There were 25,000 fans crowded around the greens and most of them were there to try and catch a glimpse of just one particular golfer at the 2019 Masters Tournament in Augusta, Georgia, that would be four time Masters winner and overwhelming crowd favorite Tiger Woods.
Stepping onto the lush campus at Augusta National after not having won a PGA major in over 11 years, Tiger Woods was not the favorite. In fact he teed off at 14 to 1 but there were myriad other wagering opportunities including match-ups and live betting on each hole. It was a great day for bettors!
2019 was the first of Tigers five Masters Tournament victories where he did not hold the lead at the end of 54 holes, after the third day of tournament play. Then he bogeyed the 4th & 5th holes and deflated the hopes of his many fans. But they hung in there, and so did Tiger Woods.
The final day of play started with impending thunder storms predicted, but another kind of storm had arrived at Augusta National. Even halfway through the final round most golf fans didn’t really think that Woods would win. Tiger’s doing great, he will place well, but he can’t win. Can he?
Tiger didn’t even take over the lead until the 16th hole. That’s when the buzz started. You could feel it even watching on TV. A combination of tension, excitement and absolute wonder took over the Augusta National Golf Course after the 16th hole and it built until Tiger finally holed the winning putt on the 18th green a short time later and the buzz became a roar.
Never in most of our living memories has any one sports figure garnered such a following and delivered in such a huge fashion as Tiger Woods did at Augusta National this year. Awesome and spectacular seem inadequate for the occasion; plum damned inspiring is what it was. What a comeback!
Even the guys at William Hill U.S. SportsBook in Las Vegas stepped up to congratulate Tiger Woods on his impressive victory, although their smiles might have been a bit painful as they were handing over a check for $1,275,000 to a bettor who had put down $85,000 on Woods to win the Masters at 14-1.
It is almost too ironic that the man who placed that 85 grand on Tiger Woods claims that it was the first time he had ever wagered on sports in his life.
The sportsbook released a statement to the press, “It’s great to see Tiger back. It’s a painful day for William Hill-our biggest loss ever-but a great day for golf”.
