\nErik Matuszewski, Bloomberg <\/p>\n
\t(Bloomberg) \u2014 Tiger Woods has a 22 percent chance of being one of the top 20 finishers at golf\u2019s Masters Tournament, according to oddsmakers.<\/p>\n
\tWoods, a four-time Masters champion, said on April 3 that he\u2019ll return from a two-month absence to play in the season\u2019s first major championship. The tournament starts Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, where Woods has finished out of the top 20 in two of 17 appearances as a professional.<\/p>\n
\tThe Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook has set a +350 money line that Woods will have a top 20 finish, meaning a winning $100 bet would return a $350 profit. Those odds break down to a 22 percent chance, according to Las Vegas-based handicapping information website Pregame.com. To wager Woods will finish 21st or worse, a bettor would have to risk $420 to win $100.<\/p>\n
\tWoods hasn\u2019t placed in the top 20 of a full-field golf tournament since the Turkish Airlines Open in November of 2013.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cI\u2019m excited to get to Augusta,\u201d Woods, who won the most recent of his four Masters titles in 2005, said on his website. \u201cIt\u2019s obviously very important to me and I want to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tIn eight full-field events over the past year, Woods missed the cut for weekend play three times, withdrew three times and failed to finish better than 25th place. He hasn\u2019t played on the U.S. PGA Tour since he withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Feb. 5 with back pain.<\/p>\n
\tChipping Trouble<\/p>\n
\tWoods struggled with his chipping and with swing changes in his most recent events, shooting an 11-over-par 82 in his last full round at the Phoenix Open on Jan. 30. He\u2019s dropped to 104th in the Official World Golf Ranking during his layoff, his lowest spot since turning pro in 1996, yet said he\u2019s worked a lot on his game and is \u201clooking forward to competing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHe\u2019s got to go out and probably exorcise some of those demons,\u201d said ESPN golf analyst Paul Azinger, who won 12 times on the PGA Tour, including the 1993 PGA Championship. \u201cThe first little pitch shot he\u2019s got to hit will be micro-analyzed, and he knows that. There\u2019s a big microscope on that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\tWith 50-1 odds of winning at the SuperBook, Woods is tied for 16th in the 98-man field. Rory McIlroy as the 6-1 favorite.<\/p>\n
\tWoods is even-money to make the cut for weekend play, meaning a winning $100 wager would return a $100 profit. To bet Woods will miss the cut at the SuperBook, a bettor would have to lay $120 to win $100, suggesting a higher probability that he won\u2019t be around for the final two rounds.<\/p>\n
\tMissed Cut<\/p>\n
\tThe only time Woods has missed the cut at the Masters was as an amateur in 1996. He won his first title the following year. His worst finish as a pro was a tie for 40th place in 2012, while his only other finish outside the top 20 at Augusta National was a tie for 22nd in 2004.<\/p>\n
\tThe over\/under betting line for Woods\u2019s first-round score has been set at 73 1\/2, meaning oddsmakers think there\u2019s a higher probability that he shoots worse than the par of 72 at Augusta National on Thursday. Woods has started with a round of even-par or better in his past six Masters appearances.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHe\u2019s had such a good short game and such a great game throughout his career, I think it\u2019s going to be an easy fix,\u201d Phil Mickelson, a three-time Masters winner, said at the Houston about Woods. \u201cI think his game will be sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Erik Matuszewski, Bloomberg (Bloomberg) \u2014 Tiger Woods has a 22 percent chance of being one of the top 20 finishers at golf\u2019s Masters Tournament, according to oddsmakers. Woods, a four-time Masters champion, said on April 3 that he\u2019ll return from…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8812"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8812\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumarchives.tmsites.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}