Tiger Woods Still an Overwhelming Favorite to Win the U.S. Open

Before the Masters, Tiger Woods was listed at even odds to win. Those are absolutely incredible odds -- in sporting events that involve dozens of competitors it's almost unheard of for one athlete to be considered to have a 50-50 chance of winning it.

As it turns out, he didn't win. So what has that done to his odds for the next major?

Not much. The odds at Bodog still have Woods as a substantial favorite to win the U.S. Open, although not quite at even odds. Woods is listed as a 5-4 favorite to win; next is Phil Mickelson, listed at 10-1, and no one else is at better than 20-1.

Richard Gardner, the sports book manager at Bodog, explains what the odds say about the public perceptions of Woods:

"Bodoglife.com had Tiger as a 3/2 favorite for the US Open but has already moved him to 5/4 after his loss at the Masters. We are expecting to see more action than ever on Tiger at the US Open because of his surprising Masters result. Considering his closest competitor is currently Phil Mickelson at 10-1 odds, we expect Tiger to continue his dominance over Torrey Pines and the rest of the golfing world at the US Open."

There's also the little matter of how many majors Woods will win in 2008. Before the Masters, the odds of him winning all four were 9-1. Now the odds of him winning the remaining three are 7-1.