2023 Masters odds: Bettors backing Tiger Woods; How Sharps are wagering

Updated Jul. 20, 2023 2:43 p.m. ET

With barely time to catch our breath from March Madness, odds to win the Masters are now front and center. The annual run through the azaleas tees it up Thursday-Sunday at Augusta National.

And even though Tiger Woods is nowhere among the favorites this week, he’s still getting plenty of attention in multiple Masters odds markets.

Let’s take a spin through Masters betting, with insights from PointsBet USA and FOX Bet, as well as a few plays from a sharp golf bettor.

Tailing Tiger

PointsBet USA has Woods at +8000 (bet $10 to win $810 total) to win his sixth green jacket. That means 29 golfers are ahead of Woods in odds to win the Masters.

In other words, oddsmakers have little fear of a Woods victory. But thanks to Masters prop bets, there are plenty of ways to get involved with Woods having success in other ways.

PointsBet has six Woods-related markets:

To make the cut (-200, bet $10 to win $15 total)
To make a hole-in-one (+4500, bet $10 to win $460 total)
To have an eagle in Round 1 (+425, bet $10 to win $52.50 total)
To lead after Round 2 (+5000, bet $10 to win $510 total)
To have a bogey-free round during the tournament (+400, bet $10 to win $50 total)
To beat Sergio Garcia head-to-head (-121, bet $10 to win $18.26 total)

"Of the Tiger Specials, Woods to hit a hole-in-one at +5000 has by far been the most popular," PointsBet media analytics manager Wyatt Yearout said. "When looking at all the Tiger Specials as a whole, the hole-in-one prop is taking 35% of all Tiger special bets, as well as over 50% of the money."

In terms of ticket count, Woods making the cut is the most popular selection among PointsBet’s Tiger props.

And Woods’ head-to-head with Garcia has seen interesting play through Wednesday morning. As noted above, Woods is a modest -121 favorite, with Garcia at -115 (bet $10 to win $18.70 total).

"Currently, Woods has taken 100% of bets in the market," Yearout said.

Backing Woods to Win

And, of course, even with the longer odds on Tiger — and perhaps because of those longer odds, representing a bigger payout — customers are still backing Woods to win the Masters. At FOX Bet, Trading Operations Senior Manager Dylan Brossman said Woods has been as long as +10000 and as short as +5000 (50/1). He’s now right between those numbers, at +7500 enhanced win.

"Surprise, surprise, Tiger Woods is our biggest liability to win The Masters," Brossman said, before noting other Woods markets. "We are fairly short on Tiger to make the cut at -250, so we have not drawn significant interest thus far. We are, however, offering a generous boost for both Tiger and Rory McIlroy to make the cut at +100 (bet boost)."

McIlroy is the co-favorite in FOX Bet’s odds to win the Masters, joining Scottie Scheffler at +750.

Winners and Losers

Brossman noted several players at or near the top of the odds board — odds of +3000 or shorter — who FOX Bet is paying close attention to, both on the positive and negative sides of the sportsbook’s ledger.

"Our biggest liability in this range is currently Max Homa (+3000). We laid Homa as high as +8000 last July and as short as +2500 last week," Brossman said. "The Big 3 (McIlroy, Scheffler, Jon Rahm) have gobbled up a big chunk of the handle, but their relatively short prices have protected us from any major liability on any of them."

Rahm is just behind McIlroy and Scheffler as the +1000 third choice to win the Masters.

"Unlike most tournaments, McIlroy would currently be a very favorable result for us," Brossman said. "His short price, coupled with the stacked field, seems to have scared people off of backing Rory to claim his first Masters victory. Similarly, Rahm would have us positive in the outright. Scheffler, however, would be a small loss."

LIV and Let Live

LIV Tour golfers are eligible to play at the Masters, and 18 members of the new tour will tee it up at Augusta this week. Among those players are certainly a few who could don the green jacket come Sunday evening, including Brooks Koepka (+4000) and 2020 winner Dustin Johnson (+2800). Of course, Phil Mickelson — a three-time Masters winner — is a popular play, though he’s a +20000 long shot at FOX Bet (bet $10 to win $2,010 total).

"Brooks Koepka is our biggest liability at this point out of the LIV field, followed closely by DJ and Phil," Brossman said.

FOX Bet also has a prop on whether any LIV golfer wins the Masters, with No a -909 favorite (bet $10 to win $11.10 total) and Yes a +600 bet boost underdog (bet $10 to win $70 total).

"We are seeing a lot more interest on Yes, banking on one of the 18 to bring it home," Brossman said.

The Sharp Side

One sharp golf bettor in Vegas is dialed in on three players in Masters futures odds, and two of the three are LIV Tour golfers.

"I jumped on Brooks Koepka early," he said of betting Koepka at a hefty +9900. "He’s reunited with [coach] Claude Harmon III. Koepka won all four of his majors with Harmon. Koepka took a break, and [now] he is a force again."

In addition, the bettor got Jordan Spieth early at +2800 and is on Johnson at +3500.

"Spieth is built for Augusta and is rounding into form. And DJ has way too much value at 30/1 or longer," he said.

The bettor certainly got the best numbers on all three golfers. Spieth is the now the fourth choice at most sportsbooks, in the +1800 range, while Johnson is around +2800 and Koepka +4000.

Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on Twitter: @PatrickE_Vegas.

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