Betting Odds on the 2005 PGA Tour

Defending champion Stuart Appleby, Player of the Year Vijay Singh, Masters champion Phil Mickelson, breakthrough winner John Daly and resurgent Tiger Woods are among the qualifiers for the winners-only, 2005 PGA Tour opening Mercedes Championships, scheduled for Jan. 8-11 at the Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui, Hawaii.

Most sportsbooks will be offering betting odds on the 2005 PGA Tour as it approaches. Betting golf is fun and often profitable since you can place wagers on individual golfers.

"As a book manager, golf is an enigma," comments Calvin Ayre, CEO and founder of Bodog.com, an internetbetting firm out of San Jose, Costa Rica. "The sport represents a books' ideal target market, as golfers tend to be Internet savvy and affluent. I am sure most golfers wouldn't pay $50 to play basketball, baseball or football for four hours but they think nothing of dropping that much, or several times that much, to play a round every weekend. Also, golfers are natural bettors."

"Every time I've been out (which isn't often as I'm cheap and suck at the sport) my playing partners always want to bet on longest drive, closest to the pin, skins, etc. Money changes hands on almost every hole on a golf course and golf ratings on TV have been very good in recent years, but still for some reason golf betting just hasn't exploded the way I think it could."

And why aren't more people betting on events such as the 2005 PGA Tour event in Kapalua?

"Most do not want to tie their money up for four days at a time," explained Ayre. "In the last year, some books, including us, have started offering head-to-head match-ups for individual rounds of major tournaments. Although there is more unpredictability with a single round than there is with an entire tournament, bettors have embraced this format and I would expect the trend to continue."

Anything involving Tiger Woods is bound to grab attention and betting on golf events that feature Woods surely draws more than the casual fan.

Watch for betting odds on the 2005 PGA Tour from your favorite sportsbooks.