Sportsbook fans have seen the good, the bad and the ugly when it comes to Tiger Woods’ performance in the sports book lines this year. At times he has seemed like he greatest golfer in the world by a mile. At other times he’s seemed quite pedestrian as he’s struggled to find a fairway off the tee and made a dazzling array of errors in the sportsbook competition.
Sportsbook odds makers have been troubled watching him go from unbeatable one week to hopeless in the next sports book competition he enters. Coming back from major reconstructive surgery on your knee is never easy, but for a player like Tiger with super human expectations anything less than total sportsbook domination is considered failure.
Woods’ return season has hardly been a failure by any sportsbook measure. He’s won more tournaments than anyone else in the sports book lines (nearly half of the tournaments he’s entered). But by the key measure by which Woods himself gauges his success –Major victories in the sportsbook lines- Woods has come up short in 2009. With three Majors already down and no sports book victories he’s only got one shot left at salvaging what he would call a ‘successful’ season.
For most golfers in the PGA sportsbook competition a single PGA would be considered a good year. But for Woods a season with a win in a Major sportsbook competition is a failure. And unless he hoists the trophy at Hazeltine that’s exactly how the 2009 season will end. Woods will be the favorite heading into the PGA Championship in every sportsbook line you can find. There is no doubt he’s capable of winning either, but his play off the tees will determine his success.
We’ve seen him superb with his driver this sportsbook season, and we’ve seen him struggle. Generally when he’s hitting fairways he’s struggled on the greens. But when he plays both facets of the game well, as we’ve also seen this year, he’s unbeatable. Chances are he string together at least one good performance at a Major this year and it will be at Hazeltine during the PGA Championship.
For Woods to go 1-4 in the Majors doesn’t seem that lofty of a goal. In fact, the odds would seem to suggest that the most likely outcome for Woods would be to the PGA event. Also consider how poorly he played in the British Open. He missed the cut for the first time in his career at that event and there is no doubt he’ll come back with a renewed focus.
If you’re going to wager the sportsbook odds on the PGA Championship it would be hard to wager against Woods, given the circumstances.