PGA Tour – Paddy the Golf Betting Favorite to Win This Week’s Travelers Championship

Padraig Harrington is the favorite in the golf sportsbook to win this week’s Travelers Championship.  Harrington, who is coming off of a 22nd place finish with a 9 over 293 at the U.S. Open, hasn’t won a tournament yet on the PGA Tour this year.

His best finish was a 3rd at the WGC-CA in March, but because of name recognition, and the fact that he will be the most accomplished golfer in the field, Paddy is the golf betting fave in the sportsbook.

Is he the best bet in the sportsbook to win the Travelers Championship?

• PGA Tour: Travelers Championship
• Where: TPC River Highlands, Cromwell, Connecticut
• When: June 24th thru June 27th, 2010
• TV:  The Golf Channel and CBS

To Win

Best Golf Bet A:  Hunter Mahan +1800

Mahan has had amazing success at the Travelers Championship.  In the past four years, he’s won the tournament once, finished 2nd twice, and finished 4th last year.  He’s the all-time money leader at TPC River Highlands. 

He’s not a lock to win this week, however, as he has missed the cut in his last 3 tournaments started.  He also finished 50th at the Byron Nelson Championship.  To say that he’s not going into the Travelers sharp is an understatement.  Past history says he’ll come up big in the tournament.

Best Golf Bet B:  Matt Kuchar +2200

Kuchar hasn’t won a tournament yet in 2010 but he’s had some seriously good finishes.  For instance, he finished 8th at the Memorial, took a week off, and then finished 6th at the U.S. Open.  He’s also 3rd in the all-around ranking on the PGA Tour and ranked 10th in ball-striking.  His game has come around.  At the golf odds, Kuchar must be considered for a win bet.

Worst Golf Wager:  Padraig Harrington +1200

This is based on the golf odds only.  Paddy hasn’t played horribly in 2010 but he hasn’t exactly been lighting things up, either.  Harrington’s game always seems to come around once we approach summer and it might come around this week meaning that the low odds on him to win are justified, but I don’t think so.  Paddy’s playing every week with St. Andrews in his sights.  He wants another British Open trophy and this field is tougher than it looks.  At the golf odds, I have to pass on betting on Paddy to win the Travelers.  Again, that doesn’t mean he won’t do it; it just means that he’s not offering value in the sportsbook.

Best Underdog Golf Bet:  Bubba Watson +4500

He’s ranked 6th in birdies on par 4’s and 2nd in birdie average.  More importantly, he shot a 63 in the final round of the Travelers Championship in 2009 to finish at -13 and in 14th place.  If he can shoot close to a 63 for all 4 rounds this week, he could very well win the tournament at those juicy 50 to 1 golf odds.

Others to Consider

Justin Rose +1600 – - 3 Top 20 finishes in 6 starts at TPC River Highlands means that the Memorial Tournament winner has a shot.

Scott Verplank +3500 – - Shot a course record (which he shares with 4 other golfers) 61 at TPC River Highlands in the past and is ranked 7th in putting on the PGA Tour in 2010.
 
Bo Van Pelt +2500 – - Finished in 9th place in 2009 and 6th in 2007.  He also leads the PGA Tour in ball-striking.

Ryan Moore +2500 – - Finished in 4th place at the Travelers in 2009 and finished in 2nd place in 2006.

This week the PGA Tour heads to Cromwell, Connecticut for the Travelers Championship!  Log onto the golf sportsbook and bet the Travelers!