HSBC Champions Tour Golf betting

The HSBC Champions trophy starts tomorrow in Shanghai at the Sheshan International. The course is 7,199 yards long and Par 72, with 78 players competing and $7 million in prize money up for grabs. Obstacles litter the course, with pine forests and difficult bunkers, many holes featuring canals, lakes or the quarry, fifty metres deep, over which holes 16 and 17 are played.

Tiger Woods is favourite for the tournament, as ever, at 15/8 (bet $80 to win $50 profit). He is followed by former winner Phil Mickelson at 12/1 and Padraig Harrington at 18/1. Lee Westwood at 22/1 is just ahead of another former winner, Sergio Garcia, who is available at 25/1. Other notable contenders are former winner Yong-Eun Yang at 66/1 and future prospects Rory McIlroy, age 20, at 33/1 and Ryo Ishikawa, age 18, at 80/1.

Woods has played in this tournament twice before and both times finished runner-up, and returns now after missing the last two events due to injury. His most recent activity was to win five points out of five over the four days of the Presidents Cup. Tiger has not been playing much golf recently,however, and his previous second-place efforts have come against fields inferior to the one faces this time around, making the value of 15/8 uncertain.

Phil Mickelson is one of three previous winners taking part and has been on good form, noticeably shining in the Presidents Cup and Tour Championship. His win in 2007 has been described as fortunate, due to Ross Fisher double-bogeying when he needed only a bogey to win. However, his finish of eighth last year shows that he is a strong contender on this course and is much bigger than Woods at 13/1.

Lee Westwood came third in his last two Majors and  deservedly won the Portugal Masters after his consistently strong performances this year. His only problem came in the matchplay when he was uncharacteristically weak against Jeev Singh but he can put this behind him and if he plays to his best could prove good value at 22/1.

Ryo Ishikawa was another top performer at the Presidents Cup, winning three points out of five, and the youngster is one of the hottest prospects in golf. He will be competing with another top youngster in Rory McIlroy, who hopes to add to his over four million dollars in career prize money.

The tournament begins early tomorrow morning. If Woods is on the top of his game it seems unlikely that anyone will be able to stop him. However, there are seventy-seven top golfers who will try.