Tiger Woods is back. Tiger will be playing in this week’s Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. The last time we saw Tiger was in the Masters and he couldn’t complete the third round due to injury. Tiger is joined by a very strong field of 20 players that includes two-time defending champion Victor Hovland, World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Max Homa, among others. A total of 11 of the world’s Top 20 players are in the field and 17 of the world’s top 26 players overall. Hovland is listed as the golf betting favorite at BetRivers. Scheffler is listed as the second choice in Hero World Challenge odds. Let’s look at Hero World Challenge picks.

Check out Hero World Challenge odds at BetRivers.

Venue: Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas is a par 72 that measures 7,449 yards. The course has five par 5’s and five par 3’s. The course was designed by Ernie Els and is a links style course. The course has Bermudagrass and there are 52 bunkers on the course. Wind is a big factor, as last year when the coastal winds whipped up, the first two rounds were difficult. If the winds are calm, scoring is very good.

Last Year: Victor Hovland won for the second straight year, beating Scottie Scheffler by two shots. He became the first player since Tiger in 2006-2007 to win in back-to-back years. Hovland went wire-to-wire to win last year. Cameron Young finished third, Xander Schauffele was fourth, while Justin Thomas finished fifth.

TV Coverage: NBC & Golf Channel

Hero World Challenge Odds

Hovland, Viktor +335

Scheffler, Scottie +450

Morikawa, Collin +650

Homa, Max +750

Fitzpatrick, Matthew +1400

Thomas, Justin +1600

Young, Cameron +1800

Spieth, Jordan +2000

Finau, Tony +2000

Fowler, Rickie +2200

Burns, Sam +2200

Clark, Wyndham +2500

Rose, Justin +2800

Bradley, Keegan +2800

Zalatoris, Will +3000

Day, Jason +3300

Straka, Sepp +3300

Harman, Brian +3300

Woods, Tiger +5000

Glover, Lucas +5500

Favorite

Hovland, Victor +335

We saw a favorite win at the RSM Classic when Aberg got the win, but favorites in golf are a losing proposition. The price on Hovland is ridiculously low. It is true that there are just 20 golfers in the field, but you can make a case for a number of them having a good chance to win. I won’t take Hovland at this number.

Value Picks

Max Homa +750

Homa has six straight top 12 finishes on the PGA Tour and he won his last event, the Nedbank Golf Challenge on the DP World Tour. Homa is almost always in contention and at least he is not the favorite. I think he has a little bit of value this week.

Justin Thomas +1600

Thomas has had a rotten 2023 by his standards. He didn’t play well for much of the year but he may have turned the corner. He was fifth at the Fortinet Championship in September, played well in the Ryder Cup and he was fourth at the Nedbank Golf Challenge. His putter has finally started to cooperate, as he has gained strokes putting in his last three events. He has played well in this event in the past and I think he can contend this week.

Jordan Spieth +2000

Maybe it is time for me to start taking Spieth more often. He definitely has some value this week. It has been all or nothing for him at Albany with top six finishes in the first three trips and then 15^th or worse in the last three trips. All or nothing is not bad when you are taking someone to win and I think Spieth could surprise at odds of 20-1.

Woods, Tiger +5000

I know that Tiger hasn’t done anything in terms of competitive golf lately, but this field is only 20 deep and the odds on him are really appealing at 50-1. He has played well in this event in the past so it is not out of the question he plays well this week. He probably won’t win, but I can’t ignore him at these longshot odds.

Check out Hero World Challenge odds at BetRivers.