Few golfers have owned one event the way Tiger Woods has dominated the WGC Bridgestone Invitational. He's won it eight times in 15 career starts, and sportsbooks say he has a strong chance to do it again this year. The golf tournament starts Thursday and Dustin Johnson, going off at 7-1, is the favorite at the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, followed closely by Rory McIlroy and Woods at 12-1. Five golfers are listed at 20-1 WGC Bridgestone 2018 odds or lower. Before you make any 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational picks or enter a daily Fantasy golf tournament on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, be sure to check out what the team at SportsLine is projecting.
SportsLine's proprietary golf projection model, built by predictive data engineer and DFS pro Mike McClure, has called four of the past seven majors heading into the weekend, including Patrick Reed's career-defining victory at the 2018 Masters.
McClure was also all over Woods' stunning run at the 2018 British Open, saying it was the major he had the best chance to contend in this year. He also called Johnson's win at the Canadian Open last week and was all over Hideki Matsuyama's win in the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, calling him a top-three contender from the start. Anyone who has followed the model's advice is way up.
Now the model has simulated the 2018 Bridgestone Invitational 10,000 times and come up with a surprising leaderboard. You can see it only over at SportsLine.
One surprising pick from the model for the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone: Despite his history of dominance at this course, Woods doesn't sniff the top five this year.
Even though he's still looking for his first win since 2013, Woods has been a regular contender on tour this year, including top-10 finishes in his past two events -- the Quicken Loans National and British Open.
But he's 55th in putting average on the PGA Tour and 166th in driving accuracy percentage. Woods is barely in the top 100 in greens in regulation percentage at 66.53 and is only 166th on tour in driving accuracy percentage at 56.12. The 12-1 WGC Bridgestone Invitational odds he's commanding are too steep for somebody with those numbers, and there are far better values to be found in this loaded 2018 WGC-Bridgestone field.
Another big surprise: Rickie Fowler, among the five favorites in the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational 2018, barely finishes inside the top 10.
Fowler has been a streaky player this season with five top-10 finishes, but he also three missed cuts. He finished 28th at the Open Championship and 20th at the U.S. Open, so he's failed to contend at some of the biggest recent events.
And SportsLine's model is heavily weighing driving distance into its projections this week, and Fowler is just 78th on tour at 298.7 yards. He's not worth the 20-1 WGC Bridgestone Invitational odds he's getting this week.
The model has also identified four sleepers with odds of 25-1 or longer who are set to make a serious run for the title. Anyone who backs these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the 2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full WGC-Bridgestone Invitational projected leaderboard from the model that has nailed four of the past seven majors heading into the weekend and called Dustin Johnson's RBC win, and find out.
Dustin Johnson 7-1
Rory McIlroy 12-1
Tiger Woods 12-1
Jordan Spieth 16-1
Rickie Fowler 20-1
Jason Day 22-1
Jon Rahm 25-1
Francesco Molinari 25-1
Justin Thomas 25-1
Tommy Fleetwood 25-1
Brooks Koepka 28-1
Henrik Stenson 35-1
Alex Noren 35-1
Hideki Matsuyama 40-1
Patrick Reed 40-1
Bubba Watson 45-1
Paul Casey 45-1
Xander Schauffele 45-1