Columnist Dean Juipe: Tiger’s hot, and they’re betting him

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, June 13, 2001 | 10:22 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Look no further than Las Vegas to see the degree to which Tiger Woods is dominating golf.

In times past, sports books here would make a tournament favorite something like 8-1.

But Woods is an unprecedented even-money choice to win the U.S. Open that begins Thursday at Southern Hills in Tulsa. You have to bet a buck to win a buck, and that, my friends, has always been regarded as a poor proposition when it comes to the highly competitive PGA Tour.

There are, after all, 156 players in the Open and every one of them has a spellbinding ability in this most difficult of sports. Nongolfers don't always realize it, but the difference between your everyday 'A' player or your local course's club champion and a guy who makes his living on the pro tour is immense.

Without exception, tour players are battle hardened and as resilient to pressure and distraction as humanly possible. They're robotic in many respects.

But Woods is an anomaly. He defies the commonly held notion that a golfer cannot will himself to victory, or even turn his game up a notch upon command.

He's winning most every time he plays -- for instance, five victories in his last six events -- and targeting and winning the tour's four annual majors as if he were the only adult in the field.

At Southern Hills, he'll be going for a fifth consecutive victory in a major event and looking to further endorse the growing belief that he may very well become the greatest athlete in the history of sports.

In those last four major wins, Woods is 65 under par -- or 45 shots better than anyone else. He also holds or shares the tournament scoring record in each of the four majors.

At last year's U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, he demoralized his would-be peers and won by a staggering 15 strokes.

This year has been more of the same, with $4.2 million already banked in official earnings and a huge lead on the tour's money list. He's also miles ahead in the World Golf Rankings.

Yet even those breathtaking achievements don't make a man infallible, as anyone inclined to bet $1 to win $1 on Woods should take into account. After all, since 1991 no defending U.S. Open champion has finished better than 40th the following year.

Woods, of course, is apt to finish better than 40th no matter what he encounters at Southern Hills.

But is betting on him to win under such trying circumstances -- and for such a miniscule return -- a worthwhile investment? From a statistical perspective it's not, for the simple reason someone else in the field could get hot for four days and do what Bob May just failed to do last year when he lost to Woods in a playoff for the PGA Championship.

Yet bettors are spending freely on Woods and the books are tailoring some wagers in an effort to tempt money to come in on the other side. A wager where the bettor has a choice of taking Woods or taking everyone else in the entire field has surfaced around town, which is just short of unbelievable.

Golf is usually more unpredictable than this, but Woods is almost to where he's perceived as a sure thing. The tough part in rising to that level is dealing with the widespread disappointment that will occur if and when he ever stumbles again.