Tiger Woods Open Championship – Odds and Predictions

The 148th edition of the Open Championship is being held in Ireland at the Royal Portrush golf course. The club is the only course to hold the Open outside of Scotland and England.

The four-day tournament is being held July 18th through July 22nd at the redesigned course.

Royal Portrush has undergone several changes since architects began to lengthen and redesign the 131-year old course in November of 2015.

According to ESPN, the course has five new greens, eight new tee boxes, 10 new bunkers and two completely rebuilt from scratch holes – No. 7 and 8.

The course has also dropped its’ 17th and 18th holes for a more exciting finish.

The most important holes on the course begin with the par-4, 374-yard 5th hole. Known as White Rocks, the 5th hole requires a long tee shot over gnarly rough while navigating terrible side to side wind.

Another hole worth paying attention to, is the 236-yard, par-3 16th hole. Named Calamity Corner, the hole requires an uphill tee shot over a gulch that is covered in thick rough.

One other hole that will grab its share of publicity this week is the par-4 8th hole. After golfers hit a tee shot over dunes, they’ll have to land the ball on a green with a severe false front.

Woods Recap 2019: The Masters, PGA Championship and U.S. Open

Tiger Woods recaptured the attention of the sporting world and boosted his net worth with his dramatic and unexpected comeback victory at Augusta National in April.

Woods won his 15th major golf championship at Augusta, becoming the second oldest golfer to win the green jacket, next to Jack Nicklaus’ win in 1986 at the age of 46.

Perhaps what was most remarkable about the victory was that it was Tiger’s first major title coming from behind in the final round. Until that point, Woods had won all of his majors when leading after 54 holes.

After the Masters, Tiger took five weeks off before returning for the PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York.

With rainy and cold conditions, Woods struggled in the first two rounds and missed the cut. Brooks Koepka went on to win the title that weekend.

Two weeks later, Tiger played in his 8th tournament of the year, posing a 9th place finish at the Memorial, due in large part to his final round 67.

Woods’ last tournament before the Open Championship was the U.S. Open. Woods made the cut but never excelled in any of the four rounds.

Tiger finished the four-day event at two-under, good for a tie for 21st place.

Tiger Woods’ 2019 Schedule

• January 2019: Farmers Insurance Open: Finished tied for 20th.
• February 2019: Genesis Open: Tied for 15th.
• February 2019: World Golf Championships-Mexico: Tied for 10th.
• March 2019: The Players Championship: Tied for 30th.
• March 2019: WGC Dell Match Play Championship: Tied for 5th.
• April 2019: Masters Tournament: 1st Place.
• May 2019: PGA Championship: Missed Cut.
• June 2019: The Memorial Tournament: Tied for 9th.
• June 2019: U.S. Open: Tied for 21st.

Can Tiger Woods Win the Open Championship?

Tiger will have some stiff competition to win the Open title and the odds reflect how bettors feel about Woods’ chances.

When Woods steps onto the first tee box at Royal Portrush, he’ll break a streak of 32 days since playing in his last competitive round.

What is going against Tiger? How about the fact that he’s never played a tournament round in Northern Ireland for starters.

Simply put, this is the first time that Tiger will have played Royal Portrush in a competitive setting.

When asked about his plan for attacking the unfamiliar course, Woods believed that early practice rounds would be crucial.

“I’ve only played (Royal) County Down, I’ve never been up to Portrush and I’m looking forward to getting up there and taking a look at the golf course and trying to figure it out,” Woods said.”

“I’ll get there early and do a little bit of homework – see if the golf course is going to be dry, fast or not. Hopefully I’ll get practice rounds with different winds to try and get a feel for the golf course.”

Source: pgatour.com

The good news for Tiger is that he won’t be alone. Four-time major winner Brooks Kopeka believes that success this weekend won’t be tied to how many times you’ve played Royal Portrush.

“I’ve never been to Ireland,” Brooks Koepka told Action Network’s Jason Sobel. “It doesn’t matter.”

Source: pgatour.com

Koepka plans to “spend all (his) time Monday trying to figure out sightlines. Tuesday, I’m just worried about where the pin location is going to be, where I want to hit from.”

“Wednesday is just kind of a fun thing, see where we’re at. Kind of a mini-test. I only play nine holes every day.”

Source: pgatour.com

So Woods’ inexperience should not be a deal breaker in assessing his odds for winning the Open.

As it stands currently, Woods has the fifth best odds to win the Open at +1800, behind Rory McIlroy (+900), Kopeka (+1000), Jon Rahm (+1400) and Dustin Johnson at (+1600).

Odds for Tiger Woods to Win the Open Championship

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Other Tiger Woods Bets

Thursday Best Score in Group

Tiger is the favorite to win his threesome, sharing the group with Matt Wallace and Patrick Reed. Woods has +125 odds to beat the other two golfers with the best score of the three on Thursday.

Wallace stands at +200 to win the group, while Reed has the worst odds of the group at +225.

Something to note before making this bet is that Woods has not had one first round in the 60s this year in eight opportunities.

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Group A Winner

Another popular bet is the “group” option where a sportsbook takes several golfers and places odds on which of the five golfers will have the best four-day score.

For Tiger, he’s been grouped with the top five best golfers from an odds standpoint.

Tiger has the worst odds of the group at +550, with McIlroy sitting atop the group at +225. Next is Koepka at +260, Rahm at +400, and Johnson at +450.

Tiger Making the Top 40

Woods has also been given very attractive odds for finishing inside the top 40 for the tournament at -200.

For context, in every tournament that Woods has made the cut this year, his worst finish is a tie for 30th place. Some bettors will have the missed cut at the PGA Championship in the back of their minds.

Another reason for the favorable odds for bettors here is the 32-day layoff that Woods has taken.

Matchup vs Justin Rose

The final proposition bet is a head-to-head matchup against Justin Rose. Woods is the slight favorite at -106 versus Rose’s +100. A draw between the two is set at +1800.

Rose has done well in recent tournaments, posting a 3rd place finish at the U.S. Open.

In tournaments where both golfers have competed this year Rose has four wins over Tiger and three losses.

DraftKings 2019 Open Championship Odds Boost

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