[SBRforum Staff]

Tiger on Roll in Bridgestone

Coming off his PGA win last week, Tiger Woods is the heavy favorite this week in the Bridgestone Invitational ironically held at the Firestone CC.

By: Brian Gabrielle
http://www.procappers.com

This week’s World Golf Championships event is called the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational. It used to be called the WGC-NEC Invitational. Under that name, the tournament was won four times by Tiger---three in a row from its inception in 1999, and last year.

His odds are 5-4 to win this week. I was taking Tiger in every tournament at the start of the year, figuring if he had a 2000 kind of year, he’d win close to 50% of the time (in 2000, he won nine times in 21 official tournaments). He waited until the dog days of 2006 to revisit 2000. Take Tiger Woods (5-4), 1/6 unit to keep it rolling.

I don’t hold out a lot of hope for anyone else in this tournament. Maybe a post-major let down or general fatigue will open the door for someone. Like Jim Furyk. Take Furyk (16-1), 1/6 unit. I hate picking the gentleman from Pennsylvania because he’s so plodding on the course, but he’s always a good pick. He’s got a win this year and eight other top-10s, four of them coming since mid June. Furyk doesn’t take a hole off, much less a tournament. He’ll be grinding to the end.

Take Stuart Appleby (66-1), 1/6 unit: Appleby deserves more respect than these odds indicate. Also a grinder, also a fine year. A win this week would give him three in 2006. Watching him contend all year, he’s played like he doesn’t want to wait for Kapalua.

In the head-to-head, take Furyk to finish higher than Phil Mickelson (10-11), 1 unit: Lefty has 29 Tour wins; only three of them have come after the PGA Championship on the calendar. He’s not exactly known as a strong finisher. Perhaps the only reason to watch the Ryder Cup is to see how he does. A strong showing, like a winning 15-footer, would go some way to salve the U.S. Open wound.