The 42 year old has committed to play at the PGA Tour’s Farmers Insurance Open the last week of January.
Woods put out a tweet on his Twitter account that he was not only playing at the Farmers but also three weeks later at the Genesis Open at famed Riviera Country Club. The former LA Open is where as a 16 year old he got a sponsor’s exemption to play the golf course an hour from his boyhood home in Cypress, California. It is also an event that benefits his foundation.
Fans and gamblers are rooting for the golfer in his return from his fourth back injury and while sports books haven’t provided odds for the four-day event at Torrey Pines or Riviera Country Club, they have listed several proposition bets on how they think he will do this season. He is at 25-1 to win the PGA Tour money list, 9-2 to capture his 15th major championship and 10-11 to make the cut in all four majors.
When Woods played in the limited field Hero World Challenge in December he finished tied for ninth out of 18 golfers in the event that benefits his foundation. Despite being in the middle of the pack it excited odds makers enough to put a lower than expected line at the first major of the year.
Before the Hero World Challenge he was a 50-1 pick to win the Masters but after two below-par rounds the odds dropped to 15-1, along with PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler. Only Jordan Spieth (15-2), Dustin Johnson (10-1) and Rory McIlroy (12-1) are ahead of him.
It is a far cry from last year when the lowest he got to win his fifth green jacket was 25-1. When he missed the cut at Torrey Pines it went up to 50-1 and when he withdrew from his next event in Dubai it shot up to 100-1.
He ended up not playing at the Masters and having back surgery shortly thereafter.
Woods is confident he will have a better effort at the Farmers than last year’s two rounds of 76-72. It is a course he is familiar with and had success at. He has won this event seven times and captured his last major here, the 2008 US Open.
At last year’s tournament he was installed as a 30-1 pick to win and given Las Vegas’ optimism about his play the odds should be lower when they are released.
Source: casino.org
