Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial

The PGA Tour continues their run through Texas on the golf betting schedule this week as some of the tour’s best head to the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth for the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.

There is guaranteed to be a new champion at the Colonial this year. Last season Phil Mickelson shot 14-under par to edge Tim Clark and Rod Pampling by a single stroke. With Mickelson’s world suddenly turned upside down by his wife’s recent breast cancer diagnosis he’s taking an indefinite break from golf and won’t be returning to the Colonial this week to defend his title.

With Mickelson out and Tiger Woods taking a pass on the Colonial the top-ranked golfer in the field this week will be No. 3 Paul Casey. The lesser-known Casey climbed up to No. 3 just this week after a win on the EPGA last weekend. Casey shot 17-under par in the BMW European PGA Championship for a one-stroke victory over Ross Fisher. That was Casey’s second EPGA Tour win of the season and 10th of his career. Casey also has one PGA win to his credit this season, having won the Shell Houston Open at Redstone in April. Since he’s coming off an EPGA victory, and because he’s the top-ranked golfer in the field, expect Casey to be at or at least near the top of the golf odds this week.

In North America on the PGA Tour last week Rory Sabbatini found his way to the top of the leaderboard for the first time in nearly two years. Sabbatini carded a 19-under par in the HP Byron Nelson Championship for a two-stroke victory over Brian Davis. Oddly enough, before winning last weekend Sabbatini’s last tour win came in the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial. With four Top-10 finishes this season Sabbatini appears to have found his game again and is definitely a contender for a win this weekend.

Besides Sabbatini seven other former Crowne Plaza champions have also committed to play at Colonial again this weekend. The standout from the set is Kenny Perry, who is a two-time winner of the Crowne Plaza, having won in 2003 and 2005. Perry, who is currently ranked No. 7 in the world, won the FBR Open back in January and has three other Top-10 finishes this season.

The other six former Crowne Plaza champions are Tim Herron (2006), Steve Flesch (2004), Corey Pavin (1996 and 1985), Tom Lehman (1995), Fulton Allem (1993), and Ian Baker-Finch (1989). From that pack of winners only Flesch and Lehman have posted at least one Top-10 finish on Tour this season, while Allem and Baker-Finch will be making their first appearance on the Tour in 2009. Allem plays mostly on the Champions Tour, while Baker-Finch hasn’t played in a PGA Tour event since 2001. In other words, don’t expect either of them to compete for the title this weekend.