Tiger Woods made his major return in 2022 after more than 500 days away from competitive golf. The 15-time major winner ended an 11-year drought with his victory at the 2019 Masters and now sits just three majors behind the all-time leader, Jack Nicklaus.

Expectations were low for Woods’ 2023 season debut at the Genesis Invitational, where he was favored to miss the cut. Naturally, he made the weekend and blew everyone away in his first non-major start in more than two years.

Woods didn’t play the Valspar Championship in mid-March, his last chance to tee it up during the Florida swing with the Masters now rapidly approaching. We almost certainly won’t see him again before the Masters, where his odds have moved from +3600 to +4600 – likely due to the fact that it will now be his first start in months.

Prior to the Valspar, Woods decided to skip the Players Championship March 9-12 at TPC Sawgrass and the Arnold Palmer Invitational March 2-5 at Bay Hill.

He’s not eligible for the WGC Match Play in Austin this week, leaving only the Valero Texas Open the week prior to the Masters. Woods almost never played the week before a major in his prime and it would be truly stunning if he enters the Valero field next week.

Bay Hill and TPC Sawgrass were never among his favorite courses, despite the massive success he achieved at both venues in his prime. And his lone Valspar Championship start five years ago was a unique situation in which Woods was coming off spinal fusion surgery and needed as many reps as possible.

That’s not the case anymore.

And while it is somewhat surprising that we didn’t see at least one more post-Genesis appearance before the majors, Woods has been shouting from the rooftops that he won’t play nearly as much as he has in past years. Just the majors and maybe a few additional events. And if there is a course where Woods can compete on knowledge and experience alone, it’s Augusta National.

Oddsmakers didn’t waste any time changing Woods’ odds following his highly-impressive T-45 finish at the Genesis Invitational. While he had been +5500 to win the Masters, his odds improved and currently sit at +4600.

Sportsbooks didn’t stop at Augusta National. While his odds to win the PGA Championship at Oak Hill remained +6600 at BetMGM, other books now have it as short as +5500. Same goes for the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, with MGM holding at +6600 and others moving to +5500.

Woods’ British Open odds also swung significantly after the week at Riviera. He had been +6500 to win the Claret Jug, but he’s now +5000 to get it done at Royal Liverpool.

Woods hung tough at the Genesis to make the cut and carded a 4-under 67 in Round 3, shooting 1-under-par 283 for the week. The golf was spectacular at times and the scores highly promising. More importantly, he looked far more comfortable simply walking the course. The limp he sported for all of last season was noticeably subdued. While Woods put together solid stretches last year, the physical limitations made it nearly impossible to contend as he struggled just to get up and down the slopes of Augusta National and Southern Hills.

This was something entirely different. This style of golf looked sustainable, especially with Woods set to play a limited schedule. If he can maintain this level of movement – a big if – it changes the entire outlook.

Whenever Woods tees it up at a major, millions of eyeballs and thousands of golf betting tickets are sure to follow.

Woods’ comeback is always a top storyline, never more so than when he takes the tee at a major championship. And he’s always a liability for sportsbooks and betting apps these days, as oddsmakers must weigh his chances in comparison with massive public interest.

Tiger Woods Odds to Win Golf’s Four Major Championships

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Tiger Woods 2023 Masters Odds

Date: April 6-9, 2023

Course: Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, Georgia

Tiger Woods odds to win: +4600 at DraftKings ➜

Woods’ first major test in 2023 comes at the course most associated with his championship resume – Augusta National. Woods has five Masters victories in his career and this is the major he won most recently, back in 2019. And it’s not surprising to see oddsmakers give him a better chance at Augusta than any other major venue this season. 

For starters, Woods proved last year he can still get it around this place no matter how physically limited. His week began with a 1-under 71 and finished with back-to-back 78s over the weekend, landing him in solo 47th. It was tough to watch at times given the tremendous physical strain he endured, but he battled hard and made the cut – the 22nd consecutive time he’s made the Masters cut dating back to his first win in 1997. 

The physical test with Augusta’s massive elevation changes remains the same, but Woods is theoretically much healthier than last year and better prepared to tackle the endurance side. He also knows this course better than anyone having played 94 competitive rounds, and experience pays off here more than any venue. If Woods does eventually add to his total of 15 career major wins, Augusta remains the most likely spot for it. 

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Tiger Woods 2023 PGA Championship Odds

Date: May 18-21, 2023

Course: Oak Hill Country Club, Rochester, New York

Tiger Woods odds to win: +6600 at BetMGM ➜

Woods’ PGA Championship odds on betting sites are considerably longer than the Masters. It’s been a tough go at this event in recent years, other than a solo second finish in an epic 2018 shootout with Brooks Koepka at Bellerive. 

He missed the cut in 2014, 2015 and 2019, and he was forced to withdraw last year despite a promising second-round 69 at Southern Hills. The grind had become unbearable amid a third-round 79 as Woods played through considerable pain, and the fact that he pulled out Sunday showed how far he still had to go in the recovery process. 

Woods does have course experience here with Oak Hill previously hosting the 2003 and 2013 PGA Championships – he finished T-39 in 2003 and T-40 10 years later. Scoring conditions were extremely tough in both years and Woods didn’t have any sub-70 scores throughout eight career rounds. 

After several years of birdie-fests, we’ve seen this tournament trend back in that direction with winning scores of -6 and -5 the past two years. That sort of challenge used to be right in Woods’ wheelhouse – the tougher the conditions, the more his skills were amplified. He always liked it when par was a good score. 

Whether or not that’s still the case in his current physical state is a fair question, as Woods hopes to turn his PGA fortunes around in 2023.

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Tiger Woods 2023 US Open Odds

Date: June 15-18, 2023

Course: Los Angeles Country Club, Los Angeles, California

Tiger Woods odds to win: +6600 at BetMGM ➜

Woods’ US Open odds are identical to the PGA Championship listings at +6600 in what will be his first start at the national championship since 2020. Woods was still in the early stages of rehab in 2021 and he chose not to tee it up in 2022, focusing his efforts on prep for the 150th British Open at St. Andrews. 

This is the first time Los Angeles Country Club has hosted a major, and Woods was able to sneak in some early prep by playing the course ahead of his first start of 2023 at nearby Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Open. 

The US Open used to be arguably Woods’ best event. It certainly led to two of the most memorable wins of his career – the record-setting 15-shot victory at the 2000 US Open at Pebble Beach, and the epic 2009 playoff win over Rocco Mediate on a broken leg and torn ACL at Torrey Pines. 

It hasn’t been great to him lately. Woods has missed the cut in three of his last four US Open starts, and he hasn’t finished inside the top 20 since a T-4 in 2010. 

Few, if any, players in the field will have any significant course experience here, and Woods’ ability to dissect a golf course from a strategic standpoint should play in his favor. The fairways are also reportedly much wider than standard US Open venues, so he’ll be able to get away with a few loose tee shots. 

But it also opens the door for the new age bomb-and-gouge crowd to take advantage. We’ll have to wait and see how the setup impacts his chances, but so far oddsmakers aren’t too high on a surprise run.

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Tiger Woods 2023 British Open Odds

Date: July 20-23, 2023

Course: Royal Liverpool, Hoylake, Wirral, England 

Tiger Woods odds to win: +5000 at DraftKings ➜

While the Masters is the most likely major for Woods to win from a purely logical standpoint thanks to the smaller fields and immense course knowledge advantage, the British Open seemingly remains in reach as well. He has slightly shorter odds here than the PGA and US Open, listed at +5000 going into Royal Liverpool. 

Again, it’s been a tough go lately. Woods has missed three of the last four British Open cuts, shooting 78-75 in 2022 at St. Andrews. He did contend and take the lead on Sunday en route to a T-6 finish at Carnoustie in 2018, and from a physical perspective this would be the easiest tournament in general to get it round with a long iron and take some of the physical strain out of the equation. 

This is also one of two 2023 major venues at which Woods has already picked off a victory – he won the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool with an 18-under-par 270 for the week. It wasn’t a successful return by his standards in 2014, with Woods finishing solo 69th after failing to break par in Rounds 2-4. But it was actually one of the more successful starts throughout an injury-plagued season. 

These golf odds are still fluid and could change drastically in either direction by the time the final major of the year rolls around.

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Woods Has Come Back Before

The 15-time major winner made an improbable comeback not long ago when he returned from spinal fusion surgery in 2018 and eventually became the second-oldest player to win the Masters when he ended a long major drought in 2019 to win again at Augusta National at age 43.

Now, Woods said he likely won’t play a full Tour schedule ever again. He’s just hoping to get healthy enough to pick and choose his spots. He was already scaling way back on practice time and tournament appearances for a number of reasons prior to the crash, among them the desire to spend more time with his teenage children.

He’s also realistic about what the comeback process would look like.

“I don’t foresee this leg ever being what it used to be,” Woods said. “Hence, I’ll never have the back what it used to be. And the clock is ticking. I’m getting older, not getting younger.”

Woods said he doesn’t have any desire to ramp up for multiple events and regular Tour stops each season, especially now. He is 46 years old and is still three career major victories behind Jack Nicklaus’ all-time record of 18 wins. His past injury-related back and knee operations are in the double digits.

That’s all understood and Woods harbors no illusions of becoming the player he once was. But thinking of the player he could be again following another year-long absence – one whose swing is tailored around his physical limitations rather than abilities – is enough to trigger plenty of excitement ahead of the 2023 major schedule.

“If you practice correctly and you do it correctly, I’ve come off of surgeries and come off of long layoffs and won or come close to winning before,” Woods said. “I know the recipe for that. I just need to get to a point where I feel comfortable enough where I can do that again.”

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