U.S. Open Betting
The best golfers in the world, including the always popular matchup between Tiger and Phil, tee off tomorrow in this year’s US Open. With the NBA Finals over and baseball the only “major” sport left on the card, sports bettors have turned their attention to other events and golf is certainly one of them.
When the US Open odds and prop betting options hit the board, bettors started taking their shots. As one might expect, Tiger was the center of attention for the sports betting public at online sportsbooks.
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Included in the contest matchups is who will win between Tiger and Phil. Woods comes into the 2009 U.S. Open, which begins tomorrow at Bethpage State Park in New York, on a winning note as he won the Memorial Tournament in Ohio two weeks ago. He hasn’t won a major this year, and at SPORTSBETTING.com he is listed at +125 to win no majors, +138 to win 1, +400 to take 2 and +2000 to capture the U.S. and British Opens as well as the PGA championship.
Betting volume has come in this week on the odds he will win one major this year (currently at +138), while there has been very little volume on Woods at +2000 to capture the remaining three majors (the U.S. and British Opens as well as the PGA championship).
Why isn’t Tiger dominating? You need only look to last year’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines for the answer.
With an injured knee and wincing after many of his shots, Tiger went into a sudden-death playoff with Rocco Mediate and won.
Woods was rewarded with the 2008 U.S. Open and surgery that shut him down for the rest of the season. He has struggled a little to regain his form this year, which is to be expected.
Tiger is listed at +145 to repeat as U.S. Open champion while Mediate is a +15,000 longshot to win (and from the betting action at SPORTSBETTING.com, very, very few people think Rocco has another magical run in-store this year). .
The U.S. Open is the second major on the PGA tour calendar with the Masters being the first and the man who took this year’s green jacket in Augusta was Angel Cabrera, who is listed at +7000 to take his second-consecutive major.
Another golfer who could dominate is the same one who referred to himself as an “idiot” back in the 2006 U.S. Open; Phil Mickelson.
Mickelson took a leave after his wife was diagnosed with breast cancer but he returned for the St. Jude Classic last weekend where he finished tied for 59th.
Bettors are taking a wait and see approach with “Lefty” so far. He always attracts action “To Win” for majors, but the volume on him has been slower this year, which can be expected.
And bettors are not giving him much chance to beat Tiger in their head-to-head matchup. As of Wednesday, Tiger has a little over 75% of the betting action on him in this one.
After Woods’ season came to a premature ended, one man stepped up and conquered the remaining two major tournaments (British Open and PGA championship), Padraig Harrington.
2009 hasn’t been kind to Harrington however as he hasn’t finished higher than 11 and has missed the cut in five of his 12 tournaments this year. Padraig is listed at +2000 to win the U.S. Open.
There are other options available if you want to wager on something other than who will win the U.S. Open.
Proposition betting is also available including props on which golfers will be in the lead after each of the three rounds preceding the final round.
To no surprise Tiger Woods is the odds-on at +350 to be in the lead after the first-round followed by Lefty at +1600.
Woods and Mickelson are also the two favorites for Round 2, at +275 and +1400 respectively, followed by Jim Furyk at +2200 and Rory McIlroy at +2800.
While Lefty is listed at +1200 and Tiger at +220 to have the lead going into the final round, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Sean O’Hair and Sergio Garcia are all listed at +3300 while Paul Casey and McIlroy are listed at +2500.
There should be plenty of drama again in this year’s tourney.
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