The 2004 Golf season kicks off this week for 2003 winners of the PGA Tour at Hawaii for the Mercedes Championship.
Speaking of previous winners, kudos and thank you to all out there that followed my matchup selections last year. We drove home again with over 28 plus units in the bank. In fact I have posted and won five straight years of 20+ units each year at Vegasinsider.com.
Without a doubt golf wagering is the weakest sport that the linesmakers have trouble making a line on. There are more and more professional handicappers specializing in betting golf year-round These lines do move very fast. Sports books are not showing a hold and profit in a few sports, and golf is definitely one of them that is consistently beat.
While some handicappers try to beat the future book odds, I fine tune my golf matchup skills each season. I will be bringing you the best golf handicapping info available. I plan to attend the Nissan L.A. Open and the WGC Matchplay soon in Southern California, to keep on top of the players tendencies, changes in equipment, changes in caddies, changes in coaches and overall swing mechanics.
One of the keys to golf matchup wagering is to find the best matchup available. This may sound simple, but it is rarely applied. You must have many outs, or in other words be able to shop several places or sports book accounts. For example, this week almost all establishments have Tiger Woods minus 180 vs. Ernie Els. You may find that one or more sports books will post a different matchup. If you prefer the defending champion Els this week, and there is Vijay Singh or Davis Love III matched head-to-head with him, surely you would lay a small price and go against Love with Els at minus 120 than fight the plus 160 and Tiger Woods.
The Hawaiian trade winds combined with wet conditions will favor long hitters this week. As we saw last year, Els hit a few drives over 400 yards and won going away with a new PGA Record of minus 31 under par (recall the Titleist 983K working magic). Birdies will be plentiful this week. Stay away from betting the older, weaker bunch in this field. I'm talking about Craig Stadler, Peter Jacobsen and Scott Hoch. They virtually have no chance on this track and will gladly hang around to pick up a free check of guaranteed money, because there is no cut.
I have posted a couple of matchup selections that I have played this week in our VegasInsider.com Members section. Enjoy and good luck this golf season.
