Tiger Woods will get his last chance at a 2007 major victory this weekend when he and the rest of golf's best tee it up at the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the PGA Championship. Woods is a huge +175 favorite in this event and he very well should be since he's the defending champ and he dominated the field at last week's WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. At last year's PGA Championship, held at Medinah, Woods shot an amazing 18-under par to top his closest opponent, Shaun Micheel, by five strokes. Last weekend in the Bridgestone, Woods was even better than that as he finished eight strokes ahead of the second-place finishers, Justin Rose and Rory Sabbatini. If Woods does fail to win at Southern Hills this weekend, it will be his first season devoid of a major win since he was shut out in 2004. The last time the PGA Championship was held at Southern Hills was way back in 1994, when Nick Price easily won by five strokes after shooting 11-under par. That was before Woods turned pro, but Tiger has graced the fairways of Southern Hills before. Southern Hills has also hosted the U.S. Open three times in the past, including 2001 when Retief Goosen defeated Mark Brooks in a playoff. Woods ended up tied for 29th place that year, three strokes back of the leaders.
Just like last week in the Bridgestone, the field at the PGA may be short one major contender. World No. 2 Jim Furyk was forced to miss the Bridgestone due to back pain, and according to Furyk his back hasn't improved enough yet to confirm he will play this weekend. Since this is a major, Furyk will likely wait until the last minute before announcing whether or not he's in or out this weekend. If Furyk is forced to sit, Woods' biggest competition will likely be his usual foes Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh. Mickelson won the PGA in 2005 at Baltusrol, while Singh claimed his second career PGA title at Whistling Straights in 2004. Singh won his first PGA title at Sahalee in 1999. Mickelson has been playing awful lately, by his high standards. Last week in the Bridgestone, Mickelson tied for 46th place which was actually his best finish in more than a month after he had failed to make the cut in his last three PGA events. Singh looked lost at times at the Bridgestone last week when he finished tied for 56th, but he played much better a week earlier when he was second behind Furyk at the Canadian Open. Other former PGA Championship winners that bettors may want to keep an eye on this weekend include 2001 champ David Toms and 2003 winner Shaun Micheel, who seems to save his best stuff for the PGA Championship. Check out the PGA Golf Betting Odds at WagerWeb Sportsbook.
No comments:
Post a Comment