Golf’s second major, the U.S. Open odds begins on Thursday with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson the co-favorites at SBG Global.

That’s right, those two are the favorites coming to the 2010 U.S. Open golf tournament. Phil Mickelson won the first major of the season, the Masters, a couple of months ago and now he tries for the second one of the year.

The odds on the board may favor Phil Mickelson but history does not. Only six times in history has a player won the first two legs of golf’s Grand Slam. Craig Wood did it back in 1941, Ben Hogan in 1951 and 1953, Arnold Palmer in 1960, Jack Nicklaus in 1972 and Tiger Woods in 2002.

Mickelson has won four majors in his career but none in his home state of California. He loves Pebble Beach as he has won the Pro-Am tournament a few times. Mickelson could take over the number one ranking in the world if he is able to win this week.

Tiger Woods is still the number one player in the world even though he has not played well this year. The last time the U.S. Open betting was held at Pebble Beach was ten years ago and Woods won by an amazing 15 shots. He is not the same player he was ten years ago and although he is a co-favorite with Mickelson, that honor is based on his reputation, not his recent play.

The defending U.S. Open champion is Lucas Glover and…

Looks like somebody still wants to milk sports’ biggest cash cow.

Having initially approached Tiger Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg (IMG), in January, then, as requested, again in March by fax, BodogBrand are now at a stage to resubmit a third offer that is unique in sponsorship terms as it includes a ‘no moral judgement clause’.

In case you didn’t know, both BodogBrand and Irish bookmaker Paddy Power submitted an offer to sponsor Tiger Woods earlier this year. However unlike BodogBrand, Paddy Power were turned down. We assume this is because the brand fit is wrong.

With divorce looming and other speculation growing, BodogBrand have now retailored their sponsorship offer and are now pleased to submit a first ever ‘no moral conditions’ offer whereby the $100,000,000 five-year deal will be honored without condition on the player’s moral conduct.

With divorce an increasingly likely outcome and speculation about a multitude of other ’sins,’ BodogBrand feel they are the only ones who can extend a deal that will be totally unaffected by any non-golf related activity but in fact actively encourages endorsees, employees and customers alike to ‘Play Hard.’

BodogBrand is reportedly happy to sponsor and help…

Heeere comes Tiger.

Considered as golf’s most famous and prestigious tournament, the 2010 Augusta Masters will be extra special this year because, obviously, everybody will be anxious to see the return of Tiger Woods since news of his adultery broke out last Thanksgiving.

The anticipation of the return of Tiger Woods could make this year’s Masters the most watched golf tournament in television history. Can Tiger reclaim his throne on top of the food chain? Can he recapture the greatness he once had before all the controversy? And most importantly, can Tiger win the 2010 Masters?

We have quite a few names to throw at you as far as who we think CAN win this year’s tournament in Augusta, starting off with probably the odds-on favorite to win it this year and surprisingly, he’s not Tiger Woods.

Ernie Els is the overwhelming favorite. The field is as wide open as it’s been in over a decade, but Els seems to have found his game again. He won twice in March with wins at the WGC-CA Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He clearly has momentum going for him and it’ll be interesting to see how much he fares in this tournament with Tiger Woods back.

We also have Anthony Kim. He was so close to becoming the next great American player. He held off Vaughn Taylor in a playoff to win the Shell Houston Open. Kim is a confident player, and he is one of the players who come into the majors playing well. Last year he set the record for 11 birdies in a round at the Masters. He has a great shot at the title this year.

Of course, we also have to throw Phil Mickelson in there. Mickelson has…

In case you haven’t heard, Woods is trying to get his life back together now that he’s back together again with his wife.

That’s right, Elin Nordegren has agreed to return with Tiger Woods to their Isleworth home in Florida like they just woke up from a bad dream, an expensive one at that, pretending like nothing happened. This is probably Tiger’s first step towards rebuilding what was once a very clean image that will probably win him the presidency if he ever wanted to run for office.

Of course, Tiger Woods knows he has to come back at the top of his golf game first and he intends to spend the coming weeks practicing his swings while probably flirting with sponsors to get the endorsement deals he lost through this ordeal. Having his wife and family aboard is what the sponsors want anyway and now that Tiger has ‘em again on his side, all he can do now is hope guys like Gatorade and Gillette takes him back.

”The marriage is all smoke and mirrors, but Elin will help Tiger rebuild his image and gain new sponsorships because this is what his life is all about, she is doing this more for the kids and holding the family together then anything else,” a source said.

Woods, the source believes, will not come back to the world of golf until he can once again knock down 100-foot putts. Since he has been away from his daily routine, he will need to practice a lot more to return to where he was before news about his infidelity broke out.

”Tiger is a super jock, but it takes time to go back when you have been away from it. I am not sure he will be ready for either the Masters or even the U.S. Open. He will know when he is ready, and then he had better knock ‘em dead,” the source said.

As for his wife, sources say she is a major asset to his…

In case you haven’t noticed, he has yet to bag his first major of the year.

Although Tiger Woods won this past weekend’s WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, he is batting .000 at golf majors this year. Tiger finished sixth at the Masters and the U.S. Open and missed the cut at the British Open.

With the final major of the year, the 2009 PGA Championship, beginning on Thursday, you can be sure Tiger will be gunning for the top; as always he is the odds-on favorite to win at +140 from the posted golf betting odds at SPORTSBETTING.COM.

While Tiger hasn’t won a major, he has had a solid year in 2009, picking off a few tournaments as he comes back from knee surgery. And if it means anything, Tiger enters the last major of the year having won his last two consecutive tournaments, the Bridgestone and the Buick Open (making it five wins in 2009).

While Woods missed last year’s event, he did win the last two PGA Championships before that (2006 and 2007).

Meanwhile, Padraig Harrington blew up late in his final round last week, handing the Bridgestone Invitational to Woods. He now heads to Hazeltine National Golf Club in Chaska, Minnesota as the defending champ of PGA championship. Online sportsbooks have him listed at +1000 to defend his title.

With the exception of last weekend’s second place finish…

With all the rain delays, you probably thought you’d never see the end.

Lucas Glover completed a 3-foot par putt on the 18th hole to finish the 2009 U.S. Open as the golf tournament’s 109th champion. Yup, it was an anticlimactic finish to an otherwise very boring series of days playing golf on a soaked field.

Well, to be honest, every time Tiger Woods doesn’t end up with the trophy on any golf tournament, the finish would always be anticlimactic anyway. And in a stage that usually belongs to Phil Mickelson, a new star has just been born at Bethpage Black.

If fans had no idea who Lucas Glover was before he won the 109th U.S. Open, you can bet your ass they have one now. He never lost the lead in the final 12 holes despite the fact that he had absolutely nobody rooting for him when all the attention was on Mickelson.

It did look like Phil Mickelson would be having one heckuva Cinderella finish. With his wife battling breast cancer, Mickelson was the emotional favorite at Bethpage Black. The fairy-tale finish he was suppose to have turned all too familiar when he missed two very makable par putts over the last four holes to settle once again as second best.

That second place finish gave Mickelson the wrong…

Because watching people dressed in stupid outfits play golf is just too boring.

The best golfers in the world, including the always popular matchup between Tiger and Phil, will be on display at the 2009 U.S. Open. With the NBA Finals over and baseball the only ”major” sport left on the card, sports bettors have turned their attention to other events and golf is certainly one of them.

When the US Open odds and prop betting options hit the board, bettors started taking their shots. As one might expect, Tiger Woods was the center of attention for the sports betting public at online sportsbooks.

If you’re looking to add some fun to this year’s tournament and win some free cash, check out the ”US Open Pick The Winners” contest. It’s free, easy and you can win a lot of dough.

Included in the contest matchups is who will win between Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Woods comes into the 2009 U.S. Open on a winning note as he won the Memorial Tournament in Ohio two weeks ago. He hasn’t won a major this year, and at SPORTSBETTING.COM, he is listed at +125 to win no majors, +138 to win 1, +400 to take 2 and +2000 to capture the U.S. and British Opens as well as the PGA championship.

Betting volume has come in this week on…

We’ll see soon enough if Tiger Woods is really back to his old form.

The 2009 U.S. Open Championship golf tournament promises to be an exhilarating test of pure skill as current US Open champion, Tiger Woods, is determined to defend his title.

You read it, the U.S. Open is on as the world’s top pro golfers will be forced to play accurate drives down the pinched narrow fairways and avoid the ”open roughs” before lining up their pitches and putts with careful precision in a course from hell that has been compared to ”trying to hit a ball on top of a VW Beetle.”

The 2009 version will take place on the Bethpage Black course at Farmingdale, New York from June 18 to 21.

Bethpage Black is a challenging test of golf at par 71 and a staggering distance of 7,297 yards. The USGA is in charge of the U.S. Open and they make the playing conditions so difficult that only the stout of heart have a chance to win.

Two of the main challengers to Tiger Woods will be Angel Cabrera and Geoff Ogilvy; Cabrera won the U.S. Open in 2007 and Ogilvy was the champion in 2006. Henrik Stenson of Sweden, on the other hand, won the recent Players’ Championship and stamped himself as a leading contender for the U.S. Open title. Stenson was rock-solid coming down the homestretch of the Players.

Ireland’s Padraig Harrington is another threat to the…

Tiger’s bid for a successful comeback ended on a sour note.

The 2009 Accenture Match Play Golf Championship went underway with Tiger Woods looking like his old self, at least after day one anyway.

It has been a long eight months for many golf fans as they patiently waited for the return of Tiger Woods to competitive golf. When Tiger said last Tuesday that he is at 100 percent and stronger than ever as he prepares to return to form following eight months in the shelf, golf fans breathe a sigh of relief in unison.

You see, in his last performance before undergoing surgery to repair a torn left ACL, Woods provided plenty of dramatics as he beat Rocco Mediate in a playoff to win the U.S. Open in June. Woods completed the memorable triumph at Torrey Pines despite also suffering a double stress fracture of his left tibia.

The injury did sound bad that many were uncertain whether Tiger can still be the best golfer in the game today. It was rather unfortunate that he was booted out of the tournament this early after losing to Tim Clark.

Still, despite coming off an injury, Tiger was deemed as one of the heavy favorites to win the WGC – Accenture Match Play Championship. Of course, he didn’t expect his rivals like Sergio Garcia, Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim, all favorites to win the tournament as well, to just roll over for him. Although…

The Tiger is back in the jungle.

Tiger Woods, who hasn’t played a single golf tournament since his dramatic U.S. Open win last June, said he would return to the links this week to tee it up in the Accenture Match Play Championship.

Woods has been sidelined since he won his 14th major at Torrey Pines. Just days after the tense playoff victory over Rocco Mediate, the world’s top golfer announced he would undergo season-ending knee surgery. As a result, he missed the year’s final two majors, the Open Championship and the PGA, along with the Ryder Cup.

More than eight months after Woods winced and wobbled on one good leg to win the U.S. Open, the world’s No.1 golfer said his reconstructed left knee and his game were in good enough shape to compete.

He signed up for the 2009 Accenture Match Play Championship, which begins Wednesday just outside Tucson, Ariz., and where Woods will hit his first real shot in 253 days.

The return of Woods was welcomed by the PGA Tour, which has seen television ratings plummet in his absence. Even the players, whom Woods has routinely beaten while compiling 65 victories, began skipping events as well.

In the eight months that Woods has been gone, Padraig Harrington won two majors, the Americans won the Ryder Cup and Vijay Singh won the FedEx Cup…