Golf lovers are not the only ones thrilled by the return of Tiger Woods into the competition. Bettors have it just as good.
Woods, who last played in April after withdrawing from The Masters, will play in the 20-man star-studded field in the Hero World Challenge next week in Bahamas.
And even though Woods is a +4000 underdog (meaning a $100 bet wins $4,000), the 15-time major winner and widely considered the best to every play the sport is accounted for 14.1 percent of all tickets in BetMGM sports book.
The tournament, held for the benefit of the Woods’ TGR Foundation, will be held 30 November to 3 December in Albany.
Woods has won the event five times before but the last time was 12 years ago.
This also marks the first time he will play in three years.
Cameron Young has the most money placed on his back with 37 percent of the handle. That despite the 26-year-old not having won a single PGA Tour event, let alone a major. He is +2500.
Woods has 12.5 percent of the bets placed on him.
Two-time defending champion Viktor Hovland is at +400. The current FedExCup champion has 6.3 percent of the tickets and 6.1 percent of the handle.
Crowd-favorite Rickie Fowler is at +2000 he holds 12.5 percent of tickets and 6.4 percent of the handle while veteran Lucas Glover (+5000) is the third most popular selection at 7.8 percent of tickets.
On his sixth stint in the meet, Justin Thomas ranks second on the handle list at 15.4 percent of the money heading his way. This is despite never finishing better than fifth in the tournament. He has 6.3 percent of all tickets.
Max Homa (+750) joins Hovland and Thomas with 6.3 percent of tickets with second favorite Scottie Scheffler (+450) next at 4.7 percent.
Major champions Justin Rose (+2500), Wyndham Clark (+1800) and Brian Harman (=2800) are the least backed players in the field with just 1.6 percent of tickets each.
