With all due respect to the Valero Texas Open, the radar is officially locked and loaded on the 2022 Masters.
Scottie Scheffler completed an absurd ascent to the top of the world golf rankings Sunday. The new world No. 1 outlasted Kevin Kisner in the WGC Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas, and he'll be headed to Augusta National Golf Club with the wind at his back.
Scheffler outlasting the field to take down the title in the shadows of his alma mater is impressive and deserves attention. However, the buzz is building -- as it typically does -- around Tiger Woods. The five-time Masters champion had the golf world giddy over the weekend with the possibility he might actually tee it up in two weeks.
Woods' long journey back to competitive golf might be nearing its culmination. He hasn't played in more than a year after nearly losing his leg in a nasty car crash in February 2021. Much was made about the fact that Woods hadn't yet made a list of past champions who won't be playing the 2022 Masters. Furthermore, because Woods has yet to formally withdraw, he's still listed as a participant in this year's tournament.
Even more smoke billowed this weekend when The Fried Egg reported Woods had been walking Medalist Golf Club in Florida, a course that players typically play by riding carts. Similarly, a video showing Woods supposedly practicing at Medalist last week went viral with no cart in sight.
It will be interesting to see whether Woods' odds to win the Masters change at all if and when we receive a formal announcement. Woods doesn't really have to say anything until next week when he'll be at Augusta anyway for the Champions' Dinner.
Here's a quick rundown of "to win" odds for the 2022 Masters at various sportsbooks curated by FTNBets.
PointsBet: 70-1
BetMGM (New Jersey): 66-1
Caesars: 60-1
FanDuel: 50-1
DraftKings: 40-1
Perhaps unsurprisingly, Woods' odds to win The Open Championship later this summer at the Old Course at St. Andrews are considerably shorter. BetMGM has him at 40-1, which makes sense: If Woods plays the Masters -- even with his second-to-none institutional knowledge of the course -- it's his first tournament back with a tough walk to boot. Hard to imagine a ton of success, even for Woods. At the British, though, he'll be even farther down that recovery road, and it's another course he's owned in the past. It fits his game.
As for the 2022 Masters, here's an updated look at the favorites following the match play, per DraftKings Sportsbook.
Jon Rahm +750
Justin Thomas +1200
Collin Morikawa +1200
Jordan Spieth +1200
Rory McIlroy +1400
Patrick Cantlay +1600
Cameron Smith +1600
Dustin Johnson +1600
Scottie Scheffler +1600
Viktor Hovland +1800
Xander Schauffele +1800
Brooks Koepka +1800
Bryson DeChambeau +2000
Hideki Matsuyama +2500
A few quick thoughts:
-- When was the last time the world No. 1 had at least five players ahead of him on the odds board? Scheffler has won three of his last five starts and has finished 18th and 19th in two Masters appearances. Pretty good value there.
-- Rahm, who was usurped by Scheffler, does have four straight top-10 finishes at Augusta, but he's been miserable with the putter in his last five starts, losing 1.4 strokes putting. That could be a death knell at Augusta.
-- Reed, at 36-1, might be tempting for some with his 2018 win and two straight top-10 finishes. But he's been truly dreadful with the driver since making the change to PXG, though the struggles even predate the equipment change with Reed losing an average of 2.3 strokes off the tee in his last 10 tournaments.
