US PGA Championship Golf Betting 2009
The 2009 US PGA Championship offers Free Bets fans on both sides of the pond to make a killing on what's classed as the last of the golfing majors. With golf betting noted as one of the growth areas in recent years, the 2009 US PGA allows online bookmakers to extend their free bets promotions to cover this final high profile golf tournament and ensure that punters can make the most of the sporting occasion in every conceivable way.
Betting Fans Could Take Advantage Of Bookmaker Prices Early Doors
With an early eye to those professional tour golfers worth backing on the online betting markets, and it comes as no real surprise to learn that the bookies aren't looking beyond the modern day golfing phenomenon that is Tiger Woods. Priced from this the outset as 5 – 2 US PGA Championship favourite, Woods' only perceived threat according to the odds compiling experts are Phil Mickelson (12 – 1) and defending champion Padraig Harrington (28 – 1). A little further down the potential field of challengers sees Sergio Garcia, Paul Casey, Geoff Ogilvy and Henrik Stenson also sitting at 28 – 1 with two months before the competition gets under way. Naturally the Open Golf Championship outcome might well change the online betting landscape nearer the time, so we suggest you make regular trips back here to keep updated on the ever-changing scene
The upcoming 2009 US PGA Golf Championship is set to be hosted by the Hazeltine National Golf Club situated in Chaska, Minnesota, and played between August 10th and the 16th. This, the 91st staging of the US PGA tournament will provide the challenging backdrop as the world's best golfers pit their wits against both the course and each other to claim what is officially the last of the four major golf tournaments of the professional golf season. Indeed recognized by its nickname of 'Glory's last shot' to distinguish its defining place on the world golf calendar.
US PGA Championship Is Steeped In Golfing History
Designed and committed to the landscape by celebrated golf course designer Robert Trent Jones in 1962, the Hazeltine National Golf Club was originally the brainchild of former president of the US Golf Association, and the impressively monikered, Totton P. Heffelfinger. His vision was to construct a championship-standard golf course that at the same time would serve as a memorable experience for the club's more casual player, after the Minikhada Club in Minneapolis (the setting for the 1916 US Open) rejected plans to create a new course on its site to fend off the threat from freeway developers at the time. Taking its name from the adjoining Lake Hazeltine, Heffelfinger's new course opened in 1962 and his dream of his labour of love one day hosting a golfing major came to fruition when in 1970 the Hazeltine course was awarded the US Open.
However after the first round many players openly criticized the severity of the course, complaining that it lacked the civilization of other tour courses and essentially wasn't up to the job of putting on a major tournament. Despite half the field failing to break 80 that day, eventual champion Tony Jacklin managed to post a seven under par score of 281 to claim that year's US Open.
Financial issues blighted the Hazeltine course for the next few years, losing out on the rights to host other high profile tournaments, leading its owners to draw up plans to re-design certain elements of the course. Once fettled, club members witnessed its tees, fairways, greens, roughs and bunkers change shape, size and position as it geared up to put itself back in the frame for future events. 1983 saw Hazeltine hold the US Seniors Open Championship, whilst three years later it was chosen to welcome the 1991 #US Open Championship# itself, acknowledging its last feat as the setting for the 2002 US PGA Championship. That said, after this year's US PGA Championship the Hazeltine course will be looking ahead and preparing for the 2016 Ryder Cup, and the most fitting accolade that Heffelfinger could have ever wished for.
Golfing Greats Have Their Names Etched In US PGA Championship History
Retrospectively though, and the roll call of US PGA Championship honours reads like a who's who of the game's greatest, both past and present as legends like Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and defending champion, Padraig Harrington have lifted the famous Wanamaker Trophy after taming the course and perfecting their individual games in years gone by. What's more, winners automatically become members of a select group of golfers who are henceforth spared the ignominy of attempting to qualify for the outstanding three golf majors (The #US Masters#, US Open and #British Open#) for the following five years. Additionally they find themselves exempt from having to qualify for the US PGA Championship for life, whilst receiving membership on the US PGA tour for five successive years thereafter in respect of their endeavours. That's of course as well as trousering their share of an estimated .5 million prize fund in 2009. so you might say there's all to play for.
