Tiger Woods is a ridiculous 5-1 favorite to win a major in 2018

With Tiger Woods set to make his 2018 PGA Tour debut in two weeks at the Farmers Insurance Open, now may be a good time to get in on oddsmakers’ growing enthusiasm over the winner of 14 major championships adding another one before the year is out.

Despite not starting a Grand Slam event since he missed the cut at the 2015 PGA Championship (with MCs at that year’s British and U.S. Opens after a T17 at the Masters), one bookmaker has Woods at 5-1 to break his majors drought on the 10th anniversary (if not before) of his last major victory: the 2008 U.S. Open. The wild optimism springs from the Big Cat’s T9 finish at last month’s Hero World Challenge.

Woods, now 42, has four green jackets, three claret jugs, four Wanamaker Trophies, and three U.S. Open silver decanters. Before playing in the Hero, his last competitive round was that miserable opening-round 77 in Dubai in February that preceded his withdrawal with back spasms prior to round two.

Also ahead of the World Challenge, some sportsbooks had Woods as a 66-1 long shot to win at Augusta. He then went out and fired a 69 in the first round, after which the odds of his earning that fifth Masters title jumped to a ridiculous 33-1.

Woods’ chances of coming out on top at the Masters improved to 15-1 after he torched the Bahamas Albany course with a 31 on his outgoing nine in Friday’s second round. Oddsmaker.ag still has Tiger at 15-1, while Golfodds.com has him at 20-1, with Bovada at 18-1.

As for the odds of Woods winning any major this year, let’s put them into perspective with this Bovada listing of players with better chances than Tiger of prevailing at the men’s first major of the season:

It would seem the old Tiger mystique has returned, and if gamblers are really willing to wager it’s more probable for an aging and injury-plagued Woods to nab a major W than 2013 U.S. Open champ Justin Rose (6-1) or reigning Masters champ Sergio Garcia (13-2).

In any case, we’re betting the odds will continue to churn as Woods kicks off his season at Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times — including that ’08 national championship and PGA Tour win No. 74 in 2013. His most recent history there, though (WD in 2015, T80 in 2014) indicates the 649th ranked player in the world has his work cut out for him in his return to San Diego.

The winner of 79 tour events is then scheduled to compete three weeks later at the Genesis Open and will likely add two events to his pre-Augusta schedule. So there’s plenty of time to open your wallets and place your bets on whether Tiger will have Jack Nicklaus looking over his shoulder in the next eight months.