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Woods looks a long way off his best form. AP/Press Association Images

All Tiger needs to do is look at the Masters odds to see how far he has fallen

Tiger might think he has a chance at Augusta… but the bookies don’t

FOR THE LAST 18 years, Tiger Woods has almost always been the favourite whenever he has teed up at a golf tournament. Woods was so dominant for most of his career that he was regularly given very short odds normally reserved for team sports.

It basically wasn’t worth your while to back him. But today’s Tiger isn’t the prowling assassin of old who collected 14 majors – for one, he has fallen to 104 in the world rankings.

Last night, Woods announced that he is going to compete at the Masters next weekend, which will be his first event since taking an indefinite break from golf in February.

The bookies have him as the 17th favourite for the first major of the year – which is probably better than he deserves – at 45/1.

Considering he generally went off at about 5/1 in past majors, this is quite a shift.

You can also back him at evens to miss the cut and 8/11 to make it. You would imagine that many people will jump on the evens after the season Woods has had so far but even his presence at Augusta next weekend makes things a lot more interesting.

Tiger took a similar leave of absence in 2010 – albeit for DRASTICALLY different reasons – but returned to play his first event of the year at the Masters and finished fourth.

So does Tiger have any chance to do well next weekend?

If he ends up never winning another major – and that seems likely at this stage – where does his sex scandal rank among the all-time sporting scandals?

Probably second to Saipan, you would have to say.

Originally published at 10.16

‘Are you trying to make me cry?’ – How it felt to retire just before Leinster won the European Cup

One of Ireland’s best prospects is set to sign a new deal with a Premier League powerhouse

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    Mute Chris Mcdonnell
    Favourite Chris Mcdonnell
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    May 18th 2015, 2:32 PM

    Even when on the bench he didn’t get game time. The coach doesn’t like or trust him. Saturday once again showed just how wrong O’connor has been all season

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    Mute Colin Webber
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    May 18th 2015, 6:24 PM

    O’Connor is just all wrong for Leinster.

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    Mute Mark Lawlor
    Favourite Mark Lawlor
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    May 18th 2015, 2:31 PM

    He has a very big chance next season with Leinster during the World Cup, midfield won’t be as competitive so he should get a good run of matches.

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    Mute Chris Mcdonnell
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    May 18th 2015, 6:56 PM

    Mark if Darcy doesn’t make the World Cup squad, he’ll play 12 with t’eo at 13. Then Madigan and sexton will be back so the midfield won’t be as easy to get into as you may think

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    Mute David Davidson
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    May 18th 2015, 4:27 PM

    That pop pass from O’Brien

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    Mute Irish Underage Rugby
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    May 18th 2015, 2:54 PM

    Battle between him and Madigan for the 12 jersey next season.

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    Mute Cian Walker
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    May 19th 2015, 4:02 AM

    It’s always to easy to see who coaches ‘just like/don’t like’. When Gopperth played badly it was ignored whereas when Madigan played mediocre or even if Reid played well decisions went against them.

    It creates such a poisonous culture as some players start to feel entitled to spots and others feel it doesn’t matter how well they play they won’t get picked. Cody and Fergusson were masters at disregarding players identities and judging on match performance alone. MOC is such a stink manager.

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