Take a look at how Tiger Woods' odds to win the Masters have come tumbling down as he continued his remarkable return from spinal fusion surgery.
Tiger Woods’ remarkable rise back into the thick of contention - in the eyes of the bookies at least - is nothing short of miraculous.
Woods is a 14/1 shot with Sky Bet to win the Masters, but he has been as short as 9/1 joint-favourite at times.
Here’s a quick look at his Masters odds timeline with Sky Bet over the course of the past six months….
September 2017 – 80/1
Tiger Woods gave another positive update on his fitness following a fourth back operation in three years but admitted he was "not in golf shape yet" and had no date in mind for a return to competitive action for the first time since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic at the start of February.
His quotes about his condition in September just highlight how far he's come. He said: "I'm starting to hit the ball a little further - 60-yard shots. I have not taken a full swing since my back fusion surgery last April, but continue to chip and putt every day.
"The latter is paying off. Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler have been dropping by my house for putting contests. Justin also comes over to practice his chipping. It was fun to celebrate his PGA Championship win with him and Rickie, and we had a blast.
"Playing wise, I'm not looking ahead yet because I don't know what kind of swing I'm going to use. I just don't know what my body is going to allow me to do. Until I do, I'm going to listen to my doctors and continue to take it slowly."
There's been nothing slow about his comeback!
November 2017 – 33/1
After announcing his long-awaited return to action would be the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas at the start of December, Tiger backers starting dreaming of an Augusta fairytale - and the bookies began to take cover.
December 3, 2017 – 20/1
Tiger’s comeback was pretty encouraging all things considered, finishing joint ninth on eight-under par - 10 shots behind the champion Rickie Fowler.
Sky Bet Tiger Woods Masters odds
- Make cut 1/8
- Miss cut 9/2
- Top 5 – 2/1
- Top 10 - 11/10
- Top 20 – 4/9
- 1st round leader – 14/1
January 30 – 25/1
The optimism about him being able to launch a serious challenge at Augusta faded slightly after the Farmers Insurance Open as he finished tied 23rd on three-under, but this was by no means a flop.
February 18 – 25/1
Tiger missed the cut at the Genesis Open but surprisingly this didn’t affect his odds.
February 25 – 20/1
After finishing eight shots behind champion Justin Thomas at the Honda Classic in 12th place, Tiger bounced back from the previous week’s disappointment and support started to grow again.
March 13 – 10/1
The moment the world of golf really started to sit up and take notice of Tiger’s potential return to the top came at the Valspar Championship. He finished joint-second on nine-under and was only denied a play-off by Paul Casey’s stunning six-under-par final round which saw the Englishman end his own title drought by a single shot.
Now – 14/1
Tiger had been as short as 9/1 second favourite last week as the hype cranked up but the market has adjusted to put him back behind today’s current stars of the game.
As Tiger himself said last week, “I am a walking miracle.”
If he’s wearing the Green Jacket on Sunday evening, nobody will disagree.
