posted March 28, 2007 at 13:21 EST in Golf Articles
Golf Odds - Shell Houston and Portuguese Open
by Shell Houston Open
The long wait for golf’s first major of the year is almost over, but, in the meantime, both the PGA Tour and the European Tour will be staging minor tournaments this weekend.
Stateside, the golfers of the PGA will be participating in the Shell Houston Open at the Redstone Golf Club Tournament Course in Humble, Texas. That is, the golfers who aren’t resting up for The Masters will be participating this weekend; you won’t see the likes of Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els, Retief Goosen, or Vijay Singh around.
And Singh’s absence from the tournament should give the rest of the field a better chance of winning at Redstone. The Fijian has won this event in three of the past five years, earning back-to-back titles in 2004 and 2005. However, defending champion Stuart Appleby is planning on playing in this week’s tourney – but he’s not the favorite.
That honor goes to Padraig Harrington and Adam Scott, who are both currently sitting at the top of the odds list at +1500. Appleby, who also won this tournament in 1999, is actually tied for fifth on the list at +2200 odds with Lucas Glover, behind K.J. Choi (+1800) and David Toms (+2000) as well. Here are the rest of the top contenders.
Odds to Win Shell Houston Open
Padraig Harrington +1500
Adam Scott +1500
K.J. Choi +1800
David Toms +2000
Stuart Appleby +2200
Lucas Glover +2200
Steve Stricker +2800
Arron Oberholser +3000
John Senden +3000
Vaughn Taylor +3000
Angel Cabrera +4000
Jose Maria Olazabal +4000
Jason Bohn +5000
David Howell +5000
Robert Karlsson +5000
Shaun Micheel +5000
Ryan Moore +5000
Tom Pernice +5000
Bo Van Pelt +5000
Boo Weekley +5000
Lee Westwood +5000
Bill Haas +5500
The purse for the Shell Houston Open is set at $5.5 million, while 25,000 FedExCup points will be on the line. Singh currently leads the FedExCup standings with 11,845 points, followed by Charles Howell III (11,584), while Woods sits in third place (10,044).
Overseas, ˆ1.25 million will be on the line in the Estoril Open de Portugal (also known as the Portuguese Open) at Quinta da Marinha, Oitavos Golfe. Englishman Paul Broadhurst has won this European Tour event in each of the past two years, and he’s listed at +2200 odds to get a third consecutive victory. However, Nick Dougherty and Simon Dyson are the co-favorites to win this tournament – they’re both listed at +1200.
Charl Schwartzel is third on the odds list at +1400, while Alejandro Canizares and Paul McGinley are tied for fifth at +2500 odds. 2004 champion Miguel Angel Jimenez is actually playing in the Shell Houston Open instead this weekend (where he is at +6000 odds), but 2000 champ Gary Orr is +6000 to win here.
The rest of the top contenders:
Odds to Win Estoril Open de Portugal
Nick Dougherty +1200
Simon Dyson +1200
Charl Schwartzel +1400
Paul Broadhurst +2200
Alejandro Canizares +2500
Paul McGinley +2500
David Lynn +3000
Francesco Molinari +3000
Brian Davis +3500
Robert-Jan Derksen +3500
Christian Cévaër +4500
Stephen Dodd +4500
Alastair Forsyth +4500
Anton Haig +4500
Peter Hanson +4500
Raphael Jacquelin +4500
Jose Manuel Lara +4500
Louis Oosthuizen +4500
Andres Romero +4500
Taichi Teshima +4500
Jean Van De Velde +4500
Oliver Wilson +4500
Woods, Mickelson et al. will be back in action for The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club from April 5-8.
Check this space again next week for a complete preview of the year’s first major tournament, and to see how big a favorite Woods will be for the event.
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