Point Spreads - NCAA, Final Four, College Basketball, NBA, MLB, World Series, NFL, College Football, BCS & Super Bowl Point Spreads

Thursday, July 17th will mark the beginning of the 137th Open Championship. The event will take place at the Royal Birkdale in Southport, England beginning at 1:30 am Eastern Standard Time. The par 70, 7173 yard Birkdale has played host to the Open nine times, the last time being in 1998 where Mark O'Meara took home the prized Claret Jug. This year's field is wide open with the absence of TIger Woods and betting odds are most definitely reflecting this. SBGglobal.com's current golf betting odds has last year's British Open runner up, Sergio Garcia, listed as the favorite at +800 odds.

Even though Woods will not be present, Garcia will have to overcome some pretty stiff competition if he is going to win his first major championship. Topping that list is South African Ernie Els. While Els is currently ranked 30th on this year's money list, and has just two top 10 finishes in nine events played, he is still getting +1200 odds to take home the trophy.

Also contending for the major is last year's winner Padraig Harrington. Harrington beat Garcia in a 2007 playoff and in doing so rewarded supporters with a heavy purse. This year, Harrington could still pay out handsomely at +1250 odds. He is, however, dealing with a wrist injury that could threaten his ability to repeat as champion.

Some other notables are, of course, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk. The 38 year old Mickelson is third on this year's money list and he has five top 10 finishes in 15 events played. The San Diego lefty is listed at +1250 odds to win. Furyk, who is 16th on the money list and sporting a 71 average on the season, is listed at +2000 odds.

Rounding out SBGglobal.com's top 10 are:

Lee Westwood +1400

Justin Rose +1500

Retief Goosen +2500

Vijay Singh +2500

Geoff Ogilvy +2000

Field (any other) +125

For more golf props and 2008 British Open odds visit SBGglobal.com.

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