posted March 7, 2007 at 15:16 EST in Golf Articles

K.J. Choi has had success at Palm Harbor’s Westin Innisbrook Golf Resort in the past, and he’ll be looking to turn in another winning performance there this weekend when he participates in the PGA Tour’s PODS (Portable On Demand Storage, fyi) Championship.

Known as the Tampa Bay Classic and the Chrysler Championship in years past, this event used to be held in the fall. However, it was bumped up to March (and included in the FedEx Cup competition) for the 2007 season. Choi won this event both last year and in 2002, and the oddsmakers have him at +2000 odds to get the victory this week.

 

However, it’s another past champion that’s the tournament favorite this week. Vijay Singh won the Chrysler Championship back in 2004, and he’s listed as the +1000 favorite against a fairly weak field this time around. Charles Howell and Trevor Immelman are next on the odds list at +1500, with Sergio Garcia sitting at +1750.  2005 champion Carl Petterson is farther down the list at +6600, while 2003 champion Retief Goosen is not in the field this week. Here are the rest of the top odds for the tourney.

Odds to Win PODS Championship

Vijay Singh +1000
Charles Howell +1500
Trevor Immelman +1500
Sergio Garcia +1750
K.J. Choi +2000
Justin Rose +2250
Steve Stricker +3000
Stuart Appleby +3300
Chad Campbell +3500
Brett Wetterich +3500
Stephen Ames +4500
Bart Bryant +4500
Chris DiMarco +4500
Aaron Oberholser +4500
Jeff Quinney +5000
Camilo Villegas +5000
Daniel Chopra +5500
Joe Durant +5500
Lucas Glover +5500
John Rollins +5500
Rory Sabbatini +6500
Vaughn Taylor +6500
Carl Petterson +6600

The European Tour, meanwhile, continues their Asian swing this week with the Clariden Leu Singapore Masters at Laguna National Golf & Country Club. The biggest names competing in Singapore this week are David Howell, Lee Westwood, and Darren Clarke, and those three are listed with the top title odds right now. Howell and Westwood are both sitting at +1500 odds, while Clarke is just behind them on the list at +2000 odds.

Last year’s Singapore Masters champion, the unheralded Mardan Mamat, is not currently listed, while 2005 champion Nick Dougherty of England is sitting at +2250 odds (tied for fourth with Simon Dyson). Here are the rest of the tourney’s top odds.

Odds to Win Singapore Masters

David Howell +1500
Lee Westwood +1500
Darren Clarke +2000
Nick Dougherty +2250
Simon Dyson +2250
Thongchai Jaidee +2500
Jeev Mikha Singh +2500
Peter Hanson +3000
Shingo Katayama +3500
Shiv Kapur +4000
Robert-Jan Derksen +4500
Jyoti Randhawa +4500
Anton Haig +5000
Wen-Chong Liang +5000
Oliver Fisher +5500
Ross Fisher +5500
David Lynn +5500
Jose Manuel Lara +6000
Raphael Jacquelin +6600
Jean-Francois Lucquin +6600
Prom Meesawat +6600
Thaworn Wiratchant +6600

The European Tour heads to Yalong Bay Golf Club in Sanya, Hainan Island next week for the TCL Classic, while the golfers of the PGA Tour will move on to the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando. Both tours will then meet up from March 22-25 at Doral Golf Resort & Spa in Miami for the WGC-CA Championship, which features a purse of $8,000,000 and defending tourney champ Tiger Woods.

 

If you want to look even further down the line, the 2007 Masters will take place at Augusta National from April 5-8. Woods, not surprisingly, is currently the big +125 favorite to pick up another green jacket, while defending champion Phil Mickelson is listed next at +700 odds. Ernie Els (+1100), Goosen (+2500), Singh (+2500), and Jim Furyk (+2500) follow the Big 2 on the current odds list.

Check back in the upcoming weeks for more news and updated tourney odds on golf’s biggest event of the season.

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