Tiger Slam? Entertaining - and fool's gold - prop bets
A Tiger Slam?
That term was a throwback to the early 2000s until Tiger Woods brought it out of the internet archives with his dramatic win at the Masters. Now just three weeks until the 2019 PGA Championship, various sportsbooks have pegged the odds of Tiger reeling off an historic run through the four majors anywhere from 50- to 100-1.
With a green jacket already under his belt, a look at Woods' odds for adding additional majors in 2019.
Exactly 1 Major (2/7 by Sportsbook.ag)
Three majors remain: next month's PGA Championship at Bethpage Black in New York, the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June and the Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland in July.
As long as he stays healthy, Woods will be among the betting favorites for each of them. And he has geared his truncated 2019 schedule around building his game up for the majors - a strategy that played out beautifully at Augusta National.
Those are still daunting odds when considering the amount of talent Woods faces when he tees it up on a weekly basis and the fact that he still has only one major victory in the past 11 years - even if it was the most recent one.
Exactly 2 Majors (5/2)
It's hard to bet against a motivated and refueled Woods adding a 16th major to his trophy case.
Bethpage is an extremely challenging course that Woods knows better than most any other player in the field. If he can drive the ball well, Woods' stellar iron play will put him in contention.
Pebble Beach was the site of arguably Woods' most dominating majors victory - a 15-shot win in 2000. At 12-under par, he was the only player to finish in red figures that week, and it remains the largest margin of victory in major championship history. Then again, that was 19 years ago, when some of his prime competition now was still learning how to walk.
The stiffest task might come the following month at Royal Portrush, which will be the host of the first Open Championship in Northern Ireland since 1951. Rory McIlroy still has the most impressive resume on the planet in 2019 and has geared his schedule around piquing for one of the most challenging links courses in the world.
Exactly 3 Majors (12/1)
Bet $10 to win $120 that Woods can reel off two of the next three majors? A tall task, to put it mildly. It's an entertaining bet, especially if he picks off the PGA Championship, but it remains a stiff longshot at best.
Tiger Slam (50-1)
The hype will reach a fever pitch if Woods is able to win at Bethpage, but even then it will remain an extremely improbable bet that is more entertainment than prudent wager at 50-1 - which will shrink further should he add the second major of the season.
Reality remains that Woods is 43 and playing with a fused back. We have already seen how that can lead to other injuries - he was forced to withdraw from the Arnold Palmer Invitational due to a neck strain. His Masters triumph was his first at a major in ELEVEN years and just his second win of any kind in five years.
While fellow players marveled at his accomplishment at Augusta National, gone are the days that Woods' mere presence on the first page of the leaderboard made his competition wilt. There is far too much talent in today's major championship fields and too many health and age obstacles for Woods to conquer to reasonably think that Tiger will be chasing the most improbable of historic feats in Northern Ireland come mid-simmer.
--Field Level Media
