Tiger Woods "To Miss The Cut" At The 2014 Open Looks A Bet Worth Taking At Generous Odds

There's no doubting from his appearance a day earlier than planned at Hoylake that Tiger Woods will do everything in his power to perfor...

There's no doubting from his appearance a day earlier than planned at Hoylake that Tiger Woods will do everything in his power to perform well at The Open championship but is it more realistic, given his injury plagued season, to bet that he will miss the cut?

Fans of Woods or not I think it's fair to say everybody would like to see him right in the thick of the battle this week, but perhaps we are expecting far too much.

Woods sole appearance since his surgery was a rushed return as host at The Quicken Loans National and it proved a sorrily orchestrated affair that saw the great man suffer with a smile to a 7 over missed cut.  He said he felt pain free but he certainly didn't look like the menacing Tiger we all know.

Related: 2014 Open Championship Betting Preview and Tips

Congressional and Hoylake may be world's apart, and Woods may have had a few more weeks of strength and conditioning and actual golf under his belt, but the two tracks do share one thing in common; the requirement to hit the ball straight off the tee.  Tiger couldn't manage it in Washington, how is he going to fare with wind thrown into the mix?

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Yes, people will point to Tiger's performance in 2006 when he hit one solitary drive all week at Royal Liverpool, but with the course this time looking lush and green and playing (in everyone's opinion) completely different to eight years ago, that strategy will not wash this week.  Tiger WILL need to unsheath the Covert with which he statistically misses one of every two fairways.

Add to that choosing not to play some tournament links golf in Aberdeen (or anywhere) and it's gets more worrying.  We all know a fully fit Tiger has the back up plan of being able to bomb and gouge his way out of any rough a links course could throw at him, and carve out a score, but surely we cant expect a post operative Tiger to do the same this year.

Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping Woods will play the golf of his life, and he is capable as we have seen many times, of utter greatness, but I'm a scientist by trade who deals in facts and numbers and they just don't stack up for Woods this week. I hope I'm wrong!

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