The 2009 US Masters gets underway today, with the bookies making Tiger Woods hot favourite to win his fifth US Masters success. Tiger has admitted that he is mentally and physically fit for the pressures of winning the US Masters after an 8 month absense due to injury. British and Irish hopes are with the inform Paul Casey and 2008 Open winner Padraig Harrington.

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It won’t just be the army of golf betting fans who will be scrutinising Tiger Woods’ return to the professional game in the Accenture World Match Play in Arizona this week. Nervous fellow competitors will join them as the Tiger endeavours to show the world either that he can still work the old magic or that he has lost his touch after so much time away from the fray. At the back of player’s minds will be the worrying notion of a third possibility after the claim from the maestro himself that he believes he will now perform better than ever before.

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A rare sight was seen in the golfing world this week when Colin Montgomery’s normally sullen features had given way to a very, very broad smile. Defying all expectation, the studiously dissatisfied Scot has been given the captaincy of the European team for the next Ryder Cup. Jose Maria Olazabel had been the leading contender, but concerns over his long term health prospects have apparently adjourned the likelihood of his ascendency until 2012.

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Colin Montgomerie has been called many things during his golfing career, Sourfaced Scotsman being just one of the nicer names he has picked up along his way. Now, ‘Monty’, has been named as the Ryder Cup European Captain, I’m sure the media were silently praying for a ‘personality like Monty’ to fill the role. Fact is that Monty has had bust-ups with just about anyone involved in the sport. But he is passionate about the game and wears his heart on his Pringle sleeve is a positive attribute in my book.

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The Tiger is back on the range and golf betting fans are wondering if he can limber up in time for the Dubai Classic at the end of the month. He’s been hitting balls for two weeks now and still feels uneasy about stressing his recovering knee with a full swing just yet. It’s not unknown for Tiger to play a little gamesmanship and he may just be trying to lull the opposition into a false sense of security but there’s no doubt that causing further damage to his knee could put him out for the whole season.

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It was make or break time for Nick Faldo at Valhalla over the last three days. Come to that, it was make or break time for the competition itself, in many ways. For golf betting fans, repetitive wins by the Europeans had taken the excitement out of a contest previously noted for its nail-biting close finishes. Further decline was signalled by the word going around that the Americans were beginning to see the Ryder Cup competition as an irrelevance; a distraction from the more important imperative of making lots of money on the Tour. A case of sour grapes, it would seem.

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The 37th Ryder Cup gets under way at Valhalla GC in Kentucky this coming Friday and golf betting fans the world over will be digging in for three days of fiercely intense competition yielding a level of excitement on a par with the FIFA World Cup. In charge of the European team is Nick Faldo, a player of exceptional talent but a person many believe would not be a good team leader. Over the years, golf fans have been aware of his unpopularity among players, his odd, very personal, sense of humour and his capacity to utter remarks about others that are usually ill-judged and often unkind.

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The Ryder Cup 2008 is taking place at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, and its sure to be a cracking event. Team USA are trying to stop the rot after seeing Europe lift the trophy on the previous 3 meetings. But, as all Ryder Cup betting fans are aware, it is going to be tough for the Americans with the European players on top of their game right now. However Team USA are in their own backyard this time and its pretty fitting to see that they picked a golf course named after a ‘great hall’ in Norse mythology where the vikings celebrated victory of battle with their gods.

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Padraig Harrington has pulled off an amazing win in the USPGA Championship after a nail-biter of a final day which saw Spaniard, Sergio Garcia and American, Ben Curtis fall prey to the sheer determination of the Irishman to hold his ground and take the title. The significance of this win, marking the first time in 78 years that a European has won the competition, must not be underestimated by golf betting fans. Harrington, long seen as a top contender, has now won three of the last six majors and can now be viewed as one of the golfing greats.

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The 2008 Open Championship has come to a close with Padraig Harrington retaining his title for a second year and with one of the grand old men of golf, Greg Norman, coming a close third at the age of 53. At the close of play, the eighteenth green hosted scenes of back-slapping bonhomie between winner and runners up and it was clear to all golf betting fans we were witnessing a demonstration of pure sportsmanship and a celebration of the sheer joy each player had experienced just by being a part of this great sporting occasion.

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