Tour Championship Odds - Tiger will end “off” year with seventh win

March 6, 2010

TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP ODDS

TIGER WOODS +125
PADRAIG HARRINGTON +1415
STEVE STRICKER +1615
JIM FURYK +1615
ZACH JOHNSON +2050
SEAN O’HAIR +2050
PHIL MICKELSON +2550
RETIEF GOOSEN +3050
ERNIE ELS +3550
MIKE WEIR +5250

Tour Championship odds: Tiger getting better with each FedEx Cup event

WHAT: The 2009 TOUR Championship
WHEN: Thursday, September 24 to Sunday, September 27
WHERE: East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, GA
KEY STAT: Tiger Woods leads the Tour in birdie average, scoring average, par breakers, money won, and FedEx Cup points
THE PICK: Tiger Woods +125

The Tour Championship odds bring tears to golf betting fans’ eyes, as they represent the last major tournament of 2009. The Field is lowered to 30, leaving only this season’s biggest standouts. Tiger Woods has the FedEx Cup points lead but Steve Stricker lurks behind. Who will emerge as the big winner?

Naturally, we start with Tiger Woods (+125). His +125 odds to win are the best they’ve been all year, largely because he won the BMW Championship so convincingly. For all the talk of 2009 being an off year for Tiger, the man has six wins. He leads the Tour in scoring average and won the Tour Championship at East Lake in 2007.

Is Padraig Harrington (+1415) due for a breakthrough? 2009 was a nightmare for the 2008 Player of the Year…until August came around. Paddy finished outside the top 10 15 straight times to open the year but has five straight top-10s since. His scrambling has been phenomenal and should keep him competitive. All he needs to do for his Tour Championship odds is conquer his mental block on Sundays.

The man chasing Tiger in the standings is Steve Stricker (+1615), whose three wins punctuate the best season of his career, one in which he’s ascended to the world No. 2 ranking. He’s second on Tour in scrambling and putts per greens in regulation and those stats have made him extremely consistent. It’s thus no surprise that he has 10 top-10s this season. However, since he doesn’t historically play well at East Lake, he’s a sportsbook long shot to win.

Because he’s an obscure name, Sean O’Hair (+2050) seems like a sleeper, but Tour Championship odds don’t value him that way. He has back-to-back top-10s and he’s throwing darts. Fun fact of the day; he hit 32 straight greens at one point this season.

A deep sleeper who gives you more bang for your buck than O’Hair is Mike Weir (+5250). He hasn’t wowed any online sports betting fans this season but he’s been consistent. His driving accuracy will come in handy at East Lake, which features thick rough, and he placed sixth there last year.

Free sports picks : Tiger’s in the zone again and I never advise anyone to bet against him when he’s in the zone. After flopping at the majors, he’d like nothing better than to silence critics by winning his seventh tournament of the season – one in which he returned from knee surgery, let’s remember. A win would pull him to within one of Jack Nicklaus. Bet on Tiger Woods.