Bookmaker Information

Sports Betting

Football4Profit: News- Golf: World Celebrity Golf

The game of golf certainly is different with Tiger Woods refrains from the game, and the ripples of the change can vary a significant amount. For example, they’re large and hard to miss for an event like the WGC. Tiger Woods has been the reining champions in the World Celebrity Golf events since their inception in 1999. And champion is not an exaggeration- the man’s come in first place 15 times! Comparatively, he does better here than some may say, in the majors. Six of the eight times he’s played in Akron, Ohio at the Firestone Country Club he’s won the tournament, though officially speaking, Torrey Pines in San Diego is considered his most favourite site to play. Only two individuals have held Tiger off at Firestone, one of them being Stewart Cink.
            It’s become clear recently that the most likely of events stands that someone who has already won the event, will step up to win it once more if Tiger weren’t to play, as Padraig Harrington made a point of at the Open. This puts Cink in a good position, as he was able to beat out Woods at Rory Sabbatini by four shots in 2004. In ’06, he almost was able to take the lead again from Woods, losing only in a playoff. If the pattern were to continue in two-year cycles, then 2008 would be Cink’s opportunity to take the first place trophy, in a year that Tiger’s not there to offer up his challenge. Not taking Woods into account, the 35-year old player has secured for himself an impressive run of wins: including a first, two second-place and two third-place: a total that puts him at Fourth on the US Money List. The Ryder Cup star has also been consistently at the high end of the All-Around ranks (that takes into account all the parts of his game) and stands in the same position as he did his successful year 2004- entering the event in the Top 5 of the Par 4 performance charts. He may just find there’s an advantage to be had in battling 12 (instead of the normal 10) difficult par-4’s, the winner will customarily top the Par 4 stats for that week. His win for this year came on American soil as well, and despite having a few ‘almosts’, he should be ready to have a go at it again, and with terms on his side…. We’re certainly going to see how he does. There are heavy recommendations out there to take up the 22/1 chances you can find; certainly it’s an opportunity.
            Other players to watch out for include Trevor Immelman, who (although he wasn’t able to win the US Masters and the Open Championships in the same year, as Mark O’Meara accomplished) finished by tying 19^th place at Birkdale, and all in all, played a really solid game. Following his acquirement of the Green Jacket, he has matured into a balanced player, replacing his star-struck-how-did-I-get-here?-attitude, with some calm and measured confidence. The new outlook nearly awarded him with another victory in June with a play-off at St Jude. Immelman was able to comment on the journey since his big win, saying at Birkdale, “For about six or seven weeks after Augusta I was in a space where I was trying to understand and deal with what I had just achieved. I was trying to figure out what I had just done and trying to digest the fact that I had just reached a lifelong dream. So it was a very interesting time for me, so I wouldn't say that my game was really my top priority at that point. Consequently I found myself not playing as well as I would have liked, but after I started figuring a few things out, I had a couple good weeks in the States. I lost in a playoff about three or four weeks ago. So my game has started to come back. I've been putting a lot of work into it. My game feels pretty good coming into this week.”
            His odds of 66/1 could be a definite steal if you were to take into account his past performances at Firestone, including eight rounds with a score in the 60’s over five visits, never finishing worse than 36^th place, and two other top 20 placements. This year he’ll be walking into the event as the US Masters Champion and it might be enough of a boost to really make a difference. Some groups are going so far as to list the South African as a fvaourite, though certainly not from a betting standpoint. Augusta proved he can very certainly do well with difficult and challenging courses.
            After Cink and Immelman, punters might want to look to Justin Leonard, who won the Stanford St Jude Championships last month, and performed amazingly well in the Birkdale Open, though finished tied for 16^th.  A player who’s earned his worth, being one of only 6 player who’s made over $3 million and sitting eighth on the All-Around ranking for 2008. Taking into account the 12 par-4’s ahead: it should be noted that Leonard is ninth on the Par 4 list for Performance.  Overall, Leonard is a consistent player- he’s only finished lower than 31^st place once in ten visits to Firestone events- and has a great record for them- he managed bookend 66’s, and completed the tournament in 2000 Runner-Up to Tiger Woods. He’ll do remarkably better than some of the other players coming in for the tournament, as he’s arriving with 12 US Tours under his belt, including a Players Championship as well as an Open, and left the first WGC event this year with a semi-finals end. Justin Leonard’s odds are sitting pretty at 66/1, a deal if he can push himself through with Woods absence as motivation. 
            Other noteworthy players include Justin Rose and Paul Casey, as both gentlemen have good records at Firestone events, and tend to do well on quick moving courses. Padraig Harrington could keep up on his winning streak coming from the Open to do well at the WCG, and we know that Robert Karlsson is sure to put up some stiff competition. We cannot forget Phil Mickelson, who may be planning on making some waves for old times’ sake. The left-hander has been known to do well on the course, winning the NEC World Series in 1996, and finishing as runner-up for the next three years. He was in fourth in the year 2000, and dropped to eighth place in 2001; unfortunately has been unable to get a higher placement than tied 46^th for the last three occasions. But, Totesport is offering a 14/1 offer on Mickelson, and he’s never been against winning in the week before a major- with Woods’ being gone, it may be his break for a dramatic comeback. If you didn’t look closely, some might think that his performance at the Open two weeks ago went south, but tying in 19^th place to finish was actually his third best performance in the event; that, and he was only two over for the last three rounds- the same scores were achieved for those rounds as did runner-up Ian Poulter. He was ranked sixth in Greens in Regulation at the Birkdale event, and commented after the end of the tournament that he’s hit the ball really well. His weakness? His putting. But his history with the course at Firestone gives him an advantage based on experience, and knowing him, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see him come back sharply: he tends to fire hot immediately after a cold run. His two wins this year have come immediately after a missed cut, and then after tying 21^st—his T19  in the Open may be the foreshock to his performance for the WCG. Mickelson is also sitting in third place on the Par 4 Performance list, and as a 4 time US Open runner up, and Players Champion, there is no reason I can find of eliminating him from the possible outright winners list just yet.

 
New To Sports Betting Online?
Our beginners guide will help you out!

New To Betting in General?
Check out our introduction to betting!