USPGA Championship 2008 betting

The fourth Major of the year starts Thursday and with no Tiger Woods it really is anyone’s tournament.

So how do you pick a winner? We’ve consulted top betting experts Betfair to find out who’s worth picking as a straight up bet, or even for your own Fantasy golf league player (remember your last chance to change your team for the last event of our Summer Fantasy League is before the event starts on Thursday morning!).

The event gets  underway at Oakland Hills this Thursday and, if it’s anything like The Open, Masters or US Open, we’ll be in for some dramatic betting on Betfair.

Put simply, Betfair’s odds are the most fluid and fair available thanks to the unique way the betting exchange operates.

The website’s customers back and lay bets at the prices they want to take or offer in the market. If a price doesn’t suit you can ask for bigger or smaller too see if you are ‘matched’ against another Betfair customer. With thousands of punters using the site prices move fast and the competition helps to avoid the inflated prices of the average bookmaker. Most Betfair markets run from before the tournament starts to the moment the last putt rolls in, making for huge fluctuations in prices over the course of the four days.

This year’s majors have already provided some staggering drama with huge prices matched on some of the world’s top players.

With injury talk surrounding Padraig Harrington, the 2007 Open champion stood on the first tee at Royal Birkdale a 69-1 shot – some way from the 20-1 available with the High St bookies – before he hit an enormous 149-1 after taking bogey on the opening hole. Of course, those punters who stood by the 2007 champion were the winners on Sunday night when the Irishman lifted the trophy again.

So, on to the USPGA then – what might be the best bets for this year’s fourth major?

Pro-punter Paul Krishnamurty, in his columns on the http://betting.betfair.com/ website, has highlighted a number of bets for the tournament, including a quartet of top-class players who could be kissing the Wanamaker trophy on Sunday night. Should 2007 Master champ Zach Johnson really be a 109-1 shot for the USPGA? Angel Cabrera was also a major winner last year, is the 179-1 available on him a generous price?

Of course there are plenty of other ways to bet if you don’t want to pick the winner. Missing the cut, leading after the first round and top European are just three examples of the scores of markets available.

Whichever one you choose there’ll probably be betting drama – it appears to be the Betfair way! Betfair offer a £25 FREE BET on the USPGA, click here to claim it.

Pre-Tournament 2008 USPGA Winner Odds, Market Leaders: 11-1 Phil Mickelson; 21-1 Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh; 25-1 Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood; 27-1 Jim Furyk; 29-1 Retief Goosen, Ernie Els; 33-1 Anthony Kim; 37-1 Adam Scott; 43-1 Stewart Cink, Geoff Ogilvy; 47-1 Kenny Perry.

Betfair offer a £25 FREE BET on the USPGA, click here to claim it.’
http://promo.betfair.com/sports/uk/summer08/?rfr=6402&sid=1