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Betting on Tiger Woods to win another major has cooled off in Vegas

January 10, 2019
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David Cannon

Following Tiger Woods' return to the winner's circle on the PGA Tour, Westgate Las Vegas Superbook offered a series of future bets on Tiger's major championship prospects — with an emphasis on the word "future." Westgate offered odds of Woods winding up with more than 14, 15, 16, 17, and 18 majors for his career, using his 50th birthday (Dec. 30, 2025) as the cutoff date. But while it's been less than four months since Tiger's Tour Championship triumph and that milestone age remains nearly seven years away, it seems that betting on Woods to win anymore majors has cooled.

Earlier this week, Westgate adjusted these Tiger prop bets, and at the first two levels (over 14.5 majors and over 15.5 majors), Woods' odds of winning have gotten worse. The 14-time major champ is now -120 (Risk $120 to win $100) to win at least one more major, down from -150 after his victory at East Lake in September. That means he's still favored to win another major, but he's just a slight favorite now.

To win more than 15 majors, Woods is now a bigger underdog at +225 (Risk $100 to win $225) than previously (+200). While you'd currently have to risk $275 to win $100 if you bet against him winning two or more majors.

For the other three bets, not much has changed. Woods is still +500 and -700 at over/under 16.5 and +2500 and -15000 at 18.5, meaning a bettor would be risking $15,000 to win $100 on Tiger not breaking Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 majors. In other words, Vegas thinks it's a pretty safe bet that's not going to happen for the 43-year-old with a four-time-operated-on back who hasn't won a major since the 2008 U.S. Open. That being said, Woods remains a co-favorite with Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose to win the 2019 Masters.

The odds of Tiger winning more than 17.5 majors—so, either tying or breaking the record—went down slightly from +1200 to +1100, while betting against him at that number stayed stable at -2500. The Action Network's Darren Rovell noticed these bets and shared a different type of problem facing whoever makes them:

Call me crazy, but if you risked 15 Gs on something, you're not losing that betting slip.

So why a change in the odds? Were gamblers really affected by Woods' performance at the Hero World Challenge or in THE MATCH against Phil Mickelson? Seems a bit hasty, no? In any event, if you're bullish on Tiger's chances to win at least one more major, you're getting better value for your bet now.