Long shot Tiger Woods ticket, money leader at books to win Masters

The Masters tees off Thursday, 19 months after Tiger Woods won his fifth green jacket at Augusta National Golf Club.

Woods, a 40-1 long shot to repeat as Masters champion, is the ticket leader at William Hill and BetMGM sportsbooks. The 15-time major winner also is among the top three money leaders at the Westgate, BetMGM and William Hill, where he’s tied for the lead with Bryson DeChambeau.

“People love Tiger,” William Hill sportsbook director Nick Bogdanovich said. “Even though his form is poor right now, they just think once he gets to Magnolia Lane, it’s like pixie dust hits him and he’s a different golfer. But we’ll see if that happens.”

Woods’ odds have shot up since they reopened at 16-1 at the Westgate in May after the Masters was postponed from its traditional April start date.

“He hasn’t had that much game reps going between the majors. I just keep easing him out,” Westgate vice president of risk Jeff Sherman said. “You look at these guys playing in form and the course is going to play softer and longer. It’s tough to think he’s going to keep up with the guys at the top of the odds board.”

DeChambeau, the 2020 U.S. Open champion, is the ticket and money leader and 10-1 co-favorite at the Westgate to win the Masters.

Jon Rahm, Rory McIlroy and Dustin Johnson also are 10-1, followed by Justin Thomas (12-1), Xander Schauffele (16-1) and Brooks Koepka (16-1).

“Regardless of what the odds to win show, Jon Rahm is the true No. 1 power-rated guy,” Sherman said. “He’s favored in matchups against anybody.”

There have been several notable line moves as Jason Kokrak has dropped from 200-1 to 80-1, Matthew Wolff from 100-1 to 40-1, Tyrrell Hatton from 80-1 to 30-1 and Las Vegas resident Collin Morikawa from 80-1 to 40-1.

The largest liability at the Westgate is on three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, a 150-1 shot.

The three largest liabilities at BetMGM are Kevin Kisner, Woods and Johnson.

The bets with the largest potential payouts at BetMGM are $5,000 to win $630,000 on Kisner (125-1); $5,000 to win $200,000 on Woods (40-1); $10,000 to win $140,000 on Schauffele (14-1); $10,000 to win $120,000 on McIlroy (12-1); $10,000 to win $120,000 on Johnson (12-1); and $15,000 to win $120,000 on DeChambeau.

James Adducci of La Crosse, Wisconsin, won $1.19 million on an $85,000 wager on Woods to win the 2019 Masters at 14-1 odds at William Hill.

Bogdanovich said the book hasn’t taken any notable bets yet on the 2020 Masters, which will compete for betting dollars with college football and the NFL for the first time. But he still expects a Masters betting handle of more than $1 million.

“Last year was bigger because we took that huge bet on Tiger Woods. But it’ll be a monster, for sure. I think we’ll get to seven figures,” he said. “They’ll have the stage to themselves on Thursday and Friday. The weekend will be tough against college football and the NFL but the Masters is special. I think they’ll hold their own.”

Contact reporter Todd Dewey at tdewey@reviewjournal.com. Follow @tdewey33 on Twitter.