Tiger Woods / The Betfair Contrarian / 14 January 2010 / Leave a Comment

The great man hasn't been seen since news of his extra-marital affairs broke and that absence has seen his price not to win a major come in to [1.63]. Lay it says the Betfair Contrarian, Tiger will be back. And he will be winning

The Contrarian has suffered for daring to back against Tiger Woods on plenty of occasions. So many in fact, that he eventually tired of having his fingers burned, learned his lesson and vowed never to do so again. Never did he expect the day to come where the 14-time major winner would be odds-on not to win one. That's the case now, with Woods [1.63] on Betfair to end the season majorless. Here's why you have to lay..

He'll be back in March
Butch Harmon, who used to coach Woods, said last week that he expected the world number one to be back in action in time for one of the four PGA Tour events in Florida that take place in March, ensuring that he is back in full swing before the four majors. He said: "Those who say he won't play again are crazy. People who say he probably won't play this year, I don't really believe that. If you want to put a timetable on it, I'd say you may see him in Florida before the Masters."

It's destined to be his year...
The main reason for Harmon's certainty that Woods would return was that two of the three majors that switch venues annually are being held on courses that favour him. The US Open is at Pebble Beach, where Woods won in 2000 with -19, the lowest 72-hole score ever achieved at a major. The Open Championship takes place at St Andrews and the last two times it was held there in 2000 and 2005 Woods won with impressive scores of -18 and -14.

...then again, it almost always is
Last year was the first in five where he failed to win one of the four majors, with his return from a lengthy injury lay-off and a troublesome period in his personal life obviously factors. Even then, he still finished in the top six of three. Woods has won 13 of the last 39 majors he has contested a win rate of one in three and has shown no signs of deteriorating so he can statistically afford to miss the Masters and still be almost certain of winning at least one.

He has no interest in retiring
If Woods had wanted, he has had plenty of opportunities to retire before now and spurned them, mainly because of his desperation to better Jack Nicklaus record of 18 major wins. He'd won all four majors by 2000, and all of them in succession by early 2001. His heroic 2008 US Open win while carrying a severe knee injury put him in the position of having won each major at least three times and offered him the chance to end his career in a blaze of glory, but he wasn't interested.

Success will kill the negative press
There was no question of Woods putting his clubs away when his kids were born because playing golf needn't affect his family life. It's the current media frenzy that has forced him to step out of the spotlight notably during the quietest part of the golf season - but his best chance of silencing them is to get back to winning majors. After all, there was a period in 2004 where the papers accused David Beckham of philandering every day, yet he rode the storm and it's now never discussed.

Golf needs Tiger
Don't be fooled into thinking that Woods rivals will be rubbing their hands together with glee and celebrating an improved chance of winning majors or that the authorities will welcome a more open playing field. According to The Nielsen Company, viewing figures dropped by an average of 46.8% between 2008 and 2009 at events that he missed through injury, having contested the previous year. In addition, the USA will be desperate to have Woods back and on form ahead of the Ryder Cup in the autumn.

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