Bettor who won $1.19M on Tiger Woods wagers $100K to win $10M
Tiger Woods is back, and so is the bettor who won $1.19 million on the golfer to win the Masters.
James Adducci, the La Crosse, Wisconsin, man who cashed his $85,000 wager on Woods to win the year’s first major at 14-1 odds, returned to the William Hill sportsbook at SLS Las Vegas on Wednesday to make another major wager on the golfer.
Adducci placed a $100,000 bet to win $10 million on Woods to win the next three majors at 100-1 odds and complete the 2019 Grand Slam.
“This has kind of been my thinking since last year, that he would win the Masters but that would be just the beginning to win the Grand Slam,” Adducci said. “I have the same sort of feeling as before.”
Adducci, 39, reiterated that the Masters bet was the first sports wager he had ever made and that this is the second.
“Absolutely it was my first bet ever in my life. I’d never even done fantasy leagues or brackets,” he said. “It was what I figured I could afford to lose and continue living the same life I’d been. I really thought it was a solid investment, though everyone said I was crazy.
“This is my second bet ever. I don’t plan on now getting into this.”
Woods needs to win the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open to become the first golfer to capture the modern era Grand Slam. He has held all four majors simultaneously — a feat capped by the 2001 Masters and dubbed the “Tiger Slam” — but not in the same calendar year.
The 15-time major champion is the 7-1 favorite at William Hill to win the PGA Championship, scheduled for May 16 to 19 at Bethpage Black in New York. Brooks Koepka is the 10-1 second choice, and Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy are at 11-1.
“Gonna make the PGA more interesting than usual, that’s for sure,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “And if he happens to get the next leg in, the summer will be very exciting, to say the least.”
The odds on Woods to win the Grand Slam now are 50-1 at William Hill after opening at 500-1 this year. The odds on him to finish with one major in 2019 are minus 400, to win two majors is 3-1 and to win three is 20-1.
Adducci essentially said he expects the universe to will Woods to the Grand Slam.
“When billions of people around the world want something, that energy, I think, creates the fact,” he said. “There’s power in that. The people behind him.”
Adducci flew to Las Vegas on Tuesday and flew back to Wisconsin on Wednesday after placing the bet. The union construction worker said his life hasn’t changed much since winning $1.19 million in April.
“I did some home improvement — got some new garage doors — but I have the same clothes, same car and same house,” he said. “For me, it’s just a game. It feels good to breathe and not be buried financially.
“I wear Walmart shirts and go for deals on everything I get. I’m cheap. But this is a once or twice in a lifetime opportunity. I’ve never gone against the odds if I didn’t believe I had the ability to win. I wouldn’t have bet the Masters or this.”
Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.