So a little confession here before I begin: I love to gamble.  Sports.  Casinos.  Golf.  Raindrops running down a window.  I’ll bet on it.  So with that, I’ve taken the self-proclaimed crown of the gambling guru guy here at DRH.  With that title, it’s only right that I give my breakdown of the betting odds on Friday’s Tiger and Phil matchup in Vegas.

Tiger Woods (-200) v. Phil Mickelson (+170)

For those who aren’t as well-versed in sports betting, this means you must bet $200 on Tiger Woods to win, in order to win $100 (ex: Bet $200 on Tiger, Tiger wins, you get back $300 for a $100 profit).  Phil’s line means if you bet $100 on Phil to win and he does, you would win $170, and you would get $270 total including your original wager.

For my pick here, it’s impossible not to pick Big Cat.  While Phil did win once last year, he’s been far from hot.  In seven of his last ten starts, he didn’t finish in the top 20.  Tiger, on the other hand won the Tour Championship.  And while those things may not necessarily matter since it’s match play, let’s not forget that Tiger lives in Phil’s head.  Just look at their careers when both were in their primes.  Phil’s game is erratic right now, and Tiger’s has been on the upswing.  He didn’t do well at the Ryder Cup, but he was also exhausted from his run of events at the end of the season.  Now he’s well rested.  I’m all in on TW here.

Tiger Woods (-200)

Tiger -1.5 (-115) v. Phil +1.5 (-115)

If you want some better odds on Tiger, here’s the way to go.  This bet means that in the match play event, Tiger will win by more than 1.5 holes (basically by 2 or more).  A bet on Phil is that he will lose by less than 1.5 holes, or win outright.  Again, with how much better Tiger has been all around this season, I think Tiger covers this spread bet.  As long as this thing isn’t rigged for ratings, I see Tiger cleaning Phil up by 3 or 4 holes, not just 2.

Tiger -1.5 (-115)

Shirt Color Bets

The only real notable ridiculous prop bet I can find are the lines on Phil and Tiger’s shirt colors.  Phil has the options of white (+150), black (+200), blue (+400), or other (+400).  I’m not going to look at the history of Phil’s shirt selection, but it’s going to be hot in Vegas.  It’ll be 63 degrees and sunny out.  I think he’s going to avoid darker colors, so I’ll go with the favorite, white.

Tiger’s options come in at red (+300), white (+300), black (+450), and other (+150).  As much as I want to say red, it’s not Sunday at a tournament.  Tiger only wears red on Sunday.  I don’t like to go with favorites on both of these, but I have to go other here.  Nike always has great color lineups for players, with lots of pinks, weird blues, and greys.  I think Tiger is going to be rocking one of those, versus something plain.  Hey, they’re favorites for a reason, right?

Now I really wish they had a prop bet for on if Phil wears one of those ridiculous long sleeve dress shirts, or over/under number of times Tiger drops an F-bomb when mic’d up.  Unfortunately, this is what we have to work with.

Phil – White (+150)

Tiger – Other (+150)

Now I have no idea what to expect on Friday.  Having two players mic’d up playing an 18-hole match for $9 million definitely seems intriguing, but is it too late for this dream match?  Both players are beyond their prime (although Tiger seems to be coming back to a shadow of his former self).  They’re playing for a sponsor-provided purse, which isn’t nearly as interesting as each guy putting up $10 million of their own cash.  Is it going to be boring watching two guys play match play and that’s the only thing going on?  What do we do between shots?  Watch them walk together and hope they literally talk smack and jab each other between EVERY SINGLE shot?  I mean, there better not be commercials if I’m paying the ridiculous $20 they’re charging to watch this.

Either way, I love the idea of the Tiger and Phil matchup too much not to watch, which is the reason this thing is happening in the first place.  Will it get as much attention as some think?   Who knows.  What I do know is I’ll be planted on my couch on Friday watching this thing go down.  And if I’m putting money on it, which let’s be honest, I probably will, the above are where I’m throwing my money down.