Tiger Woods’ supporters believe that their man is finally back in the groove and have been piling on cash in their droves for the former world number one to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill this week for an unprecedented ninth time.
Woods’ finished just one shot off eventual winner Paul Casey in last week’s Valspar Championship, missing a long putt on the final hole to force a play-off. That was his best performance in a US PGA Tournament for five years and the money is down for the 42-year-old to renew his love affair with Bay Hill. A former resident of Orlando, he’ll be the focus of attention for the gallery and will be determined to put on a show.
After a string of injuries and self-inflicted setbacks, having the real Tiger back to compete against the likes of Jordan Spieth, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy would be a dream for the US PGA and victory in Florida this week would set us up nicely for the US Masters in a few weeks’ time.
It won’t, however, be a cakewalk at Bay Hill as there is a quality line-up looking to take on the 14-times Major winner. Jason Day is a general 12/1 and there is a strong overseas challenge headed by Britons Justin Rose (a general 14/1), McIlroy (20/1 with Unibet) and European number one Tommy Fleetwood (22/1 with Betfred).
Woods is only a general 6/1 and that is far too short, despite his record in the tournament. After spine fusion surgery, Tiger believes his game is still not quite right and will continue making more tweaks this week in an attempt to pull everything together at the Masters, for which he’s a best 12/1 with Betfred.
Casey, incidentally, was winning in the USA for the first time in nine years when successful at the Valspar Championship at Innisbrook. Now 40, the Englishman has announced that he’ll compete at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth in May for the first time in five years – he won there in 2009 and has a good overall record on the Surrey course. Casey is a general 25/1 to win next month’s US Masters.
Arnold Palmer Invitational Selected Best Odds
Tiger Woods 6/1, Jason Day 12/1, Justin Rose 14/1, Rory McIlroy 18/1, Rickie Fowler 20/1, Tommy Fleetwood 22/1, Hideki Matsuyama and Tyrrell Hatton 28/1, Henrik Stenson and Alex Noren 30/1, Patrick Reed and Bubba Watson 35/1, Marc Leishman, Adam Scott and Brian Harman 40/1, Kiradech Aphibarnrat, Luke List and Louis Oosthuizen 55/1, Brandt Snedeker and Jason Kokrak 60/1, Kevin Chappell, Zach Johnson, Francesco Molinari, Emiliano Grillo, Jamie Lovemark and Kevin Na 66/1
