Bookmakers have taken Tiger Woods‘ victory in the Arnold Palmer Invitational as a positive sign that the great man is back and his odds for next month’s US Masters have shortened dramatically. Tiger‘s win at Bay Hill was his first on the US PGA Tour since September 2009 and the five-times Masters winner is now no bigger than 4/1 to be fitted out for the green jacket at Augusta.
Woods is now back in the world’s top six after dropping out of the top 50 at one point last autumn and hopefully his physical and mental problems are now behind him, though it is now four years since Tiger last won a Major. Someone else with a point to prove at this year’s masters is Rory McIlroy, who looked home and hosed after 54 holes 12 months ago only to implode over the final 18 holes. The Irishman did, of course, go on to gain some compensation when landing the US Open but he’ll be keen to prove he does have what it takes to conquer Augusta and can be backed at 5/1 in most places. McIlroy briefly headed the world rankings earlier this year but Luke Donald has since wrested back the number one spot by winning the Transitions Championship in Florida earlier this month, following hot on the heels of McIlroy and Justin Rose who have also won ranking events on the PGA Tour recently. Donald has finished in the top four twice in the last seven years in the Masters but has also missed the cut in two of the last four stagings of the tournament and is still chasing a first Major win after 37 attempts. The Englishman is a best 14/1 in Augusta this year, while Rose can be backed at 33/1 with most layers. The latter is a growing power on the US PGA Tour and generally performs well at the Masters but his fourth place as an amateur in his first Open at Royal Birkdale in 1998 remains his best result in a Major.
We’ll be looking at the Masters in more detail next week but early impressions are that the consistent Hunter Mahan is overpriced at 66/1 on Betfair as he’s finished in the top 10 in two of the last three years at Augusta. With so many of the top players going into the event in top form, 188bet will lay you 5/2 that the 2012 US Masters is decided by a play-off.
