Tiger Woods returns to the PGA links for the first time since October at Torrey Pines in the Buick Invitational.
I spent more time watching last Sunday's final round of the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic than the Bears-Saints game for two reasons: The football game was mostly boring and the outcome didn't seem terribly important anyway because the winner of the other championship game is probably going to be the winner of the Super Bowl, and because the golf tournament got interesting with whipping winds and pars hard to come by.
Still, though, seeing more of George Lopez and friends and less of the professionals all week continued to be a frustrating experience for this viewer. Nick Faldo didn't help matters by fawning over his latest friend of the week. I'm pretty sure the Golf Channel replayed Faldo knocking over the Lopez bobble head doll in the booth more than ESPN played Colts-Patriots highlights all week in the run-up to the big game.
They also told us at least once a day that Samuel L. Jackson has a clause in his movie contracts that allows him to golf during shooting.
This could be a long year of golf viewing. The good news is that after Pebble Beach in a few weeks we don't have to see the amateurs again until next year. And at least with Pebble Beach we get to see one of the great courses in the world. When I look at the courses in Palm Springs, I think United Arab Emirates.
Last week: Robert Allenby shot a 63 for the lead after Wednesday's opening round of the Bob Hope. Then it was three straight days of staying around rather than taking hold of the tournament, and by Sunday afternoon he was too far out of it to have a chance. In fact, I stopped watching the leaderboard for his outright chances and was more concerned about Nathan Green who I'd bet against in the head-to-head with Allenby. It got too close for comfort but the head-to-head win secured me another winning week, albeit a modest one.
In this week's Buick Invitational, Take Tiger Woods (7-4), 1/6 unit: Tempted to put the half unit on Tiger rather than make three outright bets. He's going for seven in a row on Tour, but there's the time off question mark. The payoff difference should he win is not significant given the short odds, so the slight chance he won't win and one of the two below will (each at 40-1) seems a reasonable gamble.
Take Nathan Green (40-1), 1/6 unit: Green hung in all week in Palm Springs but shot a 75 on Sunday (not a terrible number given the wind and inflated scores). He's off to a solid start in 2007, following a strong start to his rookie campaign last year, in which he finished fifth in the Sony Open and in a tie for second at the Buick Invitational.
Take Lucas Glover (40-1), 1/6 unit: Glover's coming off a 13th-place tie at the Bob Hope, and he played well to start last year, too, including a top five finish at Torrey Pines.
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Brian Gabrielle: The Buick Invitational
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