Finding the New Tiger for 2008
Now that Tiger Woods has booked himself for surgery and is resting his troublesome knee for the rest of 2008, it’s uncertain who will win the remaining major tournaments. With such an open field remaining, there will be a wealth of value to be taken advantage of so the following factors will hopefully help you make a decision for who to back in Tiger’s absence.
- A Shift in Betting Mindset
- Psychological impact on Other Players
- Shift in Prices
- Do Your Homework
Although Tiger was just one guy among 140 or so every time he teed it up, betting on golf in the Tiger era has essentially just come down to one decision–do you think he will win or not? There is no clear No. 2 behind Woods, so we have to handicap the field on a more detailed, careful level. Tiger allowed us a simple, straightforward way to handicap golf. Now it will take more homework and careful attention if you want to succeed at the betting window.
Perhaps the biggest impact of Tiger’s absence will be the effect it has on other players. With Tiger out of the picture for several months the dynamics of most tournaments he would have played in will shift significantly. Tiger was almost always lurking near the top of the leader board on the final days of the tournament, and many players tightened up because of that. So it seems quite likely that some good players that have struggled on final days in recent tournaments might be more reliable going forward.
When you have one favourite in a field that is so much more heavily backed than everyone else it has a strong impact on the prices of the other players. The prices of every golfer other than Tiger, and especially the other successful golfers, are higher than they probably should be because Tiger attracts such a large portion of the money. With him out of the way, the new favourites will inevitably draw more action.
This is the most important thing on this list. The loss of Tiger will change a lot of things about golf, but in the end it still comes down to the same thing–you have to do your homework to find a golfer or combination of golfers that provide value in your mind and then back them. It might be harder to do without Tiger, but the process remains essentially unchanged. Do not let the whole thing change your style; just keeping doing whatever worked before.
Talk about Tiger with other fans at our forum.
