Phil Mickelson Masters Odds Shorten After WGC-Mexico Win, Tiger Commits to Valspar, Arnold Palmer

Phil Mickelson is now at 18/1 to win the 2018 Masters and don his fourth green jacket after winning the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship on Sunday.

Mickelson s breakthrough in Mexico City where he shot -16 and won in a one-hole playoff over Justin Thomas have bettors believing Phil s chances of winning in early April are better than previously thought. The Westgate SuperBook line is down from 25/1 just a week ago.

This is a very meaningful win, Mickelson stated. I can t really put it into words, given the tough times over the last four years, and the struggle to get back here.

Though the have changed slightly, it s the same names at the top. Dustin Johnson, the game s top-ranked golfer, remains the favorite at 8/1.

Thomas and Jordan Spieth are next at 10/1, followed by Rory McIlroy, Jason Day, and Jon Rahm at 12/1. Despite not having won a PGA Tour event in more than four years, and his last major coming nearly a decade ago, Tiger Woods has the fifth-shortest Masters odds at 16/1.

Lefty s win on Sunday broke a nearly five-year drought in which the five-time major champ endured a series of challenges both on and off the golf course.

Mickelson had failed to be the low man in an astonishing 96 straight tournaments. The WGC-Mexico marked the 47-year-old s 43rd PGA Tour victory, but his first since parting ways with last June. Phil s brother Tim was on the bag on Sunday.

The future hall of famer s poor on-course play in recent years was nearly as shocking as the headlines he created outside the ropes.

Famed Las Vegas sports bettor Billy Walters, a well-known friend and golfing buddy of Mickelson s, reported to prison last fall for five years after being convicted of insider trading. Lefty became engulfed in the scandal after it was revealed the professional golfer made nearly $1 million on a stock tip provided by Walters.

Tom Davis, the former chairman of Dean Foods, had become indebted to Walters with gambling debts. The US Securities and Exchange Commission says Walters in turn urged Mickelson to purchase Dean Foods stock at a certain time, and it netted him a $931,000 profit in less than two weeks.   

Mickelson later returned the profits, plus interest, to the federal government, and claimed he had no knowledge that the stock tip was linked to undisclosed information.

In addition to Phil, Tiger is also roaring for a comeback. It was only last May that Woods was arrested for DUI, and in September the 14-time major admitted that he doesn t know what the future holds.

Oddsmakers had him at 100/1 to win the Masters in late 2017. But after a T23 finish at the 2018 Farmers Insurance Open and 12th-place finish at The Honda Classic, bettors are finding some renewed faith in a true Woods return.

Tiger will have two more tournaments to ready his game before Augusta. Online book Bovada has Woods at 25/1 to win this week s Valspar Championship at Innisbrook. He ll also play at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill the following week.