Tiger towers over weak AT&T National field
Tiger towers over weak AT&T National field
Tiger Woods would be the heavy favorite if all of the top golfers in the world were playing at the AT&T National this weekend. The fact he's just one of four Top 10 golfers at the event just makes his chalk line a little thicker. The 7,255-yard Par 70 Blue Course at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, is the site for this week's PGA event with a $6 million purse and 500 FedExCup points on the line.
Welcome to the dog days of summer. It’s time for the lazier sports to take over – golf being about as leisurely as it gets. Mark Twain called it “a good walk spoiled,” but then again, Twain never got to play the swank Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
On Thursday, 120 men will tee off at Congressional for the third annual AT&T National, hosted by none other than Tiger Woods. He’s the prohibitive favorite at 3-2 to win his own event after missing out last year due to knee surgery. Defending champion Anthony Kim is 22-1; he has yet to win on the PGA Tour since taking last year’s National. The inaugural 2007 winner, K.J. Choi, is 40-1 and looking for his first Tour title since the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Woods finished sixth at the 2007 National, and he’s coming off a sixth-place finish at last month’s U.S. Open on Long Island – which matches his sixth-place finish at the Masters. Clearly the devil is at work here. Nothing but first place seems to be good enough for those who believe there are demons in Woods’ swing that can only be exorcised by firing swing coach Hank Haney.
Sharp handicappers are a bit more realistic about what they’re buying when they make a bet on Woods. He’s won two of his eight tournaments this year, which is consistent with his lifetime success rate of 29 percent. Taking Woods only at betting odds of 4-1 or longer would be one long-term approach; however, those odds are difficult to find these days. Woods has finished in the Top 10 in 18 of his last 19 events dating back to 2007, with an outstanding nine victories among them. Using that sample size, 5-2 odds or longer would have been profitable.
If there’s an argument for supporting Woods this week at 3-2, it’s the quality of the rest of the field. Only three other players from the official world’s Top 10 will be in action at Congressional: No. 3 Paul Casey, No. 9 Jim Furyk (16-1) and No. 10 Vijay Singh (33-1). Furyk is 0-for-45 on the Tour since the 2007 Canadian Open. Singh looks like a better value on paper at 0-for-17 dating back to the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship – if you ignore the fact that Singh’s three wins last year all happened while Woods was rehabbing his knee. Take away those three results, and Singh’s last Tour victory was 57 tournaments ago at the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The other names at the top of the 2009 National odds list are a veritable Who’s That of the golf world. Hunter Mahan, who shares second-banana status with Furyk at 16-1, is the No. 39-ranked golfer on the planet. Not to take anything away from his talent level; Mahan finished tied with Woods at the U.S. Open, and has made the cut in all 16 of his Tour events thus far. But he hasn’t won any of them. Mahan’s first and only title was at the 2007 Travelers Championship, and Woods was not there.
Tied with Kim at 22-1 are Casey, who took first place in the Shell Houston Open in April, and Sean O’Hair, who won the Quail Hollow Championship in May. But Woods wasn’t in Houston. In fact, O’Hair is the only one of these three ever to beat Woods on the PGA Tour. Casey did outplay Woods at the 2006 World Match Play Championship on the European Tour, where he’s done most of the damage in his career, but that’s it. O’Hair beat Woods by two strokes at Quail Hollow.
The most recent man to triumph over Woods is U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover (33-1). He moved up from No. 71 to No. 18 in the rankings after winning his first major and his second PGA Tour event since turning pro in 2001. Flash in the pan, or just a really steep learning curve? Late-round television coverage will reveal all starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, on the Golf Channel for the first two rounds before moving to CBS this weekend.
Tiger Woods would be the heavy favorite if all of the top golfers in the world were playing at the AT&T National this weekend. The fact he's just one of four Top 10 golfers at the event just makes his chalk line a little thicker. The 7,255-yard Par 70 Blue Course at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, is the site for this week's PGA event with a $6 million purse and 500 FedExCup points on the line.
Welcome to the dog days of summer. It’s time for the lazier sports to take over – golf being about as leisurely as it gets. Mark Twain called it “a good walk spoiled,” but then again, Twain never got to play the swank Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md.
On Thursday, 120 men will tee off at Congressional for the third annual AT&T National, hosted by none other than Tiger Woods. He’s the prohibitive favorite at 3-2 to win his own event after missing out last year due to knee surgery. Defending champion Anthony Kim is 22-1; he has yet to win on the PGA Tour since taking last year’s National. The inaugural 2007 winner, K.J. Choi, is 40-1 and looking for his first Tour title since the 2008 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Woods finished sixth at the 2007 National, and he’s coming off a sixth-place finish at last month’s U.S. Open on Long Island – which matches his sixth-place finish at the Masters. Clearly the devil is at work here. Nothing but first place seems to be good enough for those who believe there are demons in Woods’ swing that can only be exorcised by firing swing coach Hank Haney.
Sharp handicappers are a bit more realistic about what they’re buying when they make a bet on Woods. He’s won two of his eight tournaments this year, which is consistent with his lifetime success rate of 29 percent. Taking Woods only at betting odds of 4-1 or longer would be one long-term approach; however, those odds are difficult to find these days. Woods has finished in the Top 10 in 18 of his last 19 events dating back to 2007, with an outstanding nine victories among them. Using that sample size, 5-2 odds or longer would have been profitable.
If there’s an argument for supporting Woods this week at 3-2, it’s the quality of the rest of the field. Only three other players from the official world’s Top 10 will be in action at Congressional: No. 3 Paul Casey, No. 9 Jim Furyk (16-1) and No. 10 Vijay Singh (33-1). Furyk is 0-for-45 on the Tour since the 2007 Canadian Open. Singh looks like a better value on paper at 0-for-17 dating back to the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship – if you ignore the fact that Singh’s three wins last year all happened while Woods was rehabbing his knee. Take away those three results, and Singh’s last Tour victory was 57 tournaments ago at the 2007 Arnold Palmer Invitational.
The other names at the top of the 2009 National odds list are a veritable Who’s That of the golf world. Hunter Mahan, who shares second-banana status with Furyk at 16-1, is the No. 39-ranked golfer on the planet. Not to take anything away from his talent level; Mahan finished tied with Woods at the U.S. Open, and has made the cut in all 16 of his Tour events thus far. But he hasn’t won any of them. Mahan’s first and only title was at the 2007 Travelers Championship, and Woods was not there.
Tied with Kim at 22-1 are Casey, who took first place in the Shell Houston Open in April, and Sean O’Hair, who won the Quail Hollow Championship in May. But Woods wasn’t in Houston. In fact, O’Hair is the only one of these three ever to beat Woods on the PGA Tour. Casey did outplay Woods at the 2006 World Match Play Championship on the European Tour, where he’s done most of the damage in his career, but that’s it. O’Hair beat Woods by two strokes at Quail Hollow.
The most recent man to triumph over Woods is U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover (33-1). He moved up from No. 71 to No. 18 in the rankings after winning his first major and his second PGA Tour event since turning pro in 2001. Flash in the pan, or just a really steep learning curve? Late-round television coverage will reveal all starting at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, on the Golf Channel for the first two rounds before moving to CBS this weekend.
