole: -225
- The first hole at Riviera is one of the easiest par 5s on the PGA TOUR. Woods has made birdie or better on 33 of his 46 trips around the iconic layout. He is -14 in his last 12 attempts on the hole.
- To have 5 or more birdies/eagles: +120
- Woods notched up five birdies in the opening round a year ago but failed to back that up in his next three rounds.
- To make an eagle: +600
- Woods has just eight eagles from his 46 rounds at Riviera but astonishingly six of them came in his last three appearances of 2019, 2020 and last year. Prior to that Woods had just one eagle in 2001, and another in 2004. He also made an eagle on the first hole in Wednesday’s Pro-Am.
- Shooting 70 or lower +100
- Woods has shot 70 or better at Riviera in 24 of his 46 rounds. His scoring average is 70.57 on the par-71 layout. His career best round at Riviera is a 64 from the final round in 2004, with a high of 78 as an amateur in 1993. His highest round as a professional was his last round 77 in 2020.
You can also bet Woods at +250 against his first-round partners Justin Thomas and Gary Woodland in a 3-ball. I think Thomas might just get him though.
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