Golf odds: Zurich Classic of New Orleans

The PGA Tour begins its stretch drive into the Masters with a stop in New Orleans this week for the Zurich Classic.

And the first thing all golf fans (and bettors) want to know is: whether Tiger Woods is in the field.

Tiger won't play this week nor next week in Houston as he prepares on his own for Augusta.

However, New Orleans does have one of its better fields in memory (five of the world's Top 20) even without the world No. 1 (Woods) or No. 2 (Phil Mickelson) or No. 3 (Ernie Els).

World No. 4 Steve Stricker (+750 at WagerWeb.com) is coming off a closing 9-under-par 63 at Doral to finish tied for sixth at the CA Championship. He has just one top-10 finish in New Orleans, but has been a steady performer there with seven of his nine appearances resulting in 26th place or better.

Jim Furyk, the No. 9 player in the world, will be playing in New Orleans for the first time since 1996 and is coming off his best finish of the season (T-2 at Doral). He is the WagerWeb.com betting favorite at +650.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (+1000) is making only his second career appearance at the Zurich Classic after tying for 25th in 2006.

Padraig Harrington (+875), the 2007 British Open champ, will also play this week -- for the third time in his career; he has three Top 20s on his Tour stops this year."I'm happy with my game, but I'm tinkering with a number of things," Harrington said. "I'm always tinkering. You can get to a point where you feel good, you feel OK, about different parts of your game, driving, bunker play, short game, putting. But you know what? In this game, OK is never enough. Never, ever."

First-time winners have dominated in the Crescent City. Last year, Nick Watney became the third consecutive first-time winner of this event and the fifth in the past six years. Watney was the 16th player to make the Zurich Classic his first win.

Watney, who has two top-10 finishes since his victory, including a tie for fifth at the Mercedes-Benz Championship, comes into the week 122nd in the Official World Golf Ranking, making him the second-lowest ranked player to defend a title thus far in 2008.

Here are some other players to watch:

Jeff Maggert has made 6-of-7 cuts this year and he ran 11th at New Orleans last year.

Daniel Chopra has finished 15th and 9th the two times this event has been held at TPC Louisiana.

Woody Austin also has fared well in the two stops at TPC Louisiana (18th, 5th).

Zach Johnson has been perfect on his attempts to make the cut (6/6) in 2008 and posted his best set of four rounds of the year last weekend at Doral on the way to a T-9.

One player who possibly could have been a factor despite his recent struggles was David Toms, who knows the course well as a former All-American at LSU.

But the 2001 champion of the event withdrew from the tournament with a back injury and won't play next week in Houston either as he hopes to get healthy for the Masters.