Tag: Tiger Woods

Who’s Taking Home The Masters Green Jacket This Year? Scheffler? McIlroy? LIV?!

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Hello Friends.

If the current 40 degree temperatures in Boston have you doubting it, hearing those two words and seeing the Azaleas in full bloom are here to let you know that spring has arrived and with it comes The Masters. If that wasn’t enough to get you ready to call out of work on Thursday, may I remind you that sports gambling is now officially legal in Massachusetts making this truly the single greatest four day span on the sports television calendar.

So who’s going to take home the Green Jacket this year? Let’s dig in.

All odds shown below are courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook as of April 5th.

Favorites to Win The Masters:

  • Scottie Scheffler +650
  • Rory McIlroy +750
  • Jon Rahm +850
  • Tony Finau: +1800
  • Jordan Spieth +1800
  • Patrick Cantlay +2000
  • Justin Thomas +2200
  • Jason Day: +2200
  • Dustin Johnson +2200
  • Xander Schauffele +2500

Longshots to Win The Masters:

  • Tiger Woods +9000
  • Sahith Theegala +12000
  • Phil Mickelson +35000

Dark Horse Bets to Win the Masters:

  • Collin Morikawa +2800
  • Brooks Koepka +4000
  • Matthew Fitzpatrick +5000

Scottie Scheffler

Simply put, Scheffler went off last year with four wins, including The Masters, four runner up finishes, 11 Top 10 finishes, $14M in earnings, plus two more wins already this season. However, nobody has won back to back Masters since Tiger Woods did it back in 2002. In fact, over the last 16 years no defending champion has finished better than 12th at The Masters. So despite his blistering run last season, history is not on Scottie’s side here. With all that being said, Scheffler is the No. 1 golfer in the world for a reason and is still the favorite to don the Green Jacket yet again on Sunday. If you think the pressure is going to get to the resident Zen Master on tour, think again.

Rory McIlroy

Rory finished second to Scheffler at The Masters last year as the Green Jacket is the final major accolade that continues to elude him as he seeks to complete the career Grand Slam. I laughed out loud during an episode of the Netflix series Full Swing when after one of his kids points out a photo of Rory, he self depricatingly jokes “that’s back when Daddy used to be good.” So while he seemingly takes it in stride, make no mistake Rory is not taking it easy in Augusta this week.

Jon Rahm

Rahmbo is a threat to win any time he laces em up. Despite an uncharacteristic tank job last year when he finished tied for 27th, Rahm had finished in the Top 10 at Augusta four years in a row, with his best effort coming in 2018 when he finished fourth. With three wins already in the books for Rham this season, there are worse guys to put your money on.

Tiger Woods

Tiger may be going into Augusta at 90/1 odds, but don’t tell the patrons that because the five time Augusta champ is still THE fan favorite.

I’ll be honest, I always have a separate screen setup strictly dedicated to Tiger Watch even if he’s struggling and out of it on Day 1. Tiger himself even suggested he’s on borrowed time as he said in his Augusta presser, “I don’t know how many more I have in me.” Don’t ever rule out Sunday Red doing the unthinkable and taking over if Tiger is in contention come the weekend, but if nothing else make sure you truly enjoy watching Tiger Woods at Augusta while you still can.

Brooks Koepka

Koepka seems to be rounding into form with two recent wins on the LIV tour, which has my gambling spidey senses tingling. Before a rash of injuries and an unceremonious jump to the LIV tour, Koepka was like a majors whisperer. The guy was absolutely money in major tournaments, even if he seemed to lack that same focus in regular tournaments throughout the season. I guess it makes sense you’re more focused and geared up for The Masters than say the Honda Classic, but it’s wild when you look at Koepka’s career stats. Of his eight career victories, half of those are majors. While Full Swing showed a Koepka at his lowest and seriously lacking in confidence, maybe the recent run of success on the Saudi tour has given BK the juice he needs to finally slip on a green jacket this weekend.

LIV Golf at The Masters

What comes as a surprise to absolutely no one is things have been a little awkward in Augusta between the LIV rebels and the PGA Tour rank and file. You’ve got stories of a famously gregarious Phil Mickelson not saying a word at the Champions Dinner and mainly keeping to himself, which if we’re being honest bums me out.

Of course there was more venom being spit back and forth between Greg Norman and Fred Ridley after Norman publicly complained about not being invited to Augusta this year despite having spent the last 12 months trashing the PGA.

There’s even controversy over the attire of the LIV guys as most of them are sporting their LIV team gear at Augusta, which they are apparently contractually obligated to do according to Dan Wetzel.

Now if you are the type of sports fan who doesn’t have a horse in the race and is just rooting for chaos, then you’ll want to keep a close eye on the 18 LIV golfers this weekend. Norman has already gone on record to say the LIV golfers will storm the 18th green in celebration if one of their guys wins. What are the chances of that chaos coming to fruition this weekend? Not super likely, but there are obviously some big names who have had success here with six former Masters champions on the LIV roster including Dustin Johnson (+2200), Phil Mickelson (+35000), Patrick Reed (+8000), Sergio Garcia (+15000), Charl Schwartzel (+35000), and Bubba Watson (+25000).

Of course Cameron Smith is a solid bet at (+3500) and we already talked about Koepka. Maybe Joaquin Niemann (+5500), Mito Peirera (+8000) or even Bryson DeChambeau (+11000) breaks through, but I’m not putting my money on it. Hell even Phil might be worth throwing $5 on at 350/1 odds! The biggest roadblock to any of the LIV players though is going to be the relative lack of competition they’ve been playing against since defecting.

Whoever you do decide to place your wagers on, do yourself a favor and spread it around on a few different golfers and maybe some Top finish bets because if you haven’t realized yet the final round falls on Easter Sunday this year. Just make sure you give yourself something to hang onto so you’re not shouting at the TV in front of grandma when your only guy is shooting over par before brunch is even finished.

Enjoy the weekend folks.

Barring Setback, Tiger Woods is a Go for The Masters

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CBS Sports – Tiger Woods is planning to make his triumphant return to golf as part of the 2022 Masters field. Woods said as much Tuesday during his official press conference at Augusta National with just two days to go until the first round begins — this after several days of practice at Augusta, including a trip with his son, Charlie, and Justin Thomas last week.

“As of right now, I feel like I am going to play.“

This dude continues to defy logic. Just 14 months after flipping his car and nearly losing a leg, Tiger Woods says he plans to play at The Masters this weekend. I’m honestly surprised we haven’t seen legitimate steam coming out of him because this guy heals faster than a Titan. I played my first round of the season on Saturday and my abs are still sore. Tiger has had more surgeries than I can count and yet he still looks fresher than lettuce.

Tiger got the full Brett Favre treatment the last few days as we had people on Twitter tracking his private jet en route to Augusta, we had whispers about how great his warmup rounds looked walking the course, to full on ESPN coverage and PACKED galleries just to watch the man practice. The dozens of videos flying around the internet this week show a guy who doesn’t look simply capable of playing golf, no Tiger looks like he’s coming for that green jacket.

Like a lot of people, I don’t think I realized how much I missed Tiger until I found myself fully invested in watching Tiger and 13-year-old Charlie Woods gunning for the father-son PNC Championship back in December. That was less than four months ago and even then you could see Tiger grimacing and limping his way around the course, yet they nearly won the damn tourney. Now he’s managed to get his body back to a point where he’s confident in his ability to not only show up, but win The Masters.

For an athlete whose made a career out of dominating not only the competition but the headlines, this one could very well top them all.

Players Around the PGA Tour Wore Red in Support of Tiger Woods and It Was An Awesome Sight

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If you ever questioned just how much Tiger Woods means to his peers, yesterday effectively ended that debate as players all across the tour wore Tiger’s trademark Sunday Red to honor their injured friend. It was an awesome sight to see and I’ll be honest it got a little dusty over here.

So thankfully Tiger’s car accident wasn’t as bad as it could have been. We hope to see him back out on the course one day, but more importantly it’s good to still have him with us.

Your Guide to Betting The Masters

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Looking to throw down a few bucks on The Masters this weekend? Preferably in a way thats not completely random and reckless so you might actually walk away a richer man? Well, look no further. I picked Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka to win at Augusta last year, both of whom tied for second place one stroke back of Tiger Woods. Here’s to hoping for a little more luck this year so I can continue my outlandishly expensive habit of actually playing golf.

With that being said lets take a look at the odds on some of the top names in golf to take home the green jacket this year.

Bryson DeChambeau (+800) is the betting favorite currently and will be the player to watch as he’s just been mashing this year with his Happy Gilmore-esque drives. He took home the US Open trophy earlier this season by outdriving, and outputting, everyone on tour. So while he’s finished outside the Top 25 his last two outings at the Masters, 2020 has been his year.

Tiger Woods (+3400) returns to Augusta this week in what is presumably the longest Masters title defense ever without actually repeating as Tiger won the green jacket 19 months ago. Tiger has been inconsistent recently, but those are some excellent odds for the defending champ.

Dustin Johnson (+900) has been hands down the best golfer in the world this year with nine Top 10 finishes and two wins, including an absolutely ridiculous performance at The Northern Trust when he shot a -30 and won by 11 strokes. DJ however is coming off an unforced vacation after he tested positive for the coronavirus so it remains to be seen if there are any lingering effects or rust he’ll need to shake off.

Jon Rahm (+1000) and Justin Thomas (+1100) are the No. 2 and No. 3 ranked golfers in the world so they should be in the mix this weekend. Not to mention Rahm hit maybe the greatest shot of all time with this practice round hole in one yesterday.

Collin Morikawa (+3300) made his PGA Tour debut in 2019, but he blew onto the scene with his ballsy win at the PGA Championship earlier this season so we’ll see if he’s ready for the gigantic stage of Augusta.

Xander Schauffele (+1400) finished second at the Masters last year (and cost me a big chunk of change) and has seven Top 10 finishes in 2020 (including a win at the Tour Championship) so he’s been knocking on the door for a while.

Rory McIlroy (+1200) is always a favorite to win anytime he steps onto the course, which is no surprise since he’s the No. 5 ranked golfer in the world with six Top 10 finishes on the year. What else is there to be said about Rory that hasn’t already been said? A slight knock on Rory is the fact that he did immediately kill the PGA Tour video game franchise after taking over for Tiger.

Brooks Koepka (+1600) is coming off a knee injury that forced him to miss some time this season, but as everyone knows Koepka ALWAYS shows up for majors. It’s actually kind of crazy when you look at the numbers. Koepka has seven career victories on the PGA Tour with four of those coming in majors. He’s won the 2017 US Open, the 2018 US Open, the 2018 PGA Championship, and the 2019 PGA Championship, which made him the first golfer ever to hold back to back titles in two majors simultaneously. More than half of his PGA Tour wins have come in the biggest tournaments in the game. Thats banana land.

Webb Simpson (+3300), Tyrell Hatton (+2800), and Patrick Cantlay (+2500) round out the Top 10 of the Official World Golf Rankings so those guys are always a safe bet.

Patrick Reed (+2800) is one of my favorite golfers to watch because he is an absolute hothead like your buddy that snaps his club in half after a bad shot. No, literally.

Patrick Reed: the people’s golfer for people like me who sometimes flip out on the course. But Reed did win the Masters just two years ago so he’s always in play.

Keep an eye Matthew Wolff (+3300) too, who was in great position to win the US Open this season before melting down on the final day when he shot a 75 and ultimately finished second as DeChambeau took home the trophy. He’s a pretty solid dark horse bet, plus how great would it be to see a 21-year-old with the most unconventional swing in the game win at the most storied course in the world?

Although he’s been shaky on the PGA Tour lately, Phil Mickelson (+7000) is a 3x Masters champ so you can never count him out at Augusta. He also has battered the competition so bad on the Senior Tour, excuse me the PGA Tour Champions, that it should realistically be considered elderly abuse. My point is that while he may be “just” the 64th ranked golfer in the world currently, he’s far from washed up. I don’t know if I’d bet more than some pocket change on him, but if you’re looking for long shots you could do a lot worse than Lefty.

The Official Pick:

As my long shot I’m going with Collin Morikawa (+3300) because even though he’s been pretty off since winning the PGA Championship, he showed he’s got ice in his veins when he’s in it down the stretch. Then I’m hedging a bit with Brooks Koepka (+1600) since he is absolutely nails in majors and to round it out I’m taking Xander Schauffele (+1400) because this man has been banging on the door for a while now with five Top 10 finishes at majors.

So who do you think takes home the green jacket? Tweet us your picks @The300sBoston

College GameDay Will Be Live from Augusta National During the Masters

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ESPN – On Saturday, Nov. 14, the show will combine two of sport’s greatest traditions — college football and the Masters. ESPN announced on Tuesday that College GameDay will originate from Augusta National Golf Club, which is hosting the postponed Masters Tournament next month, Nov. 12-15.

“Any time College GameDay travels to a new destination, it’s special, and the opportunity to be on the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club during the Masters is extraordinary,” said Jimmy Pitaro, chairman, ESPN and Sports Content. “As this iconic event coincides with the college football season for the first time, we look forward to getting fans ready for a football Saturday while also showcasing the Masters and the greatest golfers in the world.”

Longtime ESPN hosts Rece Davis, Lee Corso, Kirk Herbstreit, Desmond Howard and others will broadcast from the par-3 course from 9 a.m. to noon ET.

So I guess ESPN just officially declared that November 14th will be the drunkest day of the year huh?

What a weird year 2020 continues to be. After having no sports for months during quarantine, it’s like we’re all drunk on the possibilities now and just stuffing everything together. Every single NBA team in one Disney World hotel? Did it. NBA Finals-Playoff Baseball-Playoff Hockey-NFL games all on a single day? Easy. Now we get a November Masters tournament with College GameDay busting through the door like your drunk uncle!

I’ve already begun my preparations for this event because well, ya know COVID. We’ve already had Boston Calling cancelled, live comedy shows postponed, a summer of games drunk in the Fenway bleachers axed, and sports bars won’t be opening any time soon.

Now I’m not a moron, I’m not campaigning for any of those things to reopen because I understand it’s just not safe during these UNPRECEDENTED TIMES. So I’m not about to have a bunch of people cramped into my apartment, we’re just gonna have to pretend we’re all in high school drinking in the woods again. Weather be damned. Mid-November in New England could mean temperatures in the 50s or the 30s so I’m really hoping for the former. Got the fire pit and the patio string lights already set up, currently browsing projectors on Amazon, maybe set up the putting green on the deck and just get blitzed outside watching the Masters and college football. Just make sure you dump your jacket outside before you go home so your parents don’t smell the smoke from the fire on you. Thats a dead giveaway.

COVID times call for desperate measures and winter is coming, so dress accordingly.

Bryson DeChambeau Earns His First Major, Crushes the Competition at the US Open

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While it may not have been the way he pictured it, Bryson DeChambeau won his first career major, dominating the field to win the US Open at a Winged Foot course that crushed most of his peers.

DeChambeau is one of the most polarizing figures in all of golf as people seem to either love him or hate him. I for one don’t understand the hate for a young American challenging the status quo in a sport full of stuffy unwritten rules. I fully admit that he is an interesting cat and has a way of rocking the boat (bitching and moaning to officials) that probably rubs some people the wrong way, but golf is a sport that has been begging for some novelty. Bring on the guy who goes out of his way to do things differently like just randomly deciding to put on 40 pounds

Or a guy that is custom designing his irons so they are all the same exact length. Odd, but hey it works. It’s not like Bryson is showing up in jorts and giving people the DX suck it sign after bombing one off the tee like he’s Kenny Powers. He’s just looking at the way things have always been done and said well what if I do it differently?

Bryson has been criticized a ton because he always tries to just overpower courses like he’s Happy Gilmore.

That criticism was especially loud this past weekend as the US Open took place on a ruthlessly tight and unforgiving course like Winged Foot, but it worked for DeChambeau in a huge way as he dominated the field. He was the only player to finish under par and finished a full 6 strokes ahead of Matthew Wolff who melted down on Sunday to finish in second place. Bryson basically punted on accuracy and figured if I can just bomb it as far as possible, the course is set up in a way that I can recover from most roughs.

You know, assuming your ball doesn’t end up with a lie like the grass in a public park that hasn’t been mowed in six months because the entire landscaping crew got furloughed.

DeChambeau’s percentage of fairways hit was ugly at 41%, but because of that extra 20-30 yards he was getting off the tee, he was able to pick up a legit advantage like grabbing an eagle on a long Par 5 on Sunday.

If you watch golf every weekend you’re well aware of DeChambeau’s “Scientist” nickname, but if you’re even a casual fan this isn’t stuff that you would automatically know. I feel like I’ve heard it 20 times, but it doesn’t make it any less insane that DeChambeau uses a driver with a 5 degree loft. That is absolutely bananas. Most guys are using 9.5-10.5 degree drivers and DeChambeau figured out if he swings at a fast enough speed he can maximize his distance off the tee by basically swinging with a frying pan for a club. I mean his putter has more loft than his driver for christ’s sake.

Does he fairly get criticized for pissing and moaning to the officials more than your average bear? Yup, the fire ants complaint was a Hall of Fame moment of unintentional comedy.

But even yesterday he knew the rule where he was close enough to a sprinkler head in the rough just off the green that it warranted a drop in any direction within a club’s length. Granted he was up a handful of shots at the time, but knowing that rule allowed him to move his ball from the rough onto the green. Cannot hate on that awareness.

While the celebratory zoom call with his parents got a little awkward as a crowd surrounded and millions at home watched the private convo, but it was hard to not get choked up witnessing his initial reaction to seeing his parents.

So Bryson’s an unconventional guy, but with Tiger and Phil at the tail ends of their careers we could use some more unconventional guys and personalities on tour to keep this game growing beyond its core audience.

2K Sports Just Announced PGA Tour 2K21 from the CLOUDS

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Last year I went on the hunt for a golf game actually made this century since as we all know Tiger Woods PGA Tour hasn’t been a thing in years. Luckily I stumbled on to The Golf Club 2019, which is a pretty solid game as well as a very realistic round of golf.

It can be a little too realistic at times though and just as frustrating as actual golf is sometimes. Think Lee Carvallo’s Putting Challenge.

So I would like something a little more casual as it pertains to the laws of physics. Hell I’d love a new Mario Golf platform game, which Nintendo has kept locked away in its IP vault since 2003 for some reason.

Well out of nowhere 2K sports just announced they are coming out with PGA Tour 2K21! Talk about some much needed good news during this never ending quarantine. This is huge because despite its solid gameplay, one of the biggest drawbacks to The Golf Club 2019 is that it doesn’t have the full PGA license so there are only a couple of real courses and zero real golfers in the game. Well PGA Tour 2K21 seems to have no such issues as the teaser shows off the gorgeous 17th green island at TPC Sawgrass.

PGA Tour 2K21 will actually be developed by HB studios too, which is the group that made The Golf Club 2019. 2K teased the fact that more info will be released next week. So help me God if this game isn’t coming out real soon because without actual golf or actual anything happening right now, I think we are all going a little stir crazy.

Take my $60 right now and let me and Brooks Koepka CRUSH the competition as we go for the Tiger Slam.

The Premier Golf League is Hoping to Overthrow the PGA Tour

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ESPN – It was no coincidence when Phil Mickelson’s partners during the pro-am at last week’s Saudi International tournament happened to be three key figures in a proposed new golf tour that could potentially shake the foundations of the longstanding PGA Tour and European Tour and enrich the biggest names in the game.

A few days earlier, Mickelson had told reporters in San Diego that he was “intrigued” by a concept known as the Premier Golf League that would launch in two years’ time and potentially have limited fields, guaranteed paydays, $10 million purses and a team concept with ownership stakes.

New sports leagues sprouting up to compete with established giants that have been around since the 1920s is nothing new. We have the latest one in the XFL kicking off this weekend and now there are reports of a brand new experimental golf league looking to take on the PGA Tour; the Premier Golf League.

Wait, what?

The Premier Golf League is something that has been in the works for the past few years, but due to Phil Mickelson’s recent pro-am partners is starting to attract a lot of attention. This new tour would look to shake things up, consist of 48 players with 18 tournaments played weekly in the US and other countries.

“The events would be 54 holes with no cut and shotgun starts over the first two days to better showcase all the players during a television window.”

A shotgun start is intriguing because how often do you want to watch a specific golfer or two and they’re playing at 7 am and 3 pm respectively. Not exactly conducive to a neat and tidy TV (or streaming) broadcast. So having everyone tee off at the same time makes watching all your favorite golfers at once a reality.

Thats not even the biggest proposed tweak.

“There would be 12 teams of four players each, with a season-long competition that culminates in a season-ending event for players and teams.”

The PGA Tour tries to build this season long momentum with the FedEx Cup and a bonus to the individual points leader, but the team format could be interesting. Rather than rooting for just one or two guys that you like, with this concept you’d pick a team to follow all year long. I don’t know if that is too different from rooting for a specific guy, but the marketing power of four golfers coming together on one entity could be a windfall for awareness and merchandise sales.

Speaking of sales, the main driver behind this new league is of course money. Big money.

“The Premier Golf League is talking about $240 million, with a $10 million weekly purse for 17 events with a season-ending event. There would be $2 million paid to the winner, and a $10 million bonus to the overall individual champion. In addition, there would be a $40 million team bonus pool.”

That is some serious dough being thrown around, which is why this is starting to make some sense. Whether it’s realistic to launch a $240 million golf league from nothing remains to be seen, but I can see why guys would be listening. On the PGA Tour purses range from $3-$12 million with 1st place taking home anywhere from $500k-$2.1 million depending on the event. Not exactly chump change, but thats over the course of 50 events. Compare that to this Premier Golf League where in theory an elite golfer could be bringing in $1-$2 million *every week* for 4 months straight.

“Many in the golf world have declined to comment. They are sensitive to what the PGA Tour (and European Tour) has accomplished but also curious what this is all about. The reason? There is a sense among those in the game that the top players are underpaid.”

A guy like Mickelson “only” made $2.4 million on the tour in 2019, but he also raked in more than $40 million in endorsements last year. Lefty likely isn’t going to be winning a tournament a week at his age so I’d have to imagine there’s some serious equity investment opportunities being offered to make it worth his while.

However, all it takes is one top ranked player like Brooks Koepka to consider this new venture and it suddenly starts to become an uncomfortable conversation at PGA Tour HQ. Koepka made $9.6 million on the tour last year so in theory guys like him could double their take home pay with a strong four month stretch in this new league.

Thats one thing for the superstars of the game, but it might be a risk that players without gigantic endorsement deals to fall back wouldn’t be willing to take. Especially if it puts them at odds with the PGA Tour.

“As a member of the PGA Tour, a player agrees to certain stipulations, as expected. One of them is that you cannot play in competing events around the world. And since the tour has events some 48 weeks of the year, that’s a problem…To play the Premier Golf League, a player would basically have to leave the PGA Tour.”

If I’m a guy on the fringe of the PGA Tour, I’m probably happy playing golf for a living and taking home a million bucks a year. Why bite the hand that feeds you and risk your wellbeing on an upstart league that could go bankrupt before Labor Day?

That seems to be the selling point though as the PGL is aimed at making big bucks for the biggest stars, but not everybody gets to be Tiger Woods so they’ll need to assuage the fears of the other 47 guys they hope to sign up or this could wind up being a failure to launch.

But what would make fans feel the need to watch this new league? What would it do differently than the standards the PGA Tour have put in place? Golf Digest pointed out the answer could be in the league’s initial investors:

“We’d be remiss in forgetting the gambling element to golf. It’s worth noting one of the early partners is the Raine Group, which was integral in funding venture capital rounds for daily fantasy site DraftKings. It’s not a matter of if betting will be involved, an agent told Golf Digest, but to what extent, and how much of the cut will go in the players’ direction.”

Now we’re cooking with gas! Imagine a golf league with gambling fully baked into every broadcast? I was already screaming at the TV as Tiger cost me $1,200 bucks with his vintage win at The Masters last year. Imagine a broadcast with live updated odds, prop bets, and the commentators discussing fading a guy after he junks a couple of tee shots? Now THAT sounds like a great Saturday afternoon.

These upstart sports leagues fail way more often than they succeed, but there are success stories over the years. The key to those success stories is always innovation so it’s imperative for the Premier Golf League to shake things up if they want to stick around. We’re still a couple of years away from this launching, if ever, but I will be watching this like a hawk because who doesn’t love a little chaos?

The Open at Royal Portrush Has Been a House of Horrors for Everyone Except My Fantasy Team

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Today has been a nightmarish start to The Open for a whole bunch of household names at Royal Portrush. Tiger Woods is +7 and tied for 144th. Seeing as how he’s had more surgeries than Gronk and has a spine made of Adamantium, Tiger unsurprisingly doesn’t play as well in cool weather. Bad news because Ireland is pretty much permanently 60 degrees and rainy.

Rory McIlroy is +8 and tied for 150th. Oh and Rory had a QUADRUPLE bogey on the first fucking hole.

Rough start for Rory who may be gripping the clubs a little tight playing in front of his countrymen.

Oh and David Duval had an absolute meltdown on Day 1 with a 14 on the 7th hole. The former Open champ and No. 1 golfer in the world actually set a record for the worst Open round in 69 years. Yikes.

So yes, the first round of The Open has put a beatdown on pretty much everyone. Everyone except my fantasy team. Yes in my infinite wisdom I rolled with studs like Brooks Koepka (-3), John Rahm (-4), Jason Day (-1), Tommy Fleetwood (-3), and my guy Kiradech Aphibarnrat (-3). This squad of killers has me currently tied for 4th place in my fantasy pool.

Naturally I forgot to double dip my lineup in some sweet, sweet DraftKings action, but hey I could definitely use the free green fees and cart fees that go along with winning my fantasy pool. Now I just have to sweat it out for the next 3+ days.

The 300s Previews the 2019 PGA Championship

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The second major of the season, the PGA Championship, tees off at Bethpage Black on Thursday morning with coverage starting at 1 pm on TNT. The PGA Championship actually got bumped up from its traditional August slot up to May after some schedule shuffling, which seems like a smart way to build off the momentum of the Masters Tournament to be honest. I blogged about the 2018 PGA Championship last year, which was an absolute show as Brooks Koepka barely edged out a surging Tiger Woods to win by two strokes. I also predicted that Tiger would win a major sooner than later after that event, which he did so just 8 months later. So not a big deal, but you’re welcome, Tiger.

This year’s PGA Championship is at Bethpage Black on Long Island, which to put it bluntly is a bitch of a course:

“The sign behind the first tee of the Black Course at Bethpage State Park says all you need to know about what the world’s best golfers will face when they tee it up in May. In the 2002 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black, only one player — Tiger Woods — finished below par for the tournament. In 2009, Lucas Glover won finishing at 4-under and only five players finished under par.” – PGA.com

So that sucks for these guys, but its also awesome for fans like me who are mediocre at golf. Seeing a world class golfer shank a shot and f bomb their way down the fairway just makes me feel better about shooting +4 on a Par 4 or as I like to call it “Double Par.”

Tiger and Koepka will be paired together so that makes for A+ golf entertainment right out of the gates as the winners of the past two major tournaments will be teeing off next to each other.

Of course heading into this weekend the main storyline is going to be can Tiger do it again?

Tiger Woods (+1100) is playing his first event since winning the Masters in April and is one of the favorites to bring it home. For the first time in a while it feels like he deserves that distinction too. Old Tiger is gone, but New Tiger is still a pretty dominating player when he’s on his game.

“Tiger Woods broke through at the Masters to pick up his 15th major championship and first major win since 2008 at the U.S. Open. Can he make it 16 and pull within two of Jack’s record at Bethpage? Well, history would say it’s quite possible. Tiger Woods conquered the first two legs of the grand slam back in 2002. The courses he played? Augusta National and Bethpage Black.” – PGA.com

There was a great article on ESPN the other day about how all the young guys are chomping at the bit because they all want to play against Tiger at his best. To which David Duval told all the millennials to go get their shinebox: “The hell you do,” Duval said.

After winning the Tour Championship, Woods noted how many of the young players lauded his comeback and said they wanted to go against him.

“Well, all right,” Woods said. “Here we go.”

Brooks Koepka (+1100) is your defending champ after winning the 2018 PGA Championship so coming into the weekend as one of the favorites feels about right. Especially after he finished just one stroke behind Tiger at the Masters and if not for some shaky putting could have earned himself another major (as well as some nice pocket change for you favorite blogger). Koepka for whatever reason seems to shine at the biggest events; he’s won three of the last 9 majors and in those 9 majors he’s placed in the top 6 a total of 6 times. So expect him to show up at Bethpage this weekend.

Dustin Johnson (+1000) is the favorite to take home the Wanamaker Trophy and its well earned, finishing one stroke back of Tiger at the Masters and oh yea he currently sits as the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world. Johnson is a solid bet, but he has been pretty up and down in recent tournaments. His last 6 finishes have been 28th, 2nd, 40th, 6th, 5th, and 1st.

Xander Schauffele (+2500) – My man Xander still gets no respect despite finishing ONE stroke behind Tiger (and losing me hundreds of dollars) at the Masters. The guy was one stroke (and a classic Tiger performance) away from winning a green jacket and he is yet again 25-1. I’m gonna ride with Xander here for my long shot because he looked like a major winner in the makings at Augusta.

Rory McIlroy (+1100) – I am fully expecting Tiger to stunt on Rory this weekend after the young Irishman said last year that he’s got no fear of Tiger.

“…asked if players were going to have to “deal with Tiger now for a few years.”

“Not Tiger that Phil [Mickelson] and Ernie [Els] had to deal with,” McIlroy said. “It’s a different version. … I wouldn’t say we’re worried about him, but he’s one of those guys who is always in there with a shot.”

Do I believe that?

Rory has been playing very well this year though with eight Top 10 finishes in his last 10 events, including a W at the Players Championship, so he’s not a bad bet to win this major.

Rickie Fowler (+1800) – Probably the most dangerous guy on this list to never win a major. Fowler started off the year pretty rough with a 47th place finish at the Players Championship and a 17th place finish at the Valero Texas Open, but he’s rebounded to 9th at the Masters and 4th at the Wells Fargo Championship most recently. I love watching Rickie play, mainly because he’s a tatted up guy thats my age playing against a lot of old boring golfers. Plus you have to respect his game after he wifed up legendary pole vaulter Allison Stokke who went viral a few years back for making people pay attention to pole vaulting.

Jordan Spieth (+4000) – Jordan has great odds at +4000, but the guy’s game is incredibly volatile. Spieth is either dominating the field or he is out of it before we even get to Sunday. In fact he’s been awful this year. Currently ranked No. 39 in the world, he’s failed to finish in the top 20 yet in 2019, and hasn’t won a tournament since 2017. He’s a big name who just needs to cross off the PGA Championship to complete the career grand slam, but he’s far from his best right now.

Here are the rest of the odds for the 2019 PGA Championship courtesy of OddsShark and Bovada as of Tuesday afternoon. I cut it off at +15000 because after that you get into some real long shots that won’t even make the cut.

Dustin Johnson +1000
Brooks Koepka +1100
Rory McIlroy +1100
Tiger Woods +1100
Rickie Fowler +1800
Jon Rahm +2000
Justin Rose +2000
Jason Day +2200
Francesco Molinari +2500
Xander Schauffele +2500
Tommy Fleetwood +2800
Tony Finau +3300
Bryson DeChambeau +3500
Hideki Matsuyama +4000
Jordan Spieth +4000
Patrick Cantlay +4000
Sergio Garcia +4000
Matt Kuchar +4500
Adam Scott +5000
Bubba Watson +5000
Paul Casey +5000
Gary Woodland +6600
Henrik Stenson +6600
Louis Oosthuizen +6600
Marc Leishman +6600
Patrick Reed +6600
Phil Mickelson +6600
Webb Simpson +6600
Ian Poulter +8000
Jason Kokrak +10000
Kevin Kisner +10000
Rafa Cabrera-Bello +10000
Aaron Wise +12500
Branden Grace +12500
Cameron Smith +12500
Charley Hoffman +12500
Hao Tong Li +12500
Jhonattan Vegas +12500
Keith Mitchell +12500
Lucas Glover +12500
Matt Wallace +12500
Matthew Fitzpatrick +12500
Ryan Moore +12500
Scott Piercy +12500
Alex Noren +15000
Billy Horschel +15000
Brandt Snedeker +15000
Byeong-Hun An +15000
C.T. Pan +15000
Charles Howell III +15000
Daniel Berger +15000
Eddie Pepperell +15000
Emiliano Grillo +15000
Graeme McDowell +15000
Jim Furyk +15000
Joel Dahmen +15000
Keegan Bradley +15000