Ricky Dimon
Golf
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Tiger Woods’ Masters title defense was supposed to have taken place last month and he would have played in the PGA Championship this past week. That was, of course, until the coronavirus pandemic put a pause on sports and plenty of life’s other normal activities starting back in March.
But Woods and a few others are finally back on a golf course this weekend. The Match: Champions for Charity pits Woods and Peyton Manning against Mickelson and Tom Brady. It is set for Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend at Medalist Golf Club near Jupiter, Fla.
Unsurprisingly (and thankfully!) there are plenty of bets on offer for the best-ball competition between the golf and football stars.
Woods and Manning are -210 favorites to win the match, while Mickelson and Brady are +170 underdogs. After being just -300 a month ago to wear a red shirt, Woods is now -600 to don his traditional Sunday colors. Mickelson is -150 to wear a baseball cap and +110 to wear a visor. Hole No. 18 needing to be played with the match outcome still up for grabs is -120 (No. 18 not being necessary is also -120).
With Manning retired and Brady now a member of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the former has obviously had more time with which to work on his golf game in recent years. Whether Manning has or not remains to be seen.
“I’m just worried about them pumping crowd noise in there if he starts making putts like they used to at the RCA Dome,” Brady joked, referring to Manning’s days on the gridiron with the Indianapolis Colts. “… Peyton is the better golfer right now,” he added via Twitter. “He’s had much more practice these past few years.”
Woods’ past few years for the most part have featured good health and a return to the winners’ circle. The Windemere, Fla. native triumphed at The Tour Championship in Atlanta, Ga. to wrap up the 2018 season and he famously captured a 15th major title by winning the Masters last spring.
Although Woods dealt with a bad back at the beginning of 2020, he has insisted that he would have been ready for the Masters in April. We will never know if that is true or not, of course, as the event was postponed until November. Woods is presumably 100 percent at this point and will likely be in better shape for a November Masters than he would have been in April.
The 44-year-old is a +1800 fifth choice (tied with Dustin Johnson) to wear another green jacket. Rory McIlroy is a +700 favorite. Woods is also +1800 at the U.S. Open and +1600 at the PGA Championship, which has been rescheduled for Aug. 6-9.
This is also a Ryder Cup year and it is still on as planned for September. Woods, who captained the USA’s Presidents Cup squad to a victory last fall, is a big reason why the Americans are -125 favorites. The biggest reason is the home-course advantage (at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin).
Our experts will have free golf predictions for Sunday afternoon’s Charity match so check them out before placing a wager on the event.
