Golf odds: Crowne Plaza Invitational

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

Sports Betting at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook

What's mainly notable about this week's PGA Tour stop, the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, is that it might be the last PGA tournament before Tiger Woods returns.

Woods, recovering from knee surgery, targeted next week's Memorial as his return from the April 15 procedure so he could get his game in shape before the U.S. Open. The deadline to enter the Memorial is Friday, so we'll know soon enough.

As far as the week, world No. 2 Phil Mickelson leads the field at Colonial, the first time he has played this event since 2005.

Mickelson (the +325 betting favorite on WagerWeb.com) won here in 2000 and finished runner-up the following year. He has only missed the cut here once in 11 starts.

The defending champion is Rory Sabbatini (+1100), but it seems unwise to bet on him repeating this week. He finished third at the Buick Invitational early in the season on the California Swing but contracted the flu the following week and hasn't been the same since, including missing two cuts in his last five events.

"By the time I got to the end of the West Coast Swing at the end of the Match Play, I was having a hard time walking 18 holes," said Sabbatini, whose best finish since was a tie for 27th at The Players two weeks ago. "That kind of wiped me out and took away a lot of my energy and focus. Maybe some things just crept into my game that weren't there to start with, and I've just kind of tried to work those bugs back out of the system.

"We're close, we're getting there. It feels like the ballstriking is there, feel like I'm hitting it well. We've just got to get everything clicking together."

Since the inaugural event in 1946, only Ben Hogan has managed to return the following year and win.

 

Jim Furyk (+550) lost in the playoff to Sabbatini last year and is usually strong at Colonial, with two top-10 finishes from his last three starts.

Justin Leonard always plays well in Texas, and he has five top-10 career finishes at Colonial over the years - he has never missed the cut in Fort Worth and has nine top-20s. His +2800 listing on WagerWeb.com might be the best value bet.

Kenny Perry (+875) nearly won at The Players and last week at the AT&T Classic and has two wins at Colonial (2003, 2005).

There's been only one multiple winner (Tiger Woods) through the first 22 events of the PGA Tour season. That's the longest the Tour has gone without producing two multiple winners since the 2002 season when it took 26 events to produce a second.

Incidentally, Colonial Country Club has played host to the tournament since its inception in 1946. Only one event on Tour has been around longer and never moved, and that's the Masters at Augusta.

EUROPEAN TOUR: The Euro Tour's marquee event, the BMW PGA Championship, is also this weekend, meaning some of the world's best players are playing on that side of the pond instead of in Texas.

Ernie Els (+700 betting favorite on WagerWeb.com) is ready to end a drought at Wentworth. The world No. 3 has won a record seven World Match Play titles at Wentworth, but has never claimed the BMW PGA Championship over the same course in 12 attempts.

If not Els, then Angel Cabrera (+1800) might be the man to beat this week. The 2005 champion's game is tailor made for the West Course at Wentworth, with long-hitting supplemented by the ability to produce lofted approach shots to receptive greens. Plus, he was the World Match Play runner-up at this course last year.

Other big names competing in England are Vijay Singh, Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Luke Donald. Defending champ Justin Rose also is here.

However, British Open champion Padraig Harrington is skipping the event (and the PGA Tour stop) to prepare for next month's U.S. Open.