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Sydney - Punters have rushed to place bets on US golf star Tiger Woods in the Australian Masters, bookmakers said on Wednesday, including one fan who has $A100 000 riding on the event.
Sportingbet Australia betting manager Bill Richmond said the man had placed the wager at 26/10 for a win and stood to take home $260 000 if the US golfer won at Kingston Heath.
Richmond said the extra publicity for the tournament had boosted bets, but the biggest factor was superstar Woods.
"It's absolutely the Tiger factor, it's been huge," he said.
He said bets for the European Tour co-sanctioned event had at least doubled because of Woods.
"We've seen a huge increase in terms of the number and sizes of bet from the punters. Certainly it's more than double what we would normally do," he said.
"Punters just have a lot more faith in backing Tiger than any other golfer."
Bookmakers have installed the world number one a prohibitive 6/4 favourite to claim his career 93rd tournament victory in the tournament which begins on Thursday.
