Can you believe it? Tiger Woods is the favourite for a PGA Tour Golf Tournament in 2018. After a stellar runner up performance at the Valspar Championship last weekend, Tiger is currently a $7.50 favourite to win the Arnold Palmer Invitational for an astonishing ninth time. We preview the tournament and give our betting tips below.
There’s no denying that Tiger has a remarkable record at the Bay Hill Golf Course. In 15 tournaments there, he has nine wins and has finished outside the top 25 on just two occasions. He seems to have also recaptured some of that spark that made him so exciting to watch in the past, as tensions were high late in the day last Sunday and all eyes were on Tiger.
We are not going to say it would be a bad bet to go with Tiger here, his record at the AP Invintational makes him a worthy favourite. However, the $7.50 price tag coming on the back of just one decent result is a little too risky for us. We aren’t complaining though, as the surge in betting for Tiger has raised the price of some of the other contenders we really like.
Rickie Fowler hasn’t been in great form of late after a disappointing outing at the Honda Classic back in late February. He missed the cut in that tournament where he was strong favourite to win and was only marginally better a few weeks later in the WGC Mexico Championship, tying for 37th place. The slight form slump means he has slipped out to fifth favourite for this tournament, and that’s exactly where we like him. He should play more stress free at the AI Invitational and has decent pedigree here, finishing 12th last year and tying for third back in 2013.
Australians have won the Arnold Palmer Invitational the last two years in a row with Jason Day edging out Kevin Chappell by one stroke in 2016 followed by Marc Leishman lifting the trophy last year. Leishman comes into the tournament in some shaky form also, having missed the cut at the Genesis Open in February before tying for 37th with Fowler at the WGC Mexico Championship.
We think the Australian contingent of Leishman, Day and Adam Scott all have a massive sniff this weekend, but it’s Leishman we like the most at great odds of $41. We’ll be taking him for an each way bet here.
Marc Leichman each way (top 5)
$41/7
In saying all of this though, if you just want to have a fun weekend and watch some exciting golf, back Tiger! The GOAT is back and there’s nothing more exciting than watching him do his thing in red on Sunday!
