Well, with Alvaro Quiros winning the Dubai World Championship, it was with more than enough to spare that England’s Luke Donald became the first man in Golf history to finish the season as leader in both the PGA and European PGA Tour’s money lists. It has been an incredible year for the Englishman, and with a strong performance at the Dubai World Championship anyway, where he finished third with a total of -14 under, Donald heaped more glory upon himself. The only man threatening him at the top of the European Money List was Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who just couldn’t sustain the pressure needed and finished on -9 under, well back. So as the golf world salutes the genius of Luke Donald, there is some important Golf Betting to look at, because for all of his success this season, it has all come without Donald winning a major. Naturally, this leads us to the golf betting market of finding specials for next season, which swings back into action in January after a short winter break. Can Donald really cap his career and land himself a Golf Major? His best ever finish in a Golf Major came back in 2006 when he landed a third place at the PGA Championship. In 2011, his best finishes were a T4 at The Masters and a T8 at the PGA Championship. Out of 37 Majors entered, Donald has landed six top tens and twelve top twenty-fives. But this season he looks to have been getting closer. Donald is trading at 2/9 with Bet365 to not win a Major in 2012, while you can get best market odds of 4/1 with Victor Chandler for a Yes, that he will join the Major winner club. The bookies still seem to be doubting his ability to land one, as in the Total Number of Majors for 2012, None at 1/3 with SkyBet is the favourite, with Exactly One second favourite at 10/3.
With this done, we can start looking at some of the other major players in Golf Major betting for 2012. One of the season’s other big successes has of course been Rory McIlroy, who is going to be splitting his time between the US and European Tours next season. McIlroy landed the US Open in emphatic style this year of course, and showed up well in The Masters as well, but will still be ruing that horrid final round. He is simply oozing talent at the moment, and he rattled off wins when it mattered at the end of the season as he tried to hunt down Luke Donald at the top of the European Money List. He couldn’t quite manage that, be he has to be a force to be reckoned with next season, and many, including the bookies will see him as having more of an opportunity of landing a Major in 2012 than Luke Donald. Still, because of such fiercely competitive fields in the Majors, in the Exact Number Of Major Wins in 2012, None is the favourite priced at 4/9 with SkyBet, while Exactly One for McIlroy fetches 3/1 at Victor Chandler. You have to picture him going close, as he enjoys the conditions out in the US, which certainly favour his game. He is good enough to win a lot more Majors yet, and naturally the comparison will be between his young talent and that of Tiger Woods.
Tiger Woods landed his first title for two years with a win at the Chevron recently. His name will always come up near the top of the list in Golf Major betting specials, and you can’t over look him. Or can you? He has showed glimpses of his old magic near the end of the season, but is it good enough to take on the new generation of golf’s best players. It is by no certainty that we are going to see him land one, and would put his chances in 2012 outside that of McIlroy and Donald, personally. Yes, he still has natural talent, you can’t take that away from him, but there are still issues of consistency and frame of mind with him. He should remain in the chasing pack to land a Major in 2012, but do not seeing him as one of the outright front runners in any of them. The bookies will always protect themselves when it comes to the multiple Major winner, but has yet to prove that he really has what it takes since his comebacks. Woods is priced at 6/4 with Bet365 to win a Major in 2012.
So that will lead us finally on to the nearly man of Golf’s Majors, England’s Lee Westwood. Has again had a very consistent season in the European PGA Tour, especially over the second half of it. In the Majors this season, he showed that he can push for the top, but just can’t get over the line. There was a third for him at the US Open, a good result after a poor first round, and that was his third T3 result in four Majors. After missing the cut at The Open, he responded with a T8 finish at the PGA Championship,. For the great career that Westwood has had, he just can’t seem to land that Major. Out of 55 attempts, he has finished second on two occasions, third on four occasions combining for a total of 12 top ten finishes. The man really deserves one, but you always wonder just when that one bad round is going to come and shoot him in the foot. Currently trading at 1/4 with bet365 to Not win a Major in 2012, while Victor Chandler are offering odds of 4/1 that he will.
In a season which saw so many rookie winners, and four different winners of the Majors again this season, what will happen in your Golf Major betting in 2012. The last fifteen Majors have been won by a different individual. Tiger Wood’s last Major title was at the US Open in 2008 (his 14th Major). We have only seen two of the last eight Majors having been won by an American, with three Northern Irish winners, two South Africans and one German making up the last eight. We will have to wait until April when the Masters will tees off at the Augusta National, to find out who will be the next on the list.
PGA Tour Money List Betting 2012 Odds
Tiger Woods: 9/2 at Victor Chandler
Rory McIlroy: 9/1 at SkyBet
Luke Donald: 12/1 at SkyBet
Lee Westwood: 20/1 at Stan James
Nick Watney: 20/1 at Bet365
Dustin Johnson: 20/1 at Stan James
