Tiger Woods Favorite at Pebble Beach Pro-Am!

Frank Doyle wonders if Tiger Woods can do this weekend what he used to be able to do whenever he wanted – win on the PGA Tour.

Tiger Woods is the clear sports betting favorite for this week’s Pebble Beach Pro-Am, an event so old it was founded by Bing Crosby. Tiger hasn’t lead the ante-post betting field in years. He’s not playing well and he’s now 18th in the world, reduced to mortality after the glory years when you could bet on Tiger at +200 and think you’d snared the bargain of the week.

Tiger’s decline is proof of just how hard it is to be consistently good at golf. It’s the consistency that’s key here – Tiger can still smash them off the tee and work miracles around the green, but he can’t string those shots together like he used to.

Tiger made some noise at Abu Dhabi earlier this year but he couldn’t push on and win the thing like he used to, having to eventually settle for joint third with Graeme McDowell and Thomas Bjorn.

Remember the final day of the Masters last year? Tiger shot 31 on the front nine to tie for the lead after being seven shots back in the morning, but he blew up on 12, missed an eagle on 15 and that’s all she wrote. Old Tiger would have gone on to crush the opposition like bugs – current Tiger had to fight for his paycheck, just like everybody else.

One of the reasons Tiger is a big favorite at Pebble Beach this weekend – a tournament he hasn’t played in ten years – because the top players in the world in Dubai, competing for the Dubai Desert Classic. Rory McIlroy, No 2 in the world and Tiger’s heir apparent, is the golf betting favorite in quite a strong field. It’s harsh to say it, but in the context of modern golf, Tiger is playing Triple-A ball this weekend.

If Tiger doesn’t win at Pebble Beach, it doesn’t mean his career is over. Of course not. But he won’t have a tournament that will be as easy for him to win, a tournament where competition at his level of talent is so sparse. He won’t find a better chance to get back to winning ways. Whether or not he can take the chance is another matter.

Golf World Rankings, February 6th, 2012