Posted on 5/14/2007 3:35:11 PM

PGA Golf Betting Odds - AT And T Classic, TPC Sugarloaf

By Brock Murphy

Following his 24th-place finish in The Masters last month, Phil Mickelson focused on his game and, with the help of his new coach Butch Harmon, made some swing changes. The result was two consecutive third-place finishes (at the Byron Nelson and the Wachovia Championship) followed by last weekend’s two-stroke win at the Players’ Championship.

Given Mickelson’s performance at the AT&T Classic last year, it is safe to say that he has peaked at just the right time to give himself a great chance to win his second-consecutive tournament this year. Mickelson is the defending AT&T Classic champion after claiming wins here in both 2005 and 2006.

However, it is not enough to simply acknowledge that he won last year’s tournament in Duluth. One must, instead, appreciate the margin of victory -- thirteen strokes – over second-place finishers Jose Marie Olazabal and Zack Johnson. In fact, Mickelson also won the AT&T in 2000. Clearly, he likes this tournament.

 

There are, of course, other players entered in the AT&T field who have a good chance to spoil Mickelson’s run at two consecutive victories. Among them are Stewart Cink, who finished three strokes out last weekend at Sawgrass, as well as Johnson, the current Masters’ Champion and 2004 AT&T Champion.

Ranked fourth in the FedEx Cup race, Georgia-native Charles Howell III is the highest-ranked entrant in the field besides second-ranked Mickelson. However, Howell’s ranking is due to the five top-ten finishes he posted in the first two months of this year. Since then, Howell has missed a cut (at the Byron Nelson) and had two finishes in the top-50’s. Worse, he placed 79th in last weekend’s Players Championship.

Boo Weekley (11th) and Rory Sabbatini (13th) round out the field entries who also rank in the top-15 in the FedEx Cup standings. Weekley, who won the Verizon Heritage, missed the cut the next week in New Orleans and has since posted two consecutive finishes in the top-40’s; most recently, 44th at last weekend’s Players Championship.

Sabbatini may be the one to watch after posting three consecutive top-three finishes prior to last weekend’s slip at the Players Championship (tying Weekley at 44th).

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