Is Tiger Woods a good golf bet?

Tiger Woods is undoubtedly one of the best golfers of all time. He is a credit to the sport, a fierce competitor, a noble sportsman, and a worthy champion.

But let’s open a can of worms. Is he really a good bet?

Let’s look at some of the statistics. In the next three tournaments he plays, Tiger will start at anywhere between $2.50 (Australian Masters) and $3.40 (US Masters).

That means at best, Tiger must win one in three tournaments for us to come out on top. At worst, he needs to win every second time he walks out.

While it’s a fair call to suggest he’s favourite each time he plays, it’s also fair to suggest it’s inhuman to finish first past the post each event.

Tiger has won 6 from 17 events this year. If we’d backed him in each one, we might be slightly ahead. We’d also be incredibly frustrated.

Here’s Tiger’s results:

March 3: 17th World Match Play.
March 15: 9th World Golf Championships
March 29: Won Arnold Palmer Invitational
April 12: 6th Masters Tournament
May 3: 4th Quail Hollow Championship
May 10: 8th The Players Championship
June 7: Won The Memorial Tournament
June 21: 6th US Open
July 5: Won AT&T National
July 19: Missed the Cut, British Open
August 2: Won Buick Open
August 9: Won Bridgestone Invitational
August 16: 2nd PGA Championship
August 30: 2nd The Barclays
September 7: 11th Deutsche Bank Championship
September 13: Won BMW Championship
September 27: 2nd The Tour Championship

If you invested in Tiger immediately after the British Open, it’s likely you’d have made your best profit. But as a long-term investment, chances are the bookies will be a little too wise.

A better bet for mine – if you study the golf – is to find a three-ball option you like.

Chances are you’ll find someone with good form who might be paired with a better-known name. In such cases, the form player will usually win with inflated odds.

Either that, or try the old roullette tactic of doubling up each time Tiger loses.

Weekend racing tips from Grant Stockwell

Every Friday we’ll be inviting a guest tipster to the Aussiepunt panel, and to kick things off we’ve got an absolute bottler.

Grant Stockwell knows the racing scene inside out. He’s Brisbane’s racing correspondent for AAP and for years he wrote for Racetrack which was Australia’s oldest racing magazine until it closed earlier this year.

He was a correspondent for Turf Monthly when based in Japan.

But more importantly for us, he knows a fair bit about the nags, and he’s found a special for Mooney Valley’s race meeting tonight.

He’s also thrown in a few chances at Randwick tomorrow to keep us interested as we tune into the AFL Grand Final.

Best bet:
Nicconi. Friday night at Moonee Valley. Race 6, horse 6. Currently $3.90 fixed price.

Next best:
Hus Der Lieften. Saturday at Randwick. Race 1, horse 1. Currently $3 fixed price.

Each way:
Little Surfer Girl. Saturday at Randwick. Race 3, horse 5. Currently $7.50 fixed price.
McClintock. Saturday at Randwick. Race 5, horse 5. Currently $6.50 fixed price.

So this week, our bankroll’s with Grant. We’ll invest 10% of our initial investment on each of his tips and hope he’s on the money!