Back these long shots at Riviera as Tiger Woods makes his return to the PGA Tour

Things are about to get quite interesting on the PGA Tour.

Not only are the tournaments getting bigger and the fields getting stronger, but Tiger Woods is also set to make his return to competitive golf at the 2023 Genesis Invitational at Riviera this week. Woods hasn’t played since missing the cut at The Open Championship in July.

Woods is clearly the biggest story this week, but he’s far from the favorite to win the Genesis. The Big Cat is a +12000 long shot to win the tournament, which lands him in the same range as Tom Hoge, Brian Harman and Kurt Kitayama.

The top of the board, meanwhile, is absolutely loaded with elite talent. A whopping 23 of the top 25 players in the Official World Golf Rankings are set to tee it up at Riviera, including tournament-favorite Jon Rahm (+700), second choice Rory McIlroy (+800) and WM Phoenix Open champion Scottie Scheffler (+1000).

With so much starpower in the field, it may be wise to focus on the top of the board, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider some big prices. Heck, last week we saw World No. 223 Nick Taylor finish runner-up between Scheffler and Rahm at TPC Scottsdale.

Joaquin Niemann took home the trophy at Riviera last year at 19-under par, but that final tally was a bit of an outlier. The four previous winners posted final scores of -12, -14, -11 and -12, respectively, which sets us up for a bet on Hatton, who is more of a grinder than someone who is just going to run away from a field.

Hatton finished T6 at TPC Scottsdale and was in contention on Sunday, but that was just one of a long line of strong recent results. The fiery Englishman has finished T13 or better in four of his last five starts worldwide, so he’s clearly got his game in good shape ahead of the Genesis.

After two underwhelming starts in Hawaii, Bradley has found his form on the mainland. Bradley finished runner-up at the Farmers Insurance Open and then backed that showing up with a T20 at the WM Phoenix Open.

Riviera rewards players who can drive the ball well and Bradley ticks that box, but it’s actually his putter that is the story. After struggling with the flat stick for years, Bradley has been a positive putter relative to the field over his last 20 events.

Given his prowess as a ball-striker, a hot putter makes Bradley a possible contender in any field.

One of the game’s longest hitters, Clark should fancy his chances at an event that usually favors players who can hit the ball a mile. Although things went haywire for Clark here last year -- he struggled in Round 1 and then was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard -- the Oregon native finished inside the top-20 in his two previous starts at Riviera.

Clark is coming off a sparkling week at the WM Phoenix Open that ended with him finishing T10 at 10-under par and has now made the cut in seven consecutive outings and has four top-20 finishes in that span.

This is a great price on a player who has been in good form for a long stretch.

Hadwin finished T10 at the TPC Scottsdale last week and was near the top of a loaded leaderboard into the weekend before he fell behind Scheffler, Rahm and Taylor. If things had broken differently for Hadwin on Sunday, this number would be a lot lower.

Despite the disappointing finish in Phoenix, Hadwin’s game has been trending in the right direction for months. You have to go back to the John Deere in July to find Hadwin’s last missed cut and in that span he’s got four top-20 finishes, including a pair of top-10s in his last three outings.

» READ MORE: Full sports betting coverage from The Philadelphia Inquirer

The Inquirer is not an online gambling operator, or a gambling site. We provide this information about sports betting for entertainment purposes only.