PGA golf betting fans know that Geoff Ogilvy, the talented Australian and former U.S. Open champion, will be going for a “three-peat” this week at the Tournament of Champions, which tees up on Thursday and runs through Sunday at the Kapalua Country Club in Hawaii. Ogilvy is not the highest-rated player in the field, but he is the favorite in PGA golf betting, at +700.
You can watch the action on Golf Channel.
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PGA Golf Betting – Tournament of Champions
January 6-9, 2011
Plantation Course
Kapalua, Hawaii
TV Schedule:
(All times Eastern)
Thursday, Friday, Saturday — Golf Channel: 5:30-10 PM, 10:30 PM-3 AM
Sunday — Golf Channel: 6-10 PM
The Tournament of Champions involves just that – champions of tour events over the calendar year of 2010. Only winners need apply. It’s a great 34-player field, and the only downer is that three major champions from last year – Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymer and Louis Oosthuizen – decided not to make the trip. It’s too bad; it’s really nice in Hawaii at this time of the year, I’m told.
This is where tour players can get a great head start on the season. There is a very attractive financial reward, in the way of a $5.6 million prize pool. Four players who have won this tournament in the past are competing again in this year’s tournament, and one of them is going after the “three-peat.”
PGA Golf Betting
To Win — Tournament of Champions
(25/1 or lower)
- Geoff Ogilvy +700
- Ernie Els +800
- Jim Furyk +1000
- Graeme McDowell +1000
- Dustin Johnson +1200
- Steve Stricker +1500
- Ian Poulter +1500
- Hunter Mahan +1500
- Matt Kuchar +1500
- Adam Scott +1500
- Francesco Molinari +2000
- Stuart Appleby +2000
- Camilo Villegas +2000
- Anthony Kim +2500
- Zach Johnson +2500
Geoff Ogilvy is the 27th rated player on earth, according to the Official World Golf Rankings(OWGR). meaning there are at least twelve players entered in this year’s Tournament of Champions who are ahead of him in that pecking order, beginning with top ten players like Graeme McDowell and Jim Furyk (both +1000 in PGA golf betting) and Steve Stricker. There are also seven players who were on the top ten of the PGA Tour’s money list who are also in the event, and Ogilvy was not one of them. Seven of the top nine players on the list of FedEx Cup points last year are also teeing it up this week. That list doesn’t include Ogilvy.
So why is the Australian sitting atop the odds board as the favorite in PGA golf betting for this week’s shindig in Hawaii?
Because for the last couple of years, no one has figured out how to beat him on this course. Last year, he beat out Rory Sabbatini of South Africa by one stroke. At that time it was known as the SBS Championship. In 2009, he won it with 24 under par, giving him a six-stroke margin over Anthony Kim (+2500 in PGA golf betting this week) and David Love III, when it was called the Mercedes-Benz Championship.
Ogilvy may have won last year’s T of C, but that doe snot mean it was a banner season for him. in fact, on the PGA Tour, he did grab himself another top ten finish until he managed to tie for second at Deutsche Bank Championship during the FedEx Cup playoffs. His efforts in the majors were substandard. The 2006 U.S. Open winner was tied for 26th in the Masters and missed the cut in the U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship. But what might give PGA golf bettors some faith in him is what he did after the official PGA season ended. Ogilvy emerged successful in the Australian Open, then finished as the runner-up in the Australian PGA, so you could say that he is carrying some momentum into the festivities.
He also offered an interesting tidbit that PGA golf bettors should keep in mind: “Australians play quite deep into November and December……A lot of the international players will often play deep into Asia late in the year. A lot of the U.S. guys traditionally have hung it up and gone to watch football and done their thing and come here a little less golfed.”
If Ogilvy were to be successful, he would by no means be the only man to win this tournament three times in a row. Gene Littler did it from 1955 to 1957 and one of the players who is competing this week, Stuart Appleby, did it from 2004 to 2006, which certainly explains why Appleby is listed among the favorites at +2000 in the PGA golf betting odds.
Authors bio is coming up shortly. 