There are plenty of ways to waste money, but one of the most unsatisfying methods would be betting on Tiger Woods to win U.S. Open 2015.
U.S. Open 2015 odds: Don’t waste your money on Tiger Woods
The U.S. Open occasionally produces a totally unexpected winner. But that still doesn’t mean you should consider Tiger Woods winning at Chambers Bay.
Eileen Blass-USA TODAY
Tiger starts the week at Chambers Bay with 33/1 odds to win his fourth U.S. Open. That’s higher than normal for the 14-time major winner, but it’s still incongruous with everything we know about this current iteration of Tiger. When he was at his best, Woods drew absurdly low odds, sometimes 3/1, to win majors. And even when he wasn’t at his best, he was still the favorite because the oddsmakers knew the public money would go running to the one star who overwhelmed the game.
Tiger was 28/1 to win the Masters at the start of the week in Augusta. Given that he was coming off a two-month self-imposed hiatus to see if he could chip a golf ball anymore, those odds seemed outrageous. A 28/1 line to make the cut seemed more appropriate than a bet to win. But he, incomprehensibly, showed up at the Masters with no sign of what we’d all been calling chipping “yips.” He even spent much of the weekend inside the top 10 (he was a long ways from the Jordan Spieth lead, but he was still there!).
Now he rolls to the U.S. Open without that mysterious absence from the game proceeding this major. But what we’ve seen in full public view at his last couple tournaments is not much better than the unknowable state of his game before the Masters. The dead-last finish at Memorial and the career-worst Round of 85 had a little bit of everything -- the continued wildness off the tee, inconsistent irons, shaky putting and a few signs of those chipping troubles popping up here and there. Tiger “rebounded” with a final round 74, saying he was “finally able to hit shots ‘we’ were looking for on Sunday.” It was still a 2-over round.
Some argue that this Chambers Bay venue may actually suit Tiger and all his weaknesses better than the normal U.S. Open track. The fairways are allegedly more open, so his biggest problem, bombing them right and left off the property, may be mitigated a little by that. But it’s still a major championship, and the toughest one at that. Tiger’s form and this swing alteration he’s going through with Chris Como are nowhere near ready to compete, let alone contend, at places like Memorial. Some books have Tiger as 50/1, but even at that value, it’s not a wise choice.
While Tiger languishes, his Nike friend Rory McIlroy stays No. 1 in the world and the favorite to win every tournament he enters -- even when he’s coming off two straight missed cuts. Rory had his most dominating PGA Tour performance at the Wells Fargo, and it appeared we were set up for another summer of repeated major contention and titles. But then he tanked out early in two straight Euro Tour starts to take some steam out of that momentum. He’s still the top talent in the game, though, and while he shared co-favorite status with Spieth for a bit at The Players, he’s back at 6/1 this week.
Spieth is right behind Rory as a clear No. 2 at 7/1, and then there’s everybody else further down the board. Here are some of the early-week odds to win (via Bovada):
| Player | Odds to Win |
| Rory McIlroy | 6/1 |
| Jordan Spieth | 7/1 |
| Dustin Johnson | 16/1 |
| Justin Rose | 18/1 |
| Phil Mickelson | 18/1 |
| Rickie Fowler | 18/1 |
| Adam Scott | 20/1 |
| Jason Day | 22/1 |
| Henrik Stenson | 25/1 |
| Bubba Watson | 28/1 |
| Sergio Garcia | 28/1 |
| Hideki Matsuyama | 33/1 |
| Jim Furyk | 33/1 |
| Jimmy Walker | 33/1 |
| Martin Kaymer | 33/1 |
| Matt Kuchar | 33/1 |
| Patrick Reed | 33/1 |
| Tiger Woods | 33/1 |
| Brandt Snedeker | 50/1 |
| Brooks Koepka | 50/1 |
| Billy Horschel | 55/1 |
| Keegan Bradley | 55/1 |
| Paul Casey | 55/1 |
| Graeme McDowell | 66/1 |
| Hunter Mahan | 66/1 |
| JB Holmes | 66/1 |
| Lee Westwood | 66/1 |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 66/1 |
| Ryan Moore | 66/1 |
| Webb Simpson | 66/1 |
| Zach Johnson | 66/1 |
| Bill Haas | 80/1 |
| Byeong-Hun An | 80/1 |
| Charl Schwartzel | 80/1 |
| Charley Hoffman | 80/1 |
| Chris Kirk | 80/1 |
| Harris English | 80/1 |
| Ian Poulter | 80/1 |
| Jason Dufner | 80/1 |
| Luke Donald | 80/1 |
| Steve Stricker | 90/1 |
| Francesco Molinari | 100/1 |
| Gary Woodland | 100/1 |
| Graham DeLaet | 100/1 |
| Jamie Donaldson | 100/1 |
| Kevin Na | 100/1 |
| Marc Leishman | 100/1 |
| Victor Dubuisson | 100/1 |
| Angel Cabrera | 125/1 |
| Brendon Todd | 125/1 |
| Ernie Els | 125/1 |
| Nick Watney | 125/1 |
| Russell Henley | 125/1 |
| Ryan Palmer | 125/1 |
| Shane Lowry | 125/1 |
| Alexander Noren | 150/1 |
| Brendon de Jonge | 150/1 |
| Danny Willett | 150/1 |
| John Senden | 150/1 |
| Jonas Blixt | 150/1 |
| Kevin Stadler | 150/1 |
| Miguel Angel Jimenez | 150/1 |
| Thomas Bjorn | 150/1 |
| Thorbjørn Olesen | 150/1 |
| Bernd Wiesberger | 175/1 |
| K.J. Choi | 175/1 |
| Kevin Chappell | 175/1 |
| Matt Jones | 175/1 |
| Seung-Yul Noh | 175/1 |
| Stewart Cink | 175/1 |
| Bo Van Pelt | 200/1 |
| Boo Weekley | 200/1 |
| David Toms | 200/1 |
| Erik Compton | 200/1 |
| Geoff Ogilvy | 200/1 |
| Joost Luiten | 200/1 |
| Kevin Streelman | 200/1 |
| Matt Every | 200/1 |
| Nicolas Colsaerts | 200/1 |
| Padraig Harrington | 200/1 |
| Retief Goosen | 200/1 |
| Stephen Gallacher | 200/1 |
| Thongchai Jaidee | 200/1 |
| Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano | 250/1 |
| Matteo Manassero | 250/1 |
| Darren Clarke | 500/1 |
| Y.E. Yang | 500/1 |
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