Tiger Woods will return to action in the Emirates Australian Open this week ranked 58th in the world. It’s only a year since Tiger lost the number one spot to Lee Westwood but he’s trying to look forward rather than reflect on a traumatic period in his life which has seen his career blighted by controversy and injury. One of the most recent contentious aspects of Woods‘ fall from grace has been the breakdown of his friendship with former caddie Steve Williams, who admitted that remarks he made about the American last week “could be construed as racist”. Williams has since issued an apology but a reconciliation is unlikely in Sydney this week as the New Zealander caddies for local favourite Adam Scott, who is a general 8/1 to win the tournament. Woods is 11/1 with Betfred, totesport and Victor Chandler and has been promised that he won’t be paired with Scott and Williams in the first two rounds, though it will be interesting to see what happens if both are in contention on the final two days.
The Emirates Australian Open is big enough to stand on its own, however, without relying on a possible flare-up to spark interest. It’s being staged at the Lakes Club again this year and has attracted a host of big names from the US PGA Tour including Jason Day (11/1 with bet365 and William Hill), Hunter Mahan (16/1 with bwin and Paddy Power) and Dustin Johnson (a general 16/1). One who deserves a change of luck, however, is Matt Kuchar. He’s tied for second place in The Memorial and filled the same spot in The Barclays Championship recently so could be a decent bet at the 20/1 with Boylesports, Ladbrokes and Paddy Power in Sydney.
This is a tournament in which the home team have proved almost irresistible in recent years, however. Lee Westwood is the only player from outside the southern hemisphere to have won the Australian Open since 1994 and South African Tim Clark the only non-Australian to have triumphed since 1998, so it may pay to concentrate again on those familiar with local conditions. Holder Geoff Ogilvy is 16/1 with Ladbrokes and Paddy Power, while Aaron Baddeley has won the tournament as both an amateur and a professional and is a general 20/1 this year. I’ll put up the latter as a viable candidate again this year and he can also be backed at an attractive 15/8 with Skybet to achieve a top 10 finish.
