- Tiger Woods currently has the 11th-best odds to win the 2023 Masters at +6600.
- Woods last won the Masters in 2019, doing so for the first time since 2005 and at opening odds of 14/1.
- World No.1 Scottie Scheffler and No. 2 Rory McIlroy are the +800 co-favorites at the online sportsbook BetOnline.
Golf takes center stage again this week with The Masters starting this Thursday, April 6th, in Augusta.
As always, the center of any Masters conversation is 15-time major winner Tiger Woods who is the most dominant active golfer in Augusta. The 47-year-old Woods has donned the iconic Green Jacket five times in his career and is one win away from tying Jack Nicklaus’ record for most Green Jackets with six.
According to the online sportsbook BetOnline, Woods is tied with Tommy Fleetwood with the 11th best odds to win the 2023 Masters golf tournament at +6600.
Tiger is in Augusta
The thing with Tiger Woods is that he has not officially declared that he will be playing in the 2023 Masters. But as Woods said previously, he plans on playing in all four majors this year, after appearing in 3 of 4 in 2022.
“Here’s the deal: Like I told you guys last year, I’m not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more. That’s it, that’s all my body will allow me to do. My back the way it is, all the surgeries I had on my back, my leg the way it is, I just can’t. That’s just going to be my future.”
“So my intent last year was to play in all four majors; I got three of the four. Hopefully this year I can get all four and maybe sprinkle in a few here and there. But that’s it for the rest of my career. I know that and I understand that. That’s just my reality.”
If there were any lingering questions about Tiger teeing off in Augusta this week, he may have answered those, though unofficially, by arriving at Augusta National Golf Club last Sunday afternoon and playing a practice round for around 30 minutes.
On a quiet Sunday afternoon, Tiger Woods returned to the place he's won five Green Jackets. #themasters
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 3, 2023
Woods has Competed in One Tournament in the Last 7 Months
Woods is scheduled to appear during Tuesday’s news conference and it might only be then that he will confirm his 25th Masters appearance. Despite that, the Tiger watch has begun even though he isn’t among the top betting favorites to win the 87th Masters golf tournament, which isn’t a surprise.
Tiger’s appearance in February’s Genesis Invitational, at the Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles, was his only PGA tournament appearance in the last 7 months. Woods finished 45th in that competition.
Last season, he played in only 3 events. Tiger’s first tournament since his near-fatal February 2021 accident was at Augusta. He placed 47th after carding consecutive 6-over-78 scores during the weekend, his worst scores ever at the Masters.
Tiger also withdrew after 58 holes from the PGA Championship after feeling pain in his surgically-repaired right leg and back. He also missed the cut at the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews in July.
Woods has not won a tournament since 2019 when he won the Masters. It was his first major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open and his first Masters win since 2005.
Woods also entered that tournament at 14/1 odds, the longest opening odds at which he has won his 15 majors. Having seen Tiger defy ridiculous odds before, it’s hard for bettors to say he can’t win this weekend, in a tournament he’s won five times before and at a lucrative price of +6500.
Scottie Scheffler Returns to Defend Masters Title as Superstar
Scottie Scheffler became the world’s No. 1 ranked golfer in March 2022. The following month, he became the fifth golfer ever to enter Augusta as world No. 1 and win the Green Jacket, joining Ian Woosnam, Fred Couples, Tiger Woods (two times), and Dustin Johnson.
Scheffler surged ahead in last year’s 86th Masters with rounds of 69-67-71 and finished off the weekend with a one-under 71 to win the tournament by three strokes. This year, Scheffler returns to defend his Masters title as a PGA superstar. He’s hardly slowed down since winning his first Green Jacket.
From 'puppy-dog eyes' to feeling 'overwhelmed,' Scottie Scheffler returns to defend at Masters a bona fide superstar https://t.co/8OQaMF9eCr
— Golfweek (@golfweek) April 2, 2023
The 26-year-old was named the 2022 PGA Tour Player of the Year and went on to defend his Phoenix Open title last February. A month later, he marched to a five-stroke win at the Players Championship.
After going neck-and-neck with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm for the top spot at the OWGR, Scheffler has reasserted himself as the best golfer in the world today.
Last year, Scheffler traveled to Georgia with 16/1 odds to win his first Green Jacket. This year, he heads to the Masters as the +800 co-favorite to join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, and Tiger as the only golfers to win back-to-back Green Jackets in Augusta.
Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm Among Top Betting Favorites
Not surprisingly, Rory McIlroy is the co-favorite to win the 87th Masters. McIlroy isn’t just the No. 2 ranked player in the OWGR, but he also finished second behind Scheffler here last year, which is his highest-ever finish in Augusta. The Masters is the only major tournament missing in McIlroy’s trophy case.
He also heads to Augusta playing very well. In six events played this year, he has three Top 3 finishes including a win at the Hero Dubai Classic.
In his last start, McIlroy finished third in the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play by defeating Scheffler in a heavyweight clash. With momentum on his side, McIlroy is the co-favorite to win at +800 odds.
Next at +1000 is World No. 5 Jon Rahm who has few weaknesses in his game. You can argue that Rahm has played better than Scheffler with five worldwide wins since November. He also has four Top 10 finishes in six starts at Augusta. He cooled off a bit after the PGA Tour went from the West Coast to the East Coast but he’s one to watch.
2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth is next at +1800. With four Top 3 finishes in Augusta, he knows the course very well.
Reigning Open championship winner Cameron Smith is listed at +2200 and he has finished in the Top 10 in his last three Masters appearances, including a T-3 last year.
Justin Thomas at +2200 may be the dark horse here as although he’s fallen outside the Top10 for the first time since 2017, the former World No.1 finished 8th here last year and has been in the Top 25 in his last six Augusta appearances.
