posted May 7, 2008 at 15:38 EST in Golf Free Picks

Tiger Woods didn’t pay off for those doing any golf betting at last year’s THE PLAYERS Championship – he finished 11 strokes back of the lead in a tie for 37th place. And Woods won’t get the chance to turn in a better online betting performance this year, as he’s still recovering from minor knee surgery. That leaves the field headlined by Phil Mickelson.

Mickelson is the defending champion at this event at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida – he’s the golfer that ended up 11 strokes ahead of Woods after the final round of the lucrative tournament. Mickelson roared out of the gates with a 5-under 67 back in 2007, and he shot back-to-back rounds of 69 on the weekend to secure the win.

That’s enough of a resume for the BetUS oddsmakers to peg Mickelson as the +1000 favorite to win THE PLAYERS Championship this week. Lefty is the No. 2-ranked player in the world (behind Woods), while No. 3 Adam Scott is just behind him on this week’s odds list at +1200. Scott won this tournament back in 2004, and he was sixth last year.

Jim Furyk (+1600), Vijay Singh (+1800), and Padraig Harrington (+2000) round out the Top 5 of the odds list this week, but none of them had a strong showing at this event in 2007. Furyk tied with eight other golfers for 28th place (at 1-under for the tournament), while Singh was another two strokes behind in 44th, and Harrington ended up in 52nd.

Sergio Garcia was the runner-up to Mickelson at this tournament in 2007 (at 9-under), and he’s at +3500 odds to get the victory this week. That puts him behind Stewart Cink (+2200), Geoff Ogilvy (+2200), Ernie Els (+2800), K.J. Choi (+2800), and Retief Goosen (+3000). Cink finished one stroke behind Garcia for third place in this tourney last year.

Anthony Kim won the Wachovia Championship by five strokes at Quail Hollow last weekend, which moved him from 37 to 16 in the latest World Rankings. Kim missed the cut at THE PLAYERS Championship last year, but he’s tied with Garcia at +3500 odds to win it all this time around. Henrik Stenson is also listed at +3500 odds to get the win.

2006 tournament champion Stephen Ames is back at +6000 odds for this week, while 1998 champion Justin Leonard is behind him at +6500. Fred Couples, who won this event in 1996, is at +8500 odds, while two-time champion Steve Elkington (1997 and 1991) is a bigger longshot at +10000. Masters champion Trevor Immelman is at +6000.

Other top odds to get the win this week include Luke Donald (+4500), Lee Westwood (+4500), Zach Johnson (+5000), Sean O’Hair (+5000), Steve Stricker (+5000), and Aaron Baddeley (+5000). As well, Robert Allenby and Boo Weekley are both at +6000.

Meanwhile, the European Tour will be in Milan this week for the Italian Open at the Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club. Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano won this event last year, but he’s well down at +3000 odds to repeat as the champion. 2006 champion Francesco Molinari is higher up on the list; he’s only pegged at +1800 to win.

The tournament favorite, though, is Robert Karlsson, who is listed at +1400 odds. Other top contenders to win overseas this week include Charl Schwartzel (+1600), Anders Hansen (+1600), Nick Dougherty (+1800), Bradley Dredge (+2000), Alastair Forsyth (+2200), and Alexander Noren (+2200). 2001 champ Gregory Havret is back at +4500.

The European Tour will head from Italy to Ireland next week for the Irish Open, with the BMW PGA Championship in England and the Celtic Manor Wales Open completing the tour’s May schedule. The PGA Tour moves on to TPC Sugarloaf in Georgia for the AT&T Classic next week, with the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial (in Fort Worth, Texas) and the Memorial Tournament (in Dublin, Ohio) finishing out this month’s slate.

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