I can’t say I disagree with bettors’ having Tiger Woods as the favorite to win the WGC Bridgestone. He’s won there seven times (10% of his total Tour wins) and holds the tournament record. Given the history, he’s likely to win again, and the numbers reflect that.
Given a third of the chance of Tiger to win are Luke Donald (14/1) and Adam Scott (16/1). Scott is the defending champ, and Luke gets the props for being World Number One. But I don’t think either is a good bet. Luke has a win at the Transitions, but the rest of his year has been unremarkable, World Number 1 position aside (and perhaps once again showing the flaws in that system). And as for Scott, I wonder how anyone recovers from a collapse like that at the Open Championship
Lee Westwood, who has recently decided to play in the US virtually full time is 18/1, along with the last “Next Tiger”, Rory McIlroy. What has happened to Rory?
If Tiger’s not going to win, I like someone from the lower half of the top ten: Hunter Mahan at 25/1; Bubba Watson, Jason Dufner and Zach Johnson at 28/1; or Bo Van Pelt at 33/1.
The rest of the odds to win the WGC Bridgestone are below, along with the effective percentage chance to win.
| Player | Odds | % Chance |
|---|---|---|
| Tiger Woods | 5/1 | 16.67% |
| Luke Donald | 14/1 | 6.67% |
| Adam Scott | 16/1 | 5.88% |
| Lee Westwood | 18/1 | 5.26% |
| Rory McIlroy | 18/1 | 5.26% |
| Hunter Mahan | 25/1 | 3.85% |
| Bubba Watson | 28/1 | 3.45% |
| Jason Dufner | 28/1 | 3.45% |
| Zach Johnson | 28/1 | 3.45% |
| Bo Van Pelt | 33/1 | 2.94% |
| Dustin Johnson | 33/1 | 2.94% |
| Graeme McDowell | 33/1 | 2.94% |
| Justin Rose | 33/1 | 2.94% |
| Matt Kuchar | 33/1 | 2.94% |
| Phil Mickelson | 33/1 | 2.94% |
| Rickie Fowler | 33/1 | 2.94% |
| Steve Stricker | 40/1 | 2.44% |
| Ernie Els | 50/1 | 1.96% |
| Francesco Molinari | 50/1 | 1.96% |
| Jason Day | 50/1 | 1.96% |
| Jim Furyk | 50/1 | 1.96% |
| Louis Oosthuizen | 50/1 | 1.96% |
| Nicolas Colsaerts | 50/1 | 1.96% |
| Bill Haas | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Brandt Snedeker | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Charl Schwartzel | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Ian Poulter | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Keegan Bradley | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Martin Kaymer | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Martin Laird | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Nick Watney | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| Sergio Garcia | 66/1 | 1.49% |
| David Toms | 80/1 | 1.23% |
| Geoff Ogilvy | 80/1 | 1.23% |
| John Senden | 80/1 | 1.23% |
| Peter Hanson | 80/1 | 1.23% |
| Retief Goosen | 80/1 | 1.23% |
| Scott Piercy | 80/1 | 1.23% |
| Carl Pettersson | 100/1 | 0.99% |
| Fredrik Jacobson | 100/1 | 0.99% |
| Jonathan Byrd | 100/1 | 0.99% |
| K.J. Choi | 100/1 | 0.99% |
| Aaron Baddeley | 125/1 | 0.79% |
| Ben Crane | 125/1 | 0.79% |
| Kyle Stanley | 125/1 | 0.79% |
| Paul Lawrie | 125/1 | 0.79% |
| Thomas Bjorn | 125/1 | 0.79% |
| Alvaro Quiros | 150/1 | 0.66% |
| Kevin Na | 150/1 | 0.66% |
| Marcel Siem | 150/1 | 0.66% |
| Ryo Ishikawa | 150/1 | 0.66% |
| Simon Dyson | 150/1 | 0.66% |
| Bernd Wiesberger | 175/1 | 0.57% |
| Rafael Cabrera -Bello | 175/1 | 0.57% |
| Branden Grace | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Gonzalo Fernandez | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Greg Chalmers | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Jamie Donaldson | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Jeev M Singh | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Johnson Wagner | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Joost Luiten | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Kyung-Tae Kim | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Marc Leishman | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Mark Wilson | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Robert Allenby | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Sang-Moon Bae | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Thongchai Jaidee | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Y-E Yang | 200/1 | 0.50% |
| Danny Willett | 250/1 | 0.40% |
| Robert Rock | 250/1 | 0.40% |
| Ted Potter | 250/1 | 0.40% |
| Michael Hoey | 300/1 | 0.33% |
| Yoshinori Fujimoto | 300/1 | 0.33% |
| Lee Slattery | 350/1 | 0.28% |
| Tom Lewis | 400/1 | 0.25% |
| Toshinori Muto | 400/1 | 0.25% |
| Oliver Bekker | 500/1 | 0.20% |
| Toru Taniguchi | 500/1 | 0.20% |
Agreed. Hard to bet against Tiger at this tourney.
“What has happened to Rory?”. I’d say he’s a bit love struck at the moment. I agree with Graeme McDowell that Rory’s jetsetting with Caroline Wozniacki is wearing him down. I do not see this as a bad thing necessarily. He’s young and in love. He should have his fun.