Golf odds: U.S. Open

By Jordan Walters
WagerWeb.com Contributing Writer

Sports Betting at WagerWeb Online Sportsbook

The two WagerWeb.com betting favorites for next week's U.S. Open will see plenty of each other the first two days at Torrey Pines: World No. 1 Tiger Woods and No. 2 Phil Mickelson will be paired together in Rounds 1 and 2- along with World No. 3 Adam Scott.

Woods and Mickelson played together once before at the U.S. Open, in the 1999's third round at Pinehurst. Tiger and Phil were famously teamed up unsuccessfully at the 2004 Ryder Cup.

Woods, who had surgery on his left knee two days after finishing second at The Masters, had not played a round since Augusta before Wednesday at Torrey, when he got in 17 holes, picking up his ball about 100 yards from the 18th green after seeing that a group of people had begun to gather.

Woods reportedly played for just over three hours under tight security.

"It went well," Tiger's swing coach, Hank Haney, said in a telephone interview. "He hit the ball really well. It was definitely a positive day."

 

Haney said Woods didn't keep score, and he often tossed golf balls in the rough to see what kind of options he would have.

"In the deep stuff, it's a sand wedge, maybe a 9-iron at the most," Haney said. "We were messing around on No. 10 and he tried to hit a 5-wood. Even when the grass is deep, if you open the face and hit a cut, you might scoot it 150 yards. It's quite a sight to see Tiger 165 yards from the pin with a 5-wood."

Meanwhile, back to the Open pairings, Ernie Els, Justin Rose and Geoff Ogilvy make up another trio. Stewart Cink, Sergio Garcia and Vijay Singh will be together. And K.J. Choi, Jim Furyk and Steve Stricker make up the other big-name grouping.

The top 12 players in the world will be accounted for in the four groups.

Mike Davis, the senior director of rules and competition for the USGA, said the top 12 players will be grouped together and spread over the four various time slots -- starting on the first tee or 10th tee in the morning, and first tee or 10th tee in the afternoon.

The biggest stars usually are dispersed among the morning and afternoon times, largely at the behest of television. Davis said the USGA has been thinking about a major change over the past few months and decided to give it a try.