Tiger Woods is coming off a nice win in the Wachovia Championship last weekend which should give him good momentum heading into this week’s Player’s Championship at Sawgrass. But is he a cinch for winning the PGA Tour's flagship event this week? Jimmy Boyd has done his research and he is ready to deliver with his 2007 Players Championship predictions.
It’s no surprise that Bodog.com has made Tiger Woods the odds on favorite at 5/2 odds with Phil Mickelson at 14/1, Vijay Singh at 16/1, Ernie Els at 20/1, and Adam Scott and Retief Goosen both at 25/1 rounding out the top six.
As far as value bets go, expect some action to be taken on Masters' Champ Zack Johnson who is showing great value at 50/1 odds. He did place sixth in his next tournament following the Masters, the Verizon Heritage, but his 84th place finish at Wachovia last week has me passing on this guy.
Last year’s TPC Champ, Stephen Ames, could be a nice long shot at 66/1 odds. He has two top 10 finishes in 2007 and an eleventh, but he hasn’t finished better than twentieth in his last four tournaments so we’ll steer clear of him as well.
In Lefty’s favor is the fact that Woods has only won the event once back in 2001 and the fact that it has been an American dominated tournament with 17 Americans winning against just six non-Americans since 1982. Mickelson’s wizardry with his irons makes him a strong candidate for a course which requires you to play target golf.
Also on Phil’s side is the fact that only five men in history have ever won the event more then once. Jack Nicklaus was the only one of the five to have less than six years in between wins at the event collecting titles in 1974, 1976, and 1978. If Tiger is better than the Golden Bear, it hasn’t shown yet at The Player’s Championship. Woods may get two or three more of these before his career is over, but we’ll take Lefty at 14/1 odds at Sawgrass in 2007.
Tiger Woods: 5/2
Phil Mickelson: 12/1
Vijay Singh: 14/1
Ernie Els: 20/1
Adam Scott: 25/1
Retief Goosen: 20/1
Luke Donald: 20/1
Jim Furyk: 25/1
Padraig Harrington: 30/1
Geoff Ogilvy: 30/1
Henrik Stenson: 40/1
Sergio Garcia: 40/1
Trevor Immelman: 50/1
Zach Johnson: 50/1
Rory Sabbatini: 40/1
Steve Stricker: 50/1
Vaughn Taylor: 66/1
Robert Allenby: 50/1
Stewart Cink: 66/1
Ken Duke: 66/1
Jerry Kelly: 80/1
Davis Love III: 66/1
Arron Oberholser: 66/1
David Toms: 40/1
Scott Verplank: 66/1
Mike Weir: 80/1
Paul Casey: 60/1
Anthony Kim: 50/1
Stephen Ames: 66/1
Mark Calcavecchia: 100/1
Rod Pampling: 80/1
Ian Poulter: 60/1
Stuart Appleby: 80/1
Lucas Glover: 80/1
J.J. Henry: 100/1
Charles Howell III: 66/1
Sean O'Hair: 100/1
Carl Pettersson: 100/1
John Rollins: 80/1
Field (Any Other Golfer): 3/1
