🏌🏻 Top Bets And Odds For Hero World

Plus: Will's Broomstick Threat, and more

November 30, 2023

Good morning. The day is here when we get to see Tiger Woods back in action after a long time.

While the odds are stacked up against his winning, we at Golf Reporter are definitely excited to see him play!

In other news, rumors are abound that Jay Monahan is set to bow out as PGA Tour Commissioner after a period of seven years. His tenure has been a bit controversial in recent years.

That and much more in today’s edition of Golf Reporter. And if you’re liking what you please share with a golf friend or two.

So, sit back, relax, and let's dive into today's golfing world together!

ALBATROS
Golf best bets: Picks for the Hero World Challenge

The biggest storyline going into the event is that the 15-time major winner, Tiger Woods, is back! The legendary golfer will play in his first professional tournament since withdrawing from The Masters in April.

Despite hosting the event and being fully healthy, Woods is a huge long shot to actually take it down. In fact, at +8000, his odds of winning are the lowest of all participants on the oddsboard at FanDuel Sportsbook.

Viktor Hovland > Scottie Scheffler (-110 DraftKings)

It's nearly impossible to back Viktor Hovland in this limited field. The red-hot Norweigan is only +400 to win the tournament and -150 to finish inside the top five, so there's no value on him to have a good week.

Justin Rose top-10 finish (+130 FD)

Justin Rose may be one of the weaker players in the field this week, but he has a sublime history at Albany.

In four starts at the Hero World Challenge, Rose has finished T5, solo third, T5 and T9. He's never finished outside of the top 10 at Albany.

TWEETS
Worth Mentioning

EAGLE
Jordan Spieth Hopes To End PIP Bonus

Though Spieth earned a $7.5 million bonus, and he understood why the program started in the first place, it sounds like he agrees with Lashley in a sense.

Nate Lashley, who has one career win and is ranked No. 188 in the world, ripped the Tour on Instagram while sharing the results that he received in an email last week.

The PIP bonus pool will be cut in half in 2024 and will be awarded to just the top 10 players. The other $50 million will be allocated to other player programs.

“I think that its goal was to help prevent players from accepting high dollar Saudi offers, LIV offers. I think that's its goal,” Spieth said. “If you're going to see numbers that are thrown out at players now, a couple specific players, it doesn't really do that.

“I think that it was pretty unanimous, including those of us who have significantly benefited from it, to taper it down and find a way to spread those funds elsewhere to support, ideally, fields, purses, so that you still could benefit from them individually, but finding the right sweet spot.”

Ideally, Spieth said, the PIP program will disappear in the near future regardless of what happens with the Tour’s partnership with LIV Golf.

LOCKER ROOM
What else is making news

  • Luke Donald stays on as Europe's Ryder Cup captain for 2025 after overwhelming backing of players.

  • Golf world loses an icon with Eddie “The Lil Pro” Merrins passing at age 91. Eddie Merrins is a member of the World Golf Teaching Hall of Fame and the co-founder of Friends of Golf, a leading philanthropic organization.

  • LIV Golf is set to return to Singapore from 3 to 5 May 2024, the Singapore Tourism Board confirmed in a Facebook post.

  • Michael Thorbjornsen earns exemption into Hero Dubai Desert Classic as No. 1 player in PGA TOUR University.

  • Collin Morikawa shakes things up, parts ways with longtime coach.

  • A closer look at LPGA Q-Series: Field, format changes, what’s at stake.

  • 2023 the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday raises more than $4.9M for charity.

BIRDIE
Will Zalatoris Brings Out A Broomstick Putter

Will Zalatoris returns to the PGA TOUR for his first start in seven months. And he does so with a new putter in the bag.

Zalatoris will play the Hero World Challenge with an L.A.B. Mezz.1 Max – the same broomstick-style putter popularized by Lucas Glover.

Zalatoris previously played a Scotty Cameron T-11 Proto. He switched to the broomstick putter while recovering from a microdiscectomy surgery in his back.

The switch to the L.A.B. putter was partly to alleviate pressure on his back – his posture is more upright using the broomstick. But it was mostly a switch to find improvement on the greens.

DRIVING RANGE
Top 5 Winter Golf Tips for Next-Level Improvement

As the cold weather approaches, it's crucial to maintain your golfer's momentum. Scratch At 50s expert team has compiled a list of the top 5 winter golf tips that will make a significant difference in your performance when the next golf season arrives.

Click here to check out the ‘deals of the day’ on Amazon for everything Golf.

PAR FOR THE COURSE
This Month In History

Since today is the last day of a month that has been nothing short of exciting for the golf scene, we decided to dive deeper and look at all the interesting events that have happened in the history of golf in November.

Read the most important events in Golf history in the month of November.