Golf Betting Odds

PGA Championship - August 7th thru 10th, 2008

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

Sports Betting at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook

The final PGA Tour major of the golf year starts Thursday at Oakland Hills Country Club outside Detroit at the PGA Championship. To most, this is the end of the golf season entirely (even though it goes on for a few more months), and that may truly be the case this year with Tiger Woods not playing for the rest of 2008.

Still, even with a big Tiger-less shadow over the PGA Championship, there are some story lines out there this week.

*-Can a European player finally win this championship? No European-born player has won this event since Tommy Armour in 1930.

No current Euro player can explain his difficulties at the PGA Championship, other than course setup and design proving to be difficult to navigate.

"It's a tough tournament," England’s Ian Poulter said. "Can't answer the reason why one of us hasn't won it in - how many years did you say? I didn't even know. Hopefully, we can change that this week. It's the same old question that arises every single time. I don't know. I've got no answer for it. All I know is that I think there's a lot of European guys who certainly have a big chance of putting it into that equation."

However, Oakland Hills is the site of the Europeans' 18 1/2--9 1/2 victory in the 2004 Ryder Cup. Lee Westwood, Paul Casey, Sergio Garcia, Colin Montgomerie, Poulter and Padraig Harrington were among the golfers on that team.

Harrington, the two-time British Open champ, is the top favorite among Europeans this week on WagerWeb.com at +1500.

*-Can Phil Mickelson finally get over his major slump?

Lefty hasn’t been the same in majors since his 2006 U.S. Open collapse at Winged Foot. This may be his last, best chance to get that monkey off his back since Tiger is expected back in time for next year’s Masters.

“This is a big week," Mickelson said. "Because right now my season, with just two wins, is just OK. But if I were able to come through on Sunday and win this event, it would make an OK year a great one."

He is the +700 betting favorite on WagerWeb.com this week despite blowing a chance to win the World Golf Championship at Firestone last week with three bogeys on the final four holes.

*-Can Kenny Perry, who has had the best summer of any golfer, finally win a major.

Perry is a three-time time winner on the PGA Tour this year who took some heat for not competing in the U.S. Open or British Open so he could accumulate more points in the lower-tier PGA events those weeks to assure a Ryder Cup spot. And he’s now a lock for the team.

Making the biennial competition against Europe was Perry's top goal from the start of the year because the event will be staged next month in his home state of Kentucky, at Valhalla.

 

A victory this week would further silence critics and Perry is among the favorites, listed at +3000 on WagerWeb.com, despite the fact he turns 48 on Sunday. He's made 20 of 21 cuts this year, with seven top-10 finishes and 12 top 25s. He's ranked 17th in the world.

He's also made 16 of 17 cuts in his career at the PGA Championship, which he calls his favorite major.

"I love the PGA Championship," Perry said. "I'm a golf course owner, and I just feel like this tournament's the heart and soul of the PGA. I'm proud to be a part of it."

Bet on the PGA at WagerWeb.com