There’s nothing quite like action at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club where the last time the British Open played there, Tiger Woods came out the victor in 2006.
At that time, Woods was on top of his game and could be found at no higher than 7-to-2 odds. This time around, in his first major of 2014, Woods can be had a 25-1 at the LVH Super Book.
“Right now we have the second most tickets written on him,” Super Book assistant manager Jeff Sherman said of Woods. “We’ve been getting a lot of action Adam Scott and Justin Rose. Rose has won twice in the last two tournaments he’s been in so people like him to continue his roll.”
With Woods back in action, it’s always a good thing for the book just because he creates a buzz. We haven’t seen him win a major since 2008, but in the back of everyone’s mind, we all want to see something magnificent happen as he tries to bounce back from the long line of personal issues and his recent back surgery. It’s a storyline that is captivating and one that will surely get all sports fans motivated to watch one way or another.
“How’s Tiger doing?” will be the talk around the books for the next week from people who don’t follow golf regularly. I don’t follow golf regularly myself, which is kind of another testament to how awesome the event is because I’m talking about it now. I’m thoroughly intrigued by Woods this week and I think everyone else, the fringe crowd like me, is too.
Woods will be looking for his 15th major title and while 25-1 sounds attractive, we have to consider that he missed the cut in his last event, the Quicken Loans, which was his first tournament since having back surgery. I’m not betting on him myself, but just the fact he’s playing will have me up early in the morning watching the Open.
So what do we call LVH? If you’ve noticed, they have taken the LVH off the sign on Paradise road. The hotel is now called the Westgate Las Vegas. But the gaming license still says LVH, which is what all casino operations have to go by. I just got used to calling the Las Vegas Hilton the LVH and now I have to ready myself for another change, but because the book is so awesome with their odds offerings, some of the best in the city, I will call them whatever they like as long as Jay Kornegay and his crew are running the place.
Amazing World Cup: My Argentina bet didn’t work out so well, but I’m still smiling because it was the greatest festival I’ve experienced in at least four years since the last World Cup. The best part of it all was meeting friends and watching the matches with people whose language I didn’t even speak.
After a rough start, the sports books in Las Vegas were able to gather themselves up thanks to a bunch of 90-minute draws, including Sunday’s final when Germany won 1-0 in extra-time.
Kenny White on NFC South: “You can’t go wrong with the Saints to get at least 10 wins this season. They are definitely more polished on both sides of the ball than any of the teams within the division. The defense made major strides last season, and I expect that to continue through this season.
“I’m not too high on the Bucs’ chances to get OVER 7 wins; Josh McCown is just an average quarterback at best, and I don’t think he’ll prosper in an offense outside of what he got to do in Chicago last year. Lovie is going to slow it down.
“If Atlanta can protect Matt Ryan and he’s got his healthy receivers, they could do some good things like we saw in the past, when they were one of the best teams.”
Micah Roberts is a former Las Vegas race and sports book director, one of The Linemakers on SportingNews.com , and longtime motorsports columnist and sports analyst at GamingToday. Follow Micah on Twitter @MicahRoberts7 Contact Micah at [email protected].