Golf Betting: Order of Merit shakes down overseas
by Shawn Sillinger
The big event on the golf calendar takes place overseas this weekend, as the European Tour stages the 2006 Volvo Masters at the Valderrama Golf Course in southern
Since the Volvo Masters is the final official event of the year, the European Tour Order of Merit will be on the line this weekend. The Order of Merit (awarded to the tour’s money leader at the end of the season) is down to just four contenders: Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington, David Howell, and Robert Karlsson. Here’s how the standings sit right now:
1 Paul Casey (ENG) ˆ2,409,242
2 Padraig Harrington (IRL) ˆ2,191,057
3 David Howell (ENG) ˆ2,166,366
4 Robert Karlsson (SWE) ˆ2,000,093
Obviously, then, a victory this weekend at Valderrama Golf Course by any of those four golfers would greatly boost their chances of winning this season’s Order of Merit. And of that quartet, oddsmakers like Harrington’s chances the best - he’s listed at +1200 odds to come out on top on Sunday afternoon. Casey is just a shade back, at +1400 odds, with Howell farther down the list at +2200, and Karlsson the biggest longshot at +2500.
The tournament favorite, though, is someone not even in contention for the Order of Merit, due to the amount of time he plays in the United States. Sergio Garcia is sitting at the top of the list at +550 odds, and there’s nothing he’d love more than to win in Spain to end the season. Garcia has never won the Volvo Masters, but he did finish as the runner-up in both 2004 and 2005. He’s currently sitting ninth in the world rankings.
Luke Donald, currently eighth in the world rankings, is just back of Garcia at +700 odds. Last year’s Volvo Masters champion, Paul McGinley, is pegged at +3600 odds, while 2004 winner Ian Poulter is sitting up at +1400 odds. Here are the rest of the top odds.
Odds to Win 2006 Volvo Masters
Sergio Garcia --- +550
Luke Donald --- +700
Padraig Harrington --- +1200
Paul Casey --- +1400
Ian Poulter --- +1400
Henrik Stenson --- +1600
Colin Montgomerie --- +1900
Angel Cabrera --- +2200
Bradley Dredge --- +2200
David Howell --- +2200
Lee Westwood --- +2200
Niclas Fasth --- +2500
Robert Karlsson --- +2500
Jose Maria Olazabal --- +2500
Thomas Björn --- +3600
Paul McGinley --- +3600
Miguel Angel Jimenez --- +4500
Anthony Wall --- +4500
Paul Broadhurst --- +6000
Simon Dyson --- +6000
Johan Edfors --- +6000
Richard Green --- +6000
Anders Hansen --- +6000
Simon Khan --- +6000
Soren Kjeldsen --- +6000
Jose Manuel Lara --- +6000
Charl Schwartzel --- +6000
Back on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, the PGA Tour will be staging the Chrysler Championship at Westin Innisbrook Golf Resort in Tampa Bay, Florida this weekend. Next weekend many of golf’s best will be teeing it up at The Tour Championship, which is being held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. The purse for that event (which runs November 2-5) will be $6.5 million. Tiger Woods (oops again) has not been confirmed.
