in Golf Articles

Els the favorite

Golfers around the world continue to fine-tune their games for the , takes place at Loch Lomond Golf Club north of Glasgow. Loch Lomond, renowned as one of the top courses in the world, always attracts a strong field for its annual European Tour event. Here are the odds to win this year’s edition of the Scottish Open:

Odds to Win Scottish Open

Ernie Els --- +1200
Luke Donald --- +1400  

Retief Goosen --- +1400  

Tim Clark --- +1600  

David Howell --- +1600

Angel Cabrera --- +2000

Darren Clarke --- +2000

Sergio Garcia --- +2000  

Colin Montgomerie --- +2000  

Jose Maria Olazabal --- +2500  

Ian Poulter --- +2500  

Lee Westwood --- +2800  

Thomas Bjorn --- +3000  

Carl Pettersson --- +3000  

Fredrik Jacobson --- +4000

Paul McGinley --- +4000

Fred Couples --- +5000  

Bradley Dredge --- +5000  

Tom Lehman --- +5000

Stephen Dodd --- +6600

Simon Dyson --- +6600  

Anders Hansen --- +6600  

Graeme McDowell --- +6600  

Paul Broadhurst --- +8000  

Kenneth Ferrie --- +8000   

The favored Els (+1200) won the Scottish Open in both 2000 and 2003. The defending tournament champion is Clark (+1600), while other past winners in this year’s field include Goosen (+1400), Montgomerie (+2000), Westwood (+2800), Lehman (+5000), and Bjorn (+3000). Howell (+1600) is the current European Tour Order of Merit leader.

Goosen is the highest-ranked golfer in this year’s Scottish Open field, as the South Africa native is at No. 4 on the current World Golf Ranking. Other listed Loch Lomond participants currently sitting in the world’s Top 50 include Els (8), Garcia (9), Howell (10), Donald (12), Montgomerie (13), Olazabal (14), Clark (17), Clarke (21), Pettersson (27), Bjorn (29), Couples (31), Cabrera (34), McGinley (44), and Lehman (47).

The expected field isn’t nearly as strong for this week’s PGA Tour stop, the at TPC at Deere Run in Illinois. Sean O’Hair won the John Deere Classic last season, and oddsmakers have pegged him at +2800 odds to repeat as the tournament champ in 2006. Here are the odds to win this year’s edition of the John Deere Classic:

Odds to Win John Deere Classic

Zach Johnson --- +1800  

Jason Bohn --- +2000  

Ben Crane --- +2000  

Steve Stricker --- +2000  

Bo Van Pelt --- +2000  

Shigeki Maruyama --- +2500  

Sean O’Hair --- +2800  

Chris DiMarco --- +3000  

Heath Slocum --- +3000  

Steve Flesch --- +3300  

Ryan Moore --- +3300  

Jeff Sluman --- +3300  

Camilo Villegas --- +3300  

Woody Austin --- +4000  

Hunter Mahan --- +4000  

Billy Mayfair --- +4000  

Justin Rose --- +4000  

John Senden --- +4000  

Daniel Chopra --- +5000  

Nathan Green --- +5000  

Charley Hoffman --- +5000  

Steve Lowery --- +5000  

Kirk Triplett --- +5000  

Joe Ogilvie --- +6600   

The oddsmakers’ favorite here, Johnson (+1800), is currently listed at No. 36 in the World Rankings. DiMarco (+3000) and Crane (+2000) also are sitting in the Top 50 of the current edition of the World Rankings - DiMarco is No. 22, while Crane is No. 43.

However, the most notable name in the John Deere Classic field doesn’t even play on tour - and that’s Michelle Wie. The Hawaiian teenager has accepted a tournament invitation to take part, just as she did last year when she almost became the first woman to make the cut in a PGA event in 60 years; Wie finished two strokes below the cut line.

Wie has failed in her four other attempts to reach the weekend in a PGA Tour event - three times at the Sony Open, and last year at the John Deere Classic. The 16-year-old was knocked out of the Women’s World Match Play Championship in the quarterfinals last week, and finished in a tie for third at the U.S. Women’s Open the previous week.

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