Tiger to Return in Masters
The rumor, it appears, is true. Tiger Woods, the best golfer in the world and arguably the greatest player to ever pick up a golf club, will be returning to competitive action on April 5th in this year’s Masters Tournament. Woods said, “I feel like I’m ready” earlier today when announcing his return.
That grin, of course, that you see on the faces of the PGA Tour’s powers that be could be replaced with dollar signs as Woods’ return to golf, at Augusta National no less, the site of one of golf’s Four Major Championships, could be one of the most anticipated and highly profitable sporting events in history.
The ringing you hear are the phones at both ESPN and CBS; the two networks which will air the four rounds of the 2010 Masters. You should be making the phones ring at BetUS, too, getting your bets in on our 2010 Tiger Woods betting specials to keep your excitement high as his return gets nearer.
Hey, it makes sense. Who wouldn’t want a piece of the television action that figures to flow into ESPN and CBS now that El Tigre will be making his return? For golfing fans, it goes somewhat beyond television ratings and advertisement dollars.
Every golfing fan in the universe really only has one question. Does Tiger have a shot at winning the Masters? Oh, he’ll go off the favorite in the sportsbooks. I’m thinking the best odds anyone is going to get on El Tigre will be about +350 or so, but does he have any shot of winning?
Sure, Tiger has a shot of winning, but he won’t. He won’t win and here are the reasons why:
- Pressure to look good - - Not in terms of deciding on the bright red shirt or the red-mahogany shirt. Not that looking good. Looking good in terms of not being an ass to his fellow golfers and the gallery, which won’t cut him a break, while he’s out there on the course. Woods has to show humility at Augusta. Every golfer should anyhow because it’s Augusta, but for Woods humility will be the name of the game. It’s difficult to concentrate on your swing when you’re worried about looking like a jerk and women are showing you their breasts (sportsbooks should offer odds on that happening!).
- This is the Masters, dude - - Tiger winning the masters off of such a huge layoff would be like a horse winning the Kentucky Derby after running in an allowance race the previous December. Actually, winning the Masters might be harder because the competition no doubt is tougher. At least all the horse has to do is run as fast as it can to the wire. Tiger is going to have to try and beat Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Rory McIlroy, Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, Sergio Garcia, etc.
- Tiger’s recent Master history - - Tiger hasn’t won the Masters since 2005. That’s a long time for him. Not only that, but he finished tied for 6th last year with a 4 under. Hey, that’s awesome, but it’s not a victory. If Tiger is going to return to dominance in a major tournament, it’s going to happen in the British Open at St. Andrews or the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. It’s not going to happen at Augusta.
- The knee - - Excuse me if I’m wrong, but did anybody ever solidify whether or not El Tigre’s knee is back to where it was before? I mean, he went through major knee surgery in 2008 and spent most of 2009 recovering from it. He let the PGA Championship get away from him in the final round to Y.E. Yang, something he had never done before. Could it have something to do with the knee? Who knows, right?
It’s good for golf that Tiger Woods is returning, but I don’t believe he will win the Masters. As good as Tiger was before he took his sabbatical, he wasn’t winning at Augusta. I don’t believe he’s going to this time around either.
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