Fans still favoring Woods - Tiger, Els each 13-2 to win British Open

[clevfan]

Wednesday, July 14, 2004
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

Fans still favoring Woods


Tiger, Els each 13-2 to win British Open

By MATT YOUMANS
REVIEW-JOURNAL

One of the world's best golfers, Ernie Els has a big following. But his entourage doesn't include a Swedish model, a camera-crushing caddie and countless blind sheep who still bet on him to win every major.

Tiger Woods would win a popularity contest. He will share the favorite's role in the British Open with Els, though.

Las Vegas Hilton oddsmaker Jeff Sherman has made Els and Woods 13-2 co-favorites to win the year's third major, which begins Thursday at Royal Troon in Scotland.

Woods' winless streak in majors is at eight, and based on his erratic play this season he probably doesn't deserve to be favored. But his reputation outweighs the results.

"Els looks like the starting point of the tournament. He has just performed better than Tiger in recent majors," Sherman said. "These are almost unprecedented odds on Tiger. We can't go too high on Tiger's odds because we still take our fair share of bets on him. He always has his backers."

Els has finished in the top three in three of the past four years at the British Open, winning it in 2002. He also tied for third in last week's tuneup event, the Scottish Open.

Although the British Open is often the most unpredictable of the majors, that won't stop some bettors from guessing that Woods will end his slump.

"Tiger hasn't played to the standard we're used to seeing, but he does have a lot of top 10 finishes," Sherman said.

Several matchups are posted for the tournament, and the most noticeable one has Els as a minus-120 favorite over Woods. Proposition bets are offered on the finish position for each player, with Els at 6 1/2 and Woods at 7 1/2.

In two other high-profile matchups, Vijay Singh is a minus-130 favorite over U.S. Open champ Retief Goosen, and Sergio Garcia opened a slight favorite over Masters winner Phil Mickelson but both players are now minus-110.

The odds on Mickelson, who missed the cut at the Scottish Open, and Singh are 10-1, followed by Goosen (14-1) and Garcia (16-1).

Sherman (golfodds.com) recommends betting matchups, props or looking for a long shot to win.

Further down the board, it could be worth taking a shot with Padraig Harrington (20-1), Stephen Ames (30-1), Mike Weir (35-1), Jim Furyk (40-1), Thomas Bjorn (75-1) and defending champ Ben Curtis (150-1).

Another intriguing player is Michael Campbell, 75-1 despite finishing second in the Scottish Open.

"A lot of these guys you can find between 40-1 and 75-1 might put you in position to win come Sunday," Sherman said.

Three former UNLV players also qualify as long shots -- Adam Scott (30-1), Chad Campbell (40-1) and Chris Riley (125-1). Sherman said Scott has been a popular pick for bettors this week.



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