Tiger Woods favored to make cut, big liability to win Masters

Tiger Woods has played in only one PGA Tour event this year and three since last year’s Masters.

But that hasn’t stopped bettors from backing him to win his sixth green jacket in the year’s first major this week at Augusta National.

Woods, 47, is among the ticket and money leaders at the Westgate SuperBook, where he is the largest liability at six figures. He’s the third-largest liability at BetMGM.

In December, a SuperBook bettor placed a $2,000 wager to win $200,000 on Woods to win the Masters at 100-1. Westgate golf oddsmaker Jeff Sherman moved him on Monday from 60-1 to 80-1.

“His high point was 100-1. When he made the cut at Riviera (in February’s Genesis Invitational), he got as low as 40-1,” Sherman said. “Now he’s played once in the last few months. Even when he made the cut at Riviera, his shots are there, but his walking issues are also still there.

“We’re talking about a very hilly course (at Augusta). For him to sustain that level for four days is still a very tall order.”

Will Woods make cut?

Woods has never missed the cut at the Masters as a professional, making 22 straight since his debut in 1997. Last year, he opened with rounds of 71 and 74 before carding a 6-over 78 in each of his final two rounds for his worst Masters score.

The SuperBook offers a popular prop on whether Woods will make the cut. “Yes” is a -185 favorite after opening at -150 and dipping to -140 on Monday morning after the book took some “No” money.

“We took some ‘Yes’ money after that,” Sherman said. “We’ve already seen a lot of action on the cut prop.”

Big three

There’s a large gap on the board between the top three favorites to win the Masters and the rest of the field.

Rory McIlroy is the 7-1 favorite at the SuperBook to win his first green jacket and complete the career Grand Slam. Scottie Scheffler is the +750 second pick to repeat as Masters champion, and Jon Rahm is the 10-1 third choice.

“For the last few months, those three have been head and shoulders above everyone else, especially from a consistency standpoint,” Sherman said. “Rahm has actually tailed off the last few events, which is why he’s crept back to double digits.”

The odds then shoot up to 20-1 for Justin Thomas, Cameron Smith, Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay and Tony Finau.

Jason Day and Las Vegas residents Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa are each 25-1.

Scheffler is the ticket and money leader at the SuperBook and BetMGM. McIlroy is second in tickets and money at BetMGM and third in both categories at the Westgate. Spieth is third in tickets and money at BetMGM.

LIV golfers

Will a LIV golfer win the Masters? “No” is -600 at the Westgate, and “Yes” is +450.

Sherman adjusted the odds from -700/+500 after Brooks Koepka won the LIV event in Orlando, Florida, and saw his odds to win the Masters slashed from 80-1 to 40-1.

Other LIV golfers include Smith, Dustin Johnson at 30-1, Patrick Reed and Joaquin Niemann at 80-1, Bryson DeChambeau at 150-1 and Phil Mickelson at 300-1.

“A lot of these LIV golfers have higher odds than you would’ve seen on them when they weren’t playing LIV, just because of the lack of interest on a lot of these guys,” Sherman said. “They play a much shorter schedule and three rounds versus four. They have contracts, so who knows how seriously they take golf because they get paid large sums of money regardless of their performance.

“On LIV events, we’re writing about one fifth of what we write on the PGA Tour on a weekly basis.”

Johnson is the +450 favorite to be the LIV golfer with the best Masters finish, followed by Smith at +550 and Koepka at 8-1.

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