posted July 15, 2008 at 18:25 in Golf Articles

When a major tournament rolls around its just natural to go do some golf betting on Tiger Woods. So what are we going to do with Woods missing from the field this week?

The world’s top player, of course, won’t be at Royal Birkdale for this year’s British Open. Instead, he’ll be at home watching the event on television and rehabbing his knee. That means someone else is pegged as the tournament favorite this year, and when Tiger’s not playing in an event it’s usually rival Phil Mickelson who gets the nod on the odds list.

Lefty, though, has not had a lot of success at this major tournament in the past. Mickelson missed the cut at the British Open last year, finished 22nd in 2006, and ended up well back in 60th place in 2005. In fact, Mickelson has only earned two Top-20 results in this tourney over his career – he was third in 2004, and 11th back in 2000.

And in 1998, when this tournament was last played at Royal Birkdale, Mickelson finished in 79th place. So if the world’s second-ranked player does manage to overcome his own history and win the British Open this week he’ll have to do it as a bit of an underdog – Mickelson is tied with Lee Westwood and Padraig Harrington at +1400.

Harrington is the defending British Open champ, having edged Sergio Garcia in the playoff to grab the trophy last year. The Irishman birded the first playoff hole to take a two-shot lead on Garcia, and then cruised from there to the major championship victory.

The oddsmakers, though, still like Garcia’s chances of finally getting that elusive major win this week. Garcia has finished in the Top 10 at the British Open in six of the last seven years (he missed the cut in 2004), and he’s ended up in the Top 5 at each of the last three tourneys. Garcia is the favorite this week, sitting at +900 odds to get the win.

Ernie Els sits right behind Garcia on the odds list at +1200, and he’s won this tournament in the past (at Muirfield in 2002). Like Garcia, Els has a history of strong finishes in this major event; he was fourth last year, and he’s managed to pick up six Top-4 finishes in the last eight years. At Royal Birkdale back in 1998 he ended up 29th.

Other top contenders to win the Open Championship this week include Justin Rose (+2000), Jim Furyk (+2200), Vijay Singh (+2500), Adam Scott (+2500), and Retief Goosen (+2500). Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Karlsson, and Andres Romero are all pegged at +3000 odds to take the tournament, with Stewart Cink just back of that group at +3300.

Justin Leonard, the 1997 British Open champ at Royal Troon, is at +5000 this week. Other past winners are real longshots, with Ben Curtis (2003) at +15000, Todd Hamilton (2004) at +25000, Paul Lawrie (1999) at +20000, and Tom Lehman (1996) at +20000.

If you’re looking for a quicker payoff on your golf wager this week, you can get Garcia as the +1600 favorite to be the first-round leader. Els is at +1800 odds on that prop bet, with each of Mickelson, Westwood, and Harrington at +2000. Furyk, Rose, Scott, and Ogilvy are each listed at +2500 odds to be ahead early, with Singh and Cink at +3000.

With Woods out of the tournament the chances of an American getting the win have gone down – in fact, that nationality is a +250 underdog to win the British Open this week. The Europeans are the +130 favorite, with ‘rest of the world’ behind them at +160.

Finally, if you’re looking to make some cash off the minutiae of the event you can get -350 odds on the winner wearing a cap for the tournament. A visor is second on the headgear prop at +500, with bare head at +650, and any other type of hat last at +1200.

The golfers of the PGA Tour will stay in the Commonwealth next week for the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ontario. All of the world’s best golfers will then get together once again from July 31 to August 3, as the next World Golf Championships event, the Bridgestone Invitational, will be played at Firestone in Akron.

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