PGA Golf: Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston 2nd Leg of FedEx Championship
The Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston will be held this Labor Day weekend as the FedEx Cup Championship begins to narrow the field. Among those that made the cut, Tiger Woods moved from 112th overall to 65th in the FedEx standings and brought back some faith in the sports betting lines.
Heading into the Deutsche Bank Championship, Tiger Woods is now a second favorite to win the FedEx Cup Championship according to the Las Vegas Hilton Superbook. Tiger is an 8-1 second favorite while Phil Mickelson is 10-1. The overall favorite to win the FedEx Cup Championship is Steve Stricker at 5-1.
The Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston is a course that suits Tiger and other long ball strikers well. Tiger has won on this course before and likes his chances of finishing in the top 30 golfers to move on to the next round of the FedEx Cup Championship.
Steve Stricker is the favorite to win the FedEx Title for good reason. He is a good ball striker and consistent at saving par when he gets into trouble. Stricker should be the man to beat in Boston along with Rory McIlroy. McIlroy has been consistent all season and has a made a habit of playing his best golf with the spotlight on.
Two other golfers to watch this Labor Day are Paul Casey and Adam Scott. The two have been knocking on the door at majors the past few years and this could be the type of tournament that will give them the confidence for next years round of majors.
Woods aims to rekindle career after divorce
Tiger Woods focus is on breaking the downward spiral that has left his golf game in disarray, now that he has resolved his troubled marriage by signing the divorce papers Nordegren.
Woods has not come close to winning a tournament, since his return to competitive golf four months ago at The Masters following a blistering sex scandal. He is trying to earn his way onto the American Ryder Cup team, although not only does he have his sights set on making headway in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
Some think, even if he makes the US Ryder Cup team, it could become a distraction especially since the wives and girlfriends seem to have taken on a bigger role in the social aspect of the event. Earlier this month, Woods’ debacle at the Bridgestone Invitational is still fresh in his mind. Tiger Woods finished second last in a tie for 78th and it turned out to be the worst performance of his career. Woods shot 18 over par and finished an embarrassing 30 shots behind winner Hunter Mahan. Previously, he had won the event seven times.
This season, this week’s tournament in New Jersey will be his 10. This year with his best finishes being a tie for fourth at the US Open and The Masters, he hasn’t come close to winning the previous nine events. His last victory was in Australia in November.
For Woods’ legacy and the sport all this of course is bad news as the sport is struggling to maintain sponsorship and hold onto marketing deals in a poor economy.
The players say there might be a silver lining in all this, although they would even like to see the old Woods’ back.
Golfer Dustin Johnson said Tuesday at The Barclays, “There are a lot of different guys that’s won this year, and there’s only a few multiple winners”.
PGA Golf – PGA Championship recap
In a finish that surprised everybody in attendance and watching on television, Martin Kaymer of Germany won the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.
He won a playoff over American Bubba Watson to win what is the last major tournament of the year. It appeared that Dustin Johnson would also be in the extra hole playoff, but he ended up being penalized two strokes for grounding his club in what was deemed to be a sandtrap on the last hole.
Kaymer, 25-year old from Mettmann, Germany who also lives in Arizona claimed his first major championship in what was tightly bunched, close finish. Kaymer sunk a 15-foot putt on the last hole of regulation to get into the playoff. Watson jumped out to a lead in the playoff, but he sent a shot from the rough into the water on the second hole. Kaymer played consistently down the stretch to earn the title.
Zach Johnson and Rory Mcllroy tied for third at 10-under. Dustin Johnson slid to a tie for fifth with his penalty alongside Steve Elkington and Jason Dufner.
Playing earlier in the day, Phil Mickelson shot a final round 5-under to finish in a tie for 12th. Tiger Woods made an early move getting to 4-under at one point, but finished 2-under for the tournament. American Matt Kuchar who led after two rounds shot a 72 to tie for 10th.
PGA Championship Preview: PGA Golf
The PGA Tour heads for the 92nd annual PGA Championship, to the Whistling Straits Golf Course in Kohler, Wisconsin, August 12. This year, it will be the last Major. Don’t be fooled, although to win a Major in 2010, everyone will talk about Tiger Woods having one more shot. Tiger drives the TV ratings and the online sports betting odds and therefore they are only discussing him.
In Las Vegas, Tiger was posted as a 6-1 favorite to win his first Major of the season by the Wynn sports book but once again, don’t be fooled. The casinos know the public will put money on Tiger; therefore, Tiger’s odds are so low.
This season, the European’s have shown up in all four golf Majors and for a few of the better golfers from across the pond, the course for the PGA Championship could set up. Come Sunday, Lee Westwood should be in contention and Ian Poulter is another golfer showing up in the Majors of late.
Anthony Kim is one golfer no one is paying any attention. Because of his consistency and his ability to recover from trouble quite easily, he should always be considered. In regards to playing out of sticky situations, KJ Choi is much the same as Kim.
What about Phil Mickelson, better known as the “Big Lefty”? On Whistling Straits, Phil may not be rewarded for his aggressiveness. According to the Wynn, Phil is 10-1 as the second favorite but his name is worth 10 percentage points. Rory McIlroy couldn’t be ignored either. McIlroy will be around on Sunday battling in the top 10 and he is a Major magnet.
WGC Bridgestone International Preview – PGA Golf
On August 3rd -8th, at the Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio, the WGC Bridgestone International will be held. Many of the European golfers make the special trip to play the event and all PGA Tour golfers look forward to this event.
Winning by four strokes over Robert Allenby and Padraig Harrington, Tiger Woods is the defending champion of the World Golf Championships Bridgestone International. British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen will be included among others in this year’s WGC Bridgestone International. Oosthuizen qualified with his win in the British Open although he was not slated to play.
Westwood, who, of late has been living at the top of the leader board is also coming from across the pond. Westwood will be a great addition to the WGC Bridgestone International and he continues to run hot, especially in Majors.
Ernie Els, Sergio Garcia, Rory McIlroy and Ian Poulter are the other notables coming over from Europe. Of the four, on the last day, Ian Poulter has the best chance to be around. Rory McIlroy could also be a challenger and he should be over his disappointing finish to the British Open.
Defending champ Tiger Woods has a chance to make his mark in the WLC Bridgestone International, although at the last three majors, he may have fallen on hard times. For Woods, the event sets up well and on Sunday, he should be in contention.
KJ Choi is another player to watch in this event. He actually enjoys playing with Tiger Woods and he is not intimidated playing with Tiger.
PGA Golf – Canadian Open Preview
This week’s PGA event is the online sports betting favorite, Canadian Open, a PGA even that does not stay at one golf course, but instead moves around from course to course. St. George’s Golf and Country Club will be the host of the Canadian Open this year. This course has not hosted this PGA event since 1968.
St. George’s Golf and Country Club is pretty good golf course. It is rated in the top 3 golf courses in Canada and often the top 100 golf courses in the world. Stanley Thomas designed this great golf course in the 1920’s. This course is known for its difficult par 5s. It is the distance of the par 5s that are a problem; it is the layout that gives golfers grief. The course offers a lot of risk, but it also a lot of reward if you can successfully overcome some of the risks.
Some of the favorites this year are Retief Goosen, Paul Casey and Ricky Barnes. Depending on who you ask, either one of these three players is their favorite to win the Canadian Open this year. It promises to be an exciting Open this year, fans are sure to enjoy it.
Preview of the British Open: Golf
For the 150th playing of storied championship, the Open Championship once again returns to hallowed St. Andrews. Going into the event, a number of interesting story lines are featured in this year’s British Open.
What will Tiger Woods, one of the all time PGA betting favorites, do is perhaps the biggest story of the championship? American golfer Tiger Woods would seemingly be the favorite heading into the event, being the 2000 and 2005 champion, and having been undefeated at St. Andrews. However, that was before his tabloid scandals began in late 2009. In April, at the Masters, Woods finished 4th, as he returned to competitive play after an absence from the sport for over six months. Woods’ season quickly turned sour with him missing a cut at Quail Hollow, after an auspicious start to the year, and he was never being in serious contention at other smaller tournaments. Woods again finished in 4th place at the U.S. Open, the second major of the year. Since Woods has recently split with his long time swing coach Hank Haney, the state of his game is questionable at best. In recent weeks, Woods’ short game has been a serious cause for concern even though he has been improved his driving accuracy. However, it is impossible to count Woods out, knowing that the venue is his favorite course in the world, and his given record at St. Andrews.
Phil Mickelson, world number 2, is involved in another interesting story line. Mickelson has been in fine form for the last year and he won the Masters in April. He has failed to seal the deal even though in the world for the past few months, he has had chances to overtake Wood’s spot as the top ranked golfer. It should be enough to vault Mickelson to the top spot with a maiden victory at the Open Championship.
Ernie Els and Justin Rose, who both have had superb years, are also not to be discounted. And let’s not forget Padraig Harrington, who peaks during this time of the golf season and the two time champion.
It is full of intrigue and mystery, the 150th playing of the Open Championship. The Open, in no other year in recent history, has seemed as wide open as in 2010.
Tiger Woods: 2010 British Open
Of all time, Tiger Woods is without doubt one of the most famous golfers. Than any current golfer on the PGA tour, he has recorded more victories and he is on track to have a career equal to the legendary Jack Nicklaus.
Not everything has been peaches and cream for Woods at the British Open, one of the major tournaments, despite the 14 Major victories for Woods in his career.
When the 2010 British Open starts July 15 at the famed St. Andrew’s old course in Scotland, he’ll be looking to change that.
In the past, there is no doubt that Tiger has been great at the British Open. In his career, he has won the tournament three times, including an impressive stretch with the opening of the new millennium with all three of those victories from 2000-2006. This includes back-to-back victories in 2005 and 2006.
Over the course of Tiger Wood’s career, he has not missed many cuts. Tiger had not missed a cut for about 3 years, before the year 2009. The previous cut he missed was an awful showing at the U.S. Open where he was 12 over. He went on a torrid streak where he did not miss another cut until the British Open in 2009, from that point. This marked just the 5th cut that he had missed in his career to that point and only the 2nd cut that he had missed in a major tournament.
At the British Open, Tiger has seen the good and the bad. it will be interesting to see what side of Tiger we will see show up, as the British Open approaches.
2010 British Open: Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson is probably the second biggest name in professional golf today. It makes perfect sense that he is the second biggest name because for many years of his career he has finished as the 2nd ranked player in the world.
Mickelson has won Major Championships over the course of his career, but the British Open has not been his favorite place to play. He has won the Masters 3 times and the PGA Championship once. Even at the U.S. Open he has seen success. There have been 4 different years where Mickelson finished with a second place finish at the U.S. Open. When it comes to the British Open things are a little different.
He’ll try to turn that around when the 2010 British Open starts July 15 at the famed St. Andrew’s old course in Scotland.
The best finish that Mickelson has ever mustered at the British Open was 3rd place. He managed to take home a third place finish back in 2004. It is amazing to think that a golfer that has played professionally for 18 years and has won 38 PGA tour tournaments cannot manage to take home a finish better than 3rd place at one of golf’s biggest tournaments each year.
To demonstrate the difficulty for Mickelson, sports betting star, at this tournament we can look at his major history from 1999-2007. Starting in 1999 Mickelson did not miss a cut at a Major Championship until 2007 when he had sustained a wrist injury. In 1999 the streak only began after Mickelson missed a cut at the British Open at Carnoustie.
The British open simply has not brought Mickelson the results that many other places have over the course of his great career.
PGA Golf – 2010 John Deere Classic
Since 1971 in the “Quad Cities”, the John Deere Classic has been attracting golf fans. To represent a group of five cities adjacent to the Mississippi River in Iowa and Illinois, the “Quad Cities” is a term used. The John Deere Classic, sports betting blog favorite game, is a Par 71 and has over 7,000 yards of playable field. From July 8 through July 12, thirty-nine years later, a new group of golfers will compete to take the 2010 John Deere Classic and see how the 4.3 million dollars of prize money will be distributed. If you’re looking to head over and watch in person a ticket at the gate will cost you $28.00, and if you interested in making it a weekend getaway ticket packages are available.
On July 8th, the estimated starting time is 7:00am and it will last until the final round begins at 7:00am on July 11. You will get to see the professionals at work practicing for the weekend to come, if you decide to head over a little earlier staring on July 5th for free admissions. Also there are a number of activities such as a free youth clinic starting at 2:00pm.
On July 11th, the trophy presentation will take place following the completion of play and should take place around 5:30 pm. to make this exciting event, if you are unable tune in to the Golf Channel or to CBS Sports from 2:00pm to 5:00 pm to catch all the excitement.