Masters 2015: Tiger Woods ready to win in Augusta [Golf Ping]

BBC Sports News ^ | April 7, 2015 | BBC News

[Rummyfan]

Several hundred million dollars may have swayed her.....

[CivilWarBrewing]

Bubba is the defending champion. I watched Tiger practice today and his demeanor is the ‘old Tiger’ demeanor. Concentration is near 100% and doesn’t appear lost, preoccupied or distracted as in recent tournaments. Tiger is definitely IN this game. I’m not into golfing that much but this should be exciting and I look forward to the Masters every year.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

[867V309]

....after all he did win the 2008 US Open including 19 playoff holes with 2 stress fractures in his left leg

That was only seven years ago! And since his whore-fall he's had to quit PED's.

[edpc]

Back issues are tough. I deal with them myself. Fred Couples still puts 2, sometimes 3 solid rounds at Augusta. If Woods is still contending after the 63rd hole, I’ll be surprised.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Las Vegas loves Jordan Spieth.

The oddsmakers at golfodds.com  have Rory McIlroy as the 6-1 favorite to win this week’s Masters, Speith, the Dallas Jesuit grad and Texas Longhorn, is second at 8-1. Defending champion Bubba Watson is third at 10-1 as he attempts to win his third green jacket in four years.

That means a $100 bet would earn you $800 should Spieth win (less fees).

Spieth is second in the FedEx Cup Standings and fourth in the World Golf Ranking. He's also on a hot streak with a win and two second-place finishes in his past three tournaments.

Tiger Woods is 40-1. 

[Zuben Elgenubi]

FULL ODDS

Rory McIlroy 6/1

Jordan Spieth 8/1

Bubba Watson 10/1

Jason Day 12/1

Dustin Johnson 12/1

Adam Scott 20/1

Phil Mickelson 20/1

Henrik Stenson 20/1

Jimmy Walker 20/1

Patrick Reed 25/1

Rickie Fowler 30/1

Matt Kuchar 30/1

Tiger Woods 40/1

Justin Rose 40/1

Sergio Garcia 40/1

Lee Westwood 40/1

Brandt Snedeker 40/1

J.B. Holmes 40/1

Keegan Bradley 50/1

Louis Oosthuizen 50/1

Field (all others) 50/1

Martin Kaymer 60/1

Zach Johnson 60/1

Jim Furyk 60/1

Hideki Matsuyama 60/1

Ryan Moore 60/1

Paul Casey 60/1

Charl Schwartzel 80/1

Hunter Mahan 80/1

Ian Poulter 80/1

Angel Cabrera 80/1

Bill Haas 80/1

Brooks Koepka 80/1

Ryan Palmer 80/1

Billy Horschel 80/1

Luke Donald 100/1

Victor Dubuisson 100/1

Kevin Na 100/1

Jason Dufner 125/1

Gary Woodland 125/1

Jamie Donaldson 125/1

Russell Henley 125/1

Vijay Singh 125/1

Graeme McDowell 150/1

Jonas Blixt 150/1

Webb Simpson 150/1

Miguel Angel Jimenez 150/1

Chris Kirk 150/1

Fred Couples 150/1

Ernie Els 150/1

Shane Lowry 150/1

Padraig Harrington 150/1

Kevin Streelman 150/1

Marc Leishman 200/1

Steve Stricker 200/1

Branden Grace 200/1

Brendon Todd 250/1

John Senden 250/1

Charley Hoffman 250/1

Bernd Wiesberger 250/1

Matt Every 250/1

Joost Luiten 250/1

Thomas Bjorn 300/1

Geoff Ogilvy 300/1

Bernhard Langer 300/1

Stephen Gallacher 300/1

Seung-Yul Noh 300/1

Kevin Stadler 500/1

Mikko Ilonen 500/1

Trevor Immelman 500/1

Brian Harman 500/1

Thongchai Jaidee 500/1

Ben Crane 500/1

Erik Compton 500/1

Mike Weir 1000/1

Darren Clarke 1000/1

Jose Maria Olazabal 1000/1

Bradley Neil 2000/1

Tom Watson 2000/1

[frithguild]

Paul Casey should have been fined, too, for not holding Tiger’s feet to the fire, imo.

The Rules of Golf do not permit such a fine. If a player attests a scorecard with a score on any hole that is lower than the actual score, the penalty is disqualification. A player attests only his or her own score.

[edpc]

I miss hearing announcers saying, "This is Mike Weir on the tee...."

It makes me giggle like a 10-year-old and say "he said my queer......"

[Batman11]

Please add me to the Ping list. Thank you!

[newfreep]

Sleeper pick....Patrick Reed

[jwalsh07]

If he wins it would be a spectacular feat.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Golf's main event now is Rory McIlroy vs. Jordan Spieth, with Tiger on the undercard

By John Strege

The main event in golf no longer includes Tiger Woods, who has been consigned to the undercard, even with the attention he’ll command at Augusta National this week.

The stage now belongs to Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth, the latter producing further evidence at the Shell Houston Open that he belongs there.

Spieth did not win; he tied for second, losing to J.B. Holmes in a playoff that also included Johnson Wagner. But it continued a roll — our word, not his — that began with his victory in the Australian Open at the end of November and is now entering its fourth month with no indication that it will stop any time soon.

McIlroy was among those Spieth defeated in Australia by shooting a final-round 63. He then won the Hero World Challenge by 10 shots in December and in his last three PGA Tour starts has finished first, second and tied for second.

“That round of golf [in Australia] has done more for me than I could have imagined at the time,” Spieth said. “Since then, it’s been called a run. People ask me, ‘is this a run that you’re on?’ I don’t really like that. I don’t really like calling it that because that would mean that normal would be anything less than where I’m at and I expect myself to be playing like this.”

McIlroy, meanwhile, is ranked No. 1 in the world and is only a Masters victory short of completing the career grand slam. He is a betting favorite this week (6 to 1), but in a matchup with Spieth (8 to 1), backing McIlroy would seem a dubious proposition.

It was unsettling to read last week that McIlroy, only 25, already has lost some of the zest he has for the game. “I would be dishonest if I said my love of golf now is as big as it was," he said. “I don't love golf as much as when it was just pure joy to get on to the course to play. When I was a kid, if I spent a day away from the game, I couldn't wait to get back. Now I can’t wait for a week off.”

Conversely, Spieth has the aura of one who can’t wait to hit his next shot, certain that it will be better than the last one. That, incidentally, is the direction he has been trending in advance of the Masters.

“I feel as prepared as I think I could be [for the Masters],” he said. “I feel more and more comfortable with more and more pressure, and that gives me a lot of confidence going into Augusta where you probably have the most pressure anywhere.”

McIlroy’s quest and a surging Spieth is the inducement necessary to pique interest. Throw in the curiosity factor with Woods and, well, as the ring announcer famously says, let’s get ready to rumble.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Good choice and he too wears red and black every Sunday, like his boyhood hero, TW.

[Servant of the Cross]

Curve is the Key in Augusta [2nd shot: wedge 163 yards: Curvature 45 yards]

[cornfedcowboy]

I heard that Daly turned around his errant ways over the past year or so. I sure hope so. He was a lot of fun to watch on tour.

[cornfedcowboy]

I have really become a Jordan Speith fan.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Same here.

[Avid Coug]

“I have really become a Jordan Speith fan.”

Me too.

I think that Tiger’s joints are too far gone to make it competitively anymore. His ligaments and tendons simply give out under the stress of a pro level golf game. And I doubt there is much he can do about it.

[Rummyfan]

Jordan Speith’s last three weeks: a win in a playoff, a runner- up, and a loss in a playoff. He’s the real deal.