PPH Golf Betting – Will Tiger Woods Play?
Guess what, WagerHome.com golf bettors? We've got some real drama for you heading into this year's last major golf championship, and it's as much about who is NOT going to be at Valhalla Country Club in Louisville than who is actually going to be teeing it up.
First, the most notable casualty needs to be explored. Or should we say "probable" casualty? Tiger Woods, who has not been playing very good golf since returning from his back injury, apparently is not going to be ready to make post on Thursday.
Firestone is like a second home to Tiger, as he has won there eight times. But on Sunday it was a house of horrors in Akron as he labored through about six or seven holes before calling it quits on the ninth. It appears as if the strain from hitting a mammoth tee shot of over 300 yards was the last straw, as he had been going through spasms in his back, and just left the course, going down in the record books as a "withdrawal."
Not only did this put his appearance in the PGA Championship (Tiger won at Valhalla in 2000) in serious doubt, it also impacts his ability to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs, AND damages his viability as a possible captain's pick of Tom Watson's for the Ryder Cup team. WagerHome.com customers who follow golf betting realize this is serious business, as the back is always trickier then the knee (with which he has also had problems). And most people watching him go through all of this have almost forgotten that he won five times on tour in 2013 and was the Player of the Year. He is still listed in the WagerHome odds at +2500 to win the PGA.
WagerHome.com customers can not be sure whether Dustin Johnson is upset that Tiger has stolen his thunder, but Johnson's absence from the PGA Championship, as well as the tour itself for the next six months, is much uglier and has even taken a bizarre turn. He has announced that he was taking a hiatus from the tour to deal with "personal challenges," and then it was revealed that the PGA Tour had suspended him for a positive cocaine test - the third positive drug test of his career.
Then more rumors came to light; namely that Johnson had engaged a couple of wives of PGA Tour pros in extra-marital affairs, including one that broke up a marriage. The name of Will MacKenzie, who has five top ten finishes, including a second place at the Valero Texas Open, was mentioned. However, his wife Alli refutes all of this, saying that she and her husband were separated before the night of any alleged indiscretion on her part. It sounds like a "non-denial denial."
She added that her husband "doesn't need to go into a major with this bulls**t." MacKenzie's price in the PPH golf betting odds to win the PGA is 100-to-1 at WagerHome.com.
Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy, who won the British Open rather impressively just a few weeks back, is taking a full head of steam into the PGA after overtaking Sergio Garcia in the final round to win the Bridgestone Invitational at Firestone, part of the World Championship of Golf series. Like it was in the British Open, he bested Garcia by two shots. And McIlroy, who is the solid favorite this week at WagerHome (+400), is back in the #1 spot in the Official World Golf Ranking. But Garcia, who's never won a major, should be dangerous this week, as he has finished as a runner-up twice in this particular major, which is almost always played in brutal heat. He is third choice at +1200 in the golf odds.
And guess who shot lights-out on Sunday? Phil Mickelson, the 2005 PGA champ, nailed ten birdies for a 62 and told reporters afterward that he regarded his attitude toward his chances at Valhalla to be "astronomically better than it was 24 hours ago." He's gotten support, as WagerHome lists him at +2000 this week.
No, Tiger won't likely be there, unless there's a miracle, but this will be interesting anyway, because the torch may have been passed to the "next" Tiger.
What do you think? Let us know by joining the discussion.
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- Charles Jay, Gambling911.com
