posted June 11, 2008 at 13:23 in Golf Articles

Tiger Woods will finally return from knee surgery this week, just in time to compete in the sports betting favorite U.S. Open tournament. So if you plan on doing some golf betting for this major tourney, do you get a little break because Woods hasn’t played in a couple months and could be rusty?

No, you don’t. The oddsmakers at BetUS sportsbook have Woods pegged as the big +250 golf odds on favorite to win the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, California this week. That puts him ahead of his playing partner Phil Mickelson on that sports betting odds list – Lefty is second at +700. Both Woods and Mickelson have won events at Torrey Pines in the past (Woods six times, Lefty three times), but Tiger’s wins have come much more recently.

Woods won the Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines earlier this year. And in 2007. And in 2006. And in 2005. Mickelson’s most recent win at that event came back in 2001, when he successfully defended his tournament title. By all reports Tiger has looked fine in his preparations for this week’s major, so expect him to come out strong Thursday morning.

Sergio Garcia is third on the U.S. Open odds list at +1600 right now, with Padraig Harrington at +2000, and each of Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, and Luke Donald at +2500. Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Stewart Cink, and Geoff Ogilvy are all pegged at +2800 odds, with Retief Goosen at +3000, and both Ernie Els and Trevor Immelman listed at +3300.

Ogilvy, of course, beat Mickelson for the U.S. Open title at Winged Foot back in 2006. Goosen, like Woods, is a two-time winner of this tournament (2004 and 2001), while Furyk won this major championship back in 2003. Els won the U.S. Open in both 1997 and 1994. Immelman is coming off a Masters victory, and Scott might have the toughest challenge of all this week – he will start out in the threesome with Woods and Mickelson.

2007 U.S. Open champ Angel Cabrera is pegged at +6000 odds to repeat as the winner this year. Other top contenders for this year’s event include Mike Weir at +4500, and each of K.J. Choi, Zach Johnson, Tim Clark, Stephen Ames, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard, Boo Weekley, and Andres Romero at +5000. Rory Sabbatini is back at +6000.

Sabbatini also trails on the prop bet lines, where he’s listed as a +600 underdog to be the top South African finisher this weekend. Immelman leads that list at +200, followed by Els and Goosen at +250, and Clark at +400. Ogilvy is the favorite to be the top Australian at Torrey Pines at +220, with Scott at +300, and Robert Allenby at +450 odds.

For the European players, Garcia is the favorite to finish atop that group at +400 odds, with Harrington at +450, Donald at +550, and Rose at +700. Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson are tied at +1200 odds to be the top European player at the event, but they’re also pegged as the +225 co-favorites to be the top Scandinavian competitors this week.

Finally, if you’d rather take less risk with your wagers, you can get -450 odds on Woods ending up in the Top 10 of the tournament. Mickelson is listed at -160 on that prop bet, with Garcia at +145, Harrington at +175, and each of Singh, Furyk, and Donald at +225. Scott, Rose, Cink, and Ogilvy are farther back at +250 odds on that list, with Goosen at +275, Els and Immelman both at +300, and Weir pegged at +400 odds.

Check the BetUS golf lines section for all of the latest prop bets for the 2008 U.S. Open.

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