The Sports Bookie Blog

PGA: This Week in Golf – August 27th through August 30th

August 26th, 2009

Here’s the round-up of golfing betting action this coming week courtesy of top US sports betting site Bookmaker.com

PGA TOUR – THE BARCLAYS, Liberty National Golf Club, Jersey City, New Jersey

The 2009 FedEx Cup Playoffs begin this week in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and the skyline of New York City. The top 125 players in the FedEx Cup standings — Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson included — will be at picturesque Liberty National Golf Club for the $7.5 million Barclays, the first of four playoffs events. Those staying in Manhattan will arrive to the course by boat, an experience described by LPGA Tour player Morgan Pressel on her Twitter feed as “Truly amazing.”

This week’s Barclays will be the first big-time professional tournament hosted by the three-year-old course, which was built on a piece of contaminated land in Jersey City.Tom Kite, the golf Hall of Famer who was one of two course architects, “hated the site, but loved the location” when he first visited. The task of building the course included covering the property with something akin to a plastic bag, then several feet of sand on top of that. It’s a one-of-a-kind setting for the tournament that kicks off the third year of the PGA Tour’s playoffs.

Steve Stricker won the Barclays in 2007, the first year of the playoffs, but finished second to Woods for the inaugural FedEx Cup and its $10 million annuity. Last year, with Woods sidelined by knee surgery, Vijay Singh beat Sergio Garcia and Kevin Sutherland at the Barclays and went on to win the FedEx Cup.

The four-tournament playoff swing will take five weeks this year. Next week is the Deutsche Bank Championship, also won by Singh last season, followed by the BMW Championship beginning Sept. 10. After a rare one-week break in the PGA Tour schedule, the playoffs conclude at the Tour Championship beginning Sept.24. Camilo Villegas won the BMW Championship and Tour Championship last year. By the time the Tour Championship begins, the playoffs field will have been whittled down to the top 30 players in the points standings — a truly elite field of golf’s hottest players. Golf Channel and CBS will split coverage of The Barclays this week.

EUROPEAN TOUR JOHNNIEWALKER CHAMPIONSHIPS AT GLENEAGLES, The Gleneagles Hotel (PGA Centenary Course), Perthshire, Scotland

Gregory Havret will defend his title this week at the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles.Havret closed with a three-under 70 last year to beat hard-charging Graeme Storm (68) by a shot for his third European Tour win. The Frenchman sealed the victory with an up-and-down par save from a bunker beside the 18th green, celebrating with a right-fist pump and a customary champagne shower from his countrymen. Havret will be joined in the field this week by fellow Johnnie Walker champions Marc Warren (2007), Emanuele Canonica (2005), Miles Tunnicliff (2004). But because the first event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs is also on the docket this week, many of Europe’s top stars will be in the United States.

Golf Channel has coverage of all four rounds beginning at 10 a.m. (et) on Thursday and Friday and 9 a.m. on both weekend days. Next week is the Omega European Masters, where Jean-Francois Lucquin won last year.

LPGA TOUR SAFEWAY CLASSIC, Pumpkin Ridge Golf Club, Ghost Creek Golf Course, North Plains, Oregon

All 12 members of the victorious U.S. Solheim Cup team are scheduled to play in this week’s Safeway Classic, including defending champion Cristie Kerr. The players woke up Monday morning in Illinois, their 16-12 win over Europe only hours old, and immediately began preparing for the three-day tournament in Oregon.

“First class is going to be loud this morning!” Christina Kim said on her Twitter feed, preparing to take a flight to Portland with Kerr and some of her other teammates. Kerr fired a seven-under 65 in the final round last year, then beat Helen Alfredsson and Sophie Gustafson — two of her opponents at the Solheim Cup — in a playoff.She birdied the first extra hole to claim her 11th LPGA Tour victory — her first since the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open. Kerr picked up win No. 12 this season at the Michelob Ultra Open.World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, the 2007 champion, headlines the rest of the field.

ESPN2 has coverage of the first two rounds, while ESPN will broadcast Sunday’s final round. Next week is the CN Canadian Women’s Open, where Katherine Hull won last season.

CHAMPIONS TOUR BOEING CLASSIC, TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, Snoqualmie, Washington

Tom Kite won the Boeing Classic for the second time last year, shooting a six-under 66 in the final round to beat Scott Simpson by two shots. It marked the 10th win in Kite’s Champions Tour career, but first since he also captured this tournament in 2006. This will be an interesting week for the Hall of Famer.Not only will he defend his title at the TPC Snoqualmie Ridge, but the PGA Tour playoffs begin Thursday at a course (Liberty National) that Kite helped design. Kite will be joined in the field by fellow Boeing Classic winners Denis Watson and David Eger. It is the first time since July 10 that the Champions Tour will begin a non-major event.

Golf Channel has coverage of all three rounds beginning at 6:30 p.m. (et) the first two days and 7 p.m. on Sunday.Next week is the Walmart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach, where Jeff Sluman won last season.

NATIONWIDE TOUR NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA CLASSIC, Elmhurst Country Club, Moscow, Pennsylvania

Last year, Scott Piercy shot a six-under 64 in the final round of the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic to win for the second time in three weeks. Piercy, playing this season on the PGA Tour, won’t get a chance to defend his title this week. But 15 of the 19 winners from this season will be on hand.This is the second time that Elmurst Country Club in Moscow, Penn., will host the tournament, which is the only PGA Tour-sanctioned event in the state.

There is no television coverage this week. Next up for the Nationwide Tour is the Mexico Open, where Jarrod Lyle won last season.

CANADIAN TOUR SEAFORTH COUNTRY CLASSIC, Seaforth Golf Club, Seaforth, Ontario

The $125,000 Seaforth Country Classic is on tap this week. Last year, Kent Eger fired a seven-under 64 in the final round to beat a trio of hard-charging players — Wil Collins (62), John Ellis (63) and Daniel Im (63) — by two shots. Eger, who captured his first win, finished at 26-under 258 to set a Canadian Tour record for lowest overall score. Next week is the Canadian Tour Championship, where Tom Stankowski won last year.

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