Best odds and bets ahead of Tiger Woods' PGA Tour debut at Genesis Invitational

Tiger Woods, a 15-time major champion, is set to make his 2024 PGA Tour debut at the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles on Feb. 15. Woods played in only two official tournaments all of last year, including The Masters, which he withdrew from after making the Saturday cut. Still, despite not playing in very many PGA-sanctioned tournaments nowadays, Woods always seems to find time for the Genesis Invitational.

Woods has never won the event though. Dating back to 1992, Woods has played in the Genesis Invitational 15 times. His best finish came in 1998 when he lost a playoff to Billy Mayfair, a loss that still bugs Woods to this day. Ironically, that was also the only time Tiger played the event when it wasn't held at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles. That year, Riviera was hosting the U.S. Senior Open, so Valencia Country Club hosted the event instead.

Clearly, Woods hasn't had much luck at Riviera in his career - something to keep in mind as we take a look at some of the odds for the Genesis Invitational, being held at the Riviera Country Club from Feb. 15-18.

Tiger Woods odds, 2024 Genesis Open:

Odds via FanDuel.

• Odds to win Genesis Invitational: T-52,+17000

• Finish Top-5: T-52, +2500

• Finish Top-10: T-55, +1000

Obviously, none of these are great bets. Just last year, Woods finished tied for 45th-place at the Genesis Invitational. However, after recovering from surgery in 2023, Woods did put up a decent finish at the PNC Championship in December last year. He finished the event tied for fifth. Of course, he was part of a team for that event.

Tiger Woods could be more determined, though, given his cryptic tweet from almost a week ago at this point.

But at 48 years old, it's hard to have much confidence he'll do any serious damage on the leaderboard.

Where has Tiger Woods been?

After withdrawing from the 2023 Masters after three rounds, Woods did not play in an official PGA Tour event until December. During that time, he was recovering from a surgery to help an ankle injury he sustained during the Masters.

Although Woods' appearance at the Genesis Invitational is a good sign, it's not unexpected. Woods said last year that the best case scenario for 2024 was likely one tournament a month.

What are some of the best bets for the rest of the Genesis Open field?

While betting on golf is never an easy task, there are some trends you can try to take advantage of. Although seven-time tour champ Xander Schauffele secured three consecutive top-ten finishes to open up 2024, he has struggled mightily with his putter through the first month and a half, culminating in a 54th-place finish at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

CBS Sports reports that Schauffele ranks 137th in putts per round, 140th in one-putt percentage, and 141st in strokes gained from putting. He has also been historically bad at Riviera in his career, failing to crack the top-10 at the Genesis Invitational in each of his last five appearances.

Outside of Schauffele, Adam Scott could be a terrific pick heading into the weekend. He has finished top-20 in each of his three starts this year, and he has won at Riviera twice in his career, only failing to make the cut in one of 15 tournaments there as well. Since 2019, Scott has finished within the top-10 at Riviera three times, including a win in 2020.

One really long shot is Matt Kuchar. At +20000 odds, Kuchar seems like a near-impossible winner, but Kuchar, 45, has had some great tournaments at Riviera recently. Just last year, Kuchar finished 8th at the event. He also finished tied for second in 2020. Kuchar has only ever missed the cut for the Genesis Invitational twice, so throwing a small bet on him winning and maybe a bigger bet on him finishing top-20 (+360) could be money well spent.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Best bets for Genesis Open ahead of Tiger Woods' 2024 PGA Tour debut