Sports Betting Blog

The Tiger is back. But it seems that at least for the next couple of tournaments he is going to be a fairly tamed tiger. This was one of the top-three highest television rated U.S. Masters golf championships. The event attracted almost twice as many television viewers compared to Angel Cabrera’s victory in last year’s event, yet it was not even close to the number of viewers that tuned in for Tiger Woods championship win in 1997.

Most of the media coverage was centered upon Tiger Wood’s comeback to the PGA Tour. It had been five months since he last played on a professional tournament. And truth be said, it was quite unclear how the public and his fans would react to his appearance in the course, nor how he would perform in the field. Up to the final minutes before tee-off the Tiger was the Favorite to win the Tournament. BetIAS.com had him as the No.1 favorite to win the U.S. Masters tournament at ML+350.

Phil Mickelson was the second favorite to win it all.  Closing at ML +750, some of the bettors who decided to give Mickelson try made a great good deal of money out of this one. But truth be said, the Tiger wasn’t very successful this week either on the golf course or in the betting industry. His head to head performance was a bit disappointing. He did not win his first round Match-Ups against K.J. Choi. Although the Tiger seemed to have had good comeback in the second round when he defeated Choi, he was never a serious treat. One the third and fourth round he faced Phil Mickelson and, truth be said, the Tiger was not even close of finishing each round with a better score.

Mickelson won his third Masters by three strokes over Lee Westwood finishing with a 5-under-par 67 wile completing some truly spectaculars shots that placed him higher and higher on Sunday’s scoreboard.

But none of those shots was as dramatic as the one he fired into an opening between the trees in the 13th hole. Even caddie Jim Mckay tried to talk Mickleson out of taking such a risky shot. And Mckay had his good reasons.

Mickelson has lost some very important games in his career because of how aggressive and ambitious he has been in the past. Perhaps the best example happened back in the 2006 US Open at Winged Foot. Phil was just a couple stroked away from winning one of the most important events in the golf world. He came to the 18th hole with a one stroke advantage. He hit a poor drive off into the left rough. Then he took a decision to shot for the green from the rough while avoiding a big three in his way. The ball hit a tree and he was forced to settle for a double-bogey. That was enough for Geoff Ogilvy to come from the back and win the tournament by one stroke.

So when Mickelson hit that difficult shot at the 13th hole in the Augusta National, he probably completed the best shot of the tournament and quite possibly the best shot of his career. And then it was laid out perfectly for him. He went for pars in the 9th, 10th and 11th holes and kept up the good pace. Mickelson, the talented left-hander, is up to his 4th major even win of this career.

Tiger Woods is back. Perhaps his sex-life scandalous recent past is still following hunting him but it doesn’t seem to be affecting much of his golf. Sure, the Tiger had not played a tournament since he won in Australia, back in November. But you couldn’t see a sign of rust in his stroke from tee-off.

It was quite uncertain how the public was going to react once he made his first appearance in Augusta. It seems though as if the golf world enthusiasts from Georgia are quite forgiving because they greeted Woods without much regards of his off-court shenanigans. And he knew well how to repay their gratitude. For the first time, it seemed that Woods was listening to the crowds around him. He was more accessible to the public, if you will. What is more important here is that the Tiger had his best first round ever at the Augusta National in the U.S. Masters Golf Tournament.

He shot a 4-under 68, finishing 2 shots behind 50-year-old Fred Couples. He is tied for 7th place now. He played 31 putts and had a couple of close hits that kept him from having a cleaner performance. Woods hit 14 greens in regulation and had a great overall performance, but when it comes to wagering on golf, The Tiger still lost his match-up against KJ Choi.

Woods was a ML-190 favorite against KJ, and all though it was a very close match, Choi came ahead by one shot, and at ML+150 brought in some good winning for those who wagered on the underdog.

After the First Round, Fred Couples leads with 6-under par, followed by K.J. Choi, Tom Watson, Lee Westwood, and Phil Mickelson, all tied for 2nd. The golfers were destroying this course. There were 31 golfers finishing the first round under-par, 16 of them with scores in the 60’s. This alone seems like an omen for a luminous 2nd round.

BetIAS.com is offering some of the better payouts in the sportsbook industry when it comes to wagering on golf. They are offering a 20 cent progressive line for all their second round matchups. So keep an eye out for these key-matchups for the second round. Fred Couples is ML-140 against Sergio García. This is a matchup that Couples most win if he wants to keep leading the tournament after the second round.

The Tiger is ML -200 with a comeback of ML+165 for KJ Choi. So either on this round or the third if you missed the cut, take a look at the odds, the game statistics and take part of the action in the U.S. Masters playing at BetIAS.com.

The U.S. MASTERS first round is right around the corner. This might be the most important of the four major championships, and BetIAS.com has prepared some interesting betting lines for the first Big Event of the Golf season. Played in the Augusta National Golf Club since its beginnings back in 1934, The Masters is a tournament with a number of traditions, and also the scenario of some of the most important events in recent professional golf history.

The Masters Tournament follows a Stroke-Play format, and brings in a significantly smaller field then other major championships. The reason behind the fewer players is that this is an invitational event. The Field selection is the sole responsibility of the Augusta National Golf Club members’ board.

As part of the effort to bring the best over the phone and online wagering experience, BetIAS.com’s Props Department has prepared a good selection of betting lines and matchups for this event. They are offering head to head matchups, odds to win the tournament, with and without Tiger Woods. Other Props include the Tiger against the Field and Best South African player among other cool betting options.

This event is the official comeback of Tiger Woods into the professional circuit after his sex-scandal mishap. So much of the media, sports and celebrity-gossip, are covering this event in detail. El Tigre, is the favorite to win it all. As of press-time, he is a ML+420 Favorite, above Phil Mickelson at ML+900 and Padraig Harrington ML+1500.

Some sports reporters are saying that the Tiger’s decision to make his comeback for this specific event is a well-planned and clever decision by one of the finest golfers of all time. The Augusta National Golf Course is a familiar course for the Tiger, but even more, this is the course where he made it to the top of golfing world back in 1997.

This alone could be one of the greatest tournaments in golf’s history. The Tiger had won two PGA titles in 1996, and all though he was not an unknown rookie, no one was expecting Woods to play like he did. He shot a 70, 65, 66, and 69 on his way to 270 and an 18 under par, to break Jack Nicklaus long standing record by one stroke. At 21 he was the youngest golfer to ever win in Georgia’s legendary course. And those records still hold. He went on to win the tournament in 2001, 2002 and 2005. So if he is planning to make a jaw-dropping comeback this might very well be the perfect occasion to do so.