Las Vegas has Woods as huge favorite to win British Open

For bettors who like value, this year's British Open is like Christmas morning, according to Las Vegas sportsbook insider Chuck Esposito.

Tiger Woods, currently at 2 to 1 at Las Vegas casino sportsbooks, is the favorite by a wide, wide margin. If you think Woods will win, Esposito says you should grab him now. "Those odds will drop pretty quickly," Esposito said. "My guess is Tiger will be at 8 to 5, 6 to 5, or even before the British Open starts."

The odds are so skewed toward Woods--especially with his only near rival, Phil Mickelson, not competing at Turnberry this year--that the next player on the board, Sergio Garcia, is a 12-to-1 bet to win. Other contenders drop even further: Defending champion Padraig Harrington is 20 to 1, Henrik Stenson is 20 to 1, Paul Casey is 20 to 1, Rory McIlroy is 25 to 1, Geoff Ogilvy is 25 to 1, Ian Poulter is 25 to 1, Ernie Els is 35 to 1.

"There's real value there in players in that 20 to 40 group," Esposito said. "In fact, with those short odds, the house ends up rooting for Tiger because if one of those long shots come in the casino can really get burned."

The house also ends up rooting for Woods because he creates excitement around the casino when he's near the top at a major, Esposito said.

"We do really well at all the majors, and we'll have the British Open on all the big screens," Esposito said. "But if Tiger's in the lead, we get tremendous crowds."

The only real competitor to Tiger Woods on the board in Las Vegas is "The Field," currently at 8 to 5 odds. Keep in mind that "the Field," in the form of Lucas Glover, won the U.S. Open and paid off at 10 to 1.

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Win a trip to play golf with Rory McIlroy

Want to play golf with Rory McIlroy and your buddies, while helping a very worthy cause? Place a bid in the online auction on charitybuzz.com, and you could be flying to Northern Ireland to stay at Lough Erne Golf Resort and play golf with McIlroy. You'll also attend a match between the young Irish star and Padraig Harrington on July 22.

The proceeds benefit the son of the greenkeeper at Holywood Golf Club, McIlroy's home course in Belfast. The 3-year-old boy has a very rare type of Epilepsy that can cause up to 20 seizures a day.

The auction ends July 14 at 1 p.m. EDT.

Euros' man-crush on Rory McIlroy goes too far

It's OK. We understand. You're stuck in a rut. Every day seems as gray as newsprint, with nothing to look forward to except that warm pint of lager at the corner pub. You're like Bridget Jones, except you're a bloke.

Then suddenly you're swept off your feet by a young, handsome stranger who promises you a beautiful future filled with joy and wonder. Maybe he didn't say those things exactly, but you're sure he meant them. Soon the world looks brighter and you're leaving for work with a spring in your step, all thanks to this wonderful young man. Of course you'll want to praise him and protect him. But warm feelings of love give way to dark obsession, and you find yourself making allowances for him you would never make for anyone else and even ignoring your most deeply held beliefs to hold on to your beloved.

In other words, the Euro press needs to get over its man-crush on Rory McIlroy. It's one thing to defend young Rory against a questionable ruling at the Masters, but now Rory's getting off scot-free after disrespecting the Ryder Cup. Can you imagine the reaction of the UK press to an American insolent enough to call the Ryder Cup an "exhibition" and "not that important of an event for me"? Oh wait, we already know. The Augusta Chronicle's Scott Michaux offers a couple of examples in a pointed column about how the UK press has become apologists when it comes to their great Irish hope.

You think an American would be treated so gingerly by the notoriously biased European press that cheers in the media centre? Fat chance. Ask Hunter Mahan if he got off as lightly last summer for his clumsy second-hand analysis of the event as an over-hyped burden on the players. The Euro press wrongly assumed he would be overlooked as a captain's pick as punishment for his insolence.

Heck, Anthony Kim got skewered at a European Tour event last winter for not knowing who Europe had chosen as captain for the 2010 event.

Michaux credits McIlroy with sticking to his position on the Ryder Cup, one shared by Tiger Woods, among others. He saves his comic skewering for the UK scribes who gave McIlroy a free pass when he tipped over one of their sacred cows.

Let's just say the European Tour may soon have to employ chiropractors to tend to its media bending over backwards to defend his opinions as merely youthful naivete instead of blasphemy. They've spent so much time building McIlroy up as Europe's answer to Tiger Woods, they just never expected him to answer this question like Tiger Woods.

Maybe the UK press could use a lesson from Oprah: True love is impossible without self-respect.

Monty, Rory at odds over Ryder Cup's importance

Northern Ireland phenom Rory McIlroy raised Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie's eyebrows--if not his ire--when McIlroy suggested the Ryder Cup was an "exhibition" and not as important as individual victories.

"The Ryder Cup, it's a great spectacle for golf, but an exhibition at the end of the day and it should be there to be enjoyed," McIlroy said at an Irish Open news conference. "I think if I get on it, you know, you enjoy the week, and if you win or lose, it's a great experience and you move on from it. In the big scheme of things, it's not that important of an event for me."

When these comments were relayed to Montgomerie--Team Europe's 2010 captain and a Ryder Cup playing legend--Montgomerie said that McIlroy will feel differently when he makes his first tee shot as a member of Team Europe.

"Rory will understand when; and it's not an if, I'm sure it's when, whether it's this time or next time wherever it might be and he will be a Ryder Cup player and he will understand the pressures involved and the whole scenario of The Ryder Cup will hit him very hard, yes, and he'll understand having not played in it and having not attended The Ryder Cup as yet, in his life, and he'll understand what it's about when he's part of that," Montgomerie said.

No one knows a feud like the famously prickly Montgomerie and he was careful not to start one with 19-year-old McIlroy.

"I haven't heard what Rory said, so please don't start a big war against Rory McIlroy," Montgomerie said. "He's a great player and he's a very exciting player and he's one of Europe's best young talents that we've had for many, many a year, right? All I can say to you is you ask me, is the Ryder Cup an exhibition, no, it's not an exhibition, all right. So please don't say, and hopefully, that it won't come from me, that Monty and Rory are having a war here. Please don't say that, because I haven't said that, and all I've said is The Ryder Cup is not an exhibition and it never will be."

McIlroy and Montgomerie are paired for the opening rounds Thursday and Friday, so they'll have plenty of time to talk it out. In fact, when you look at this field, which includes Padraig Harrington and John Daly, it's clear that the European Tour is the event to watch this weekend. (Sorry Valero Texas Open.)

Rory McIlroy survives ugly finish to make weekend

By Michael Bamberger

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- For a while, all was well in Rory's World. The 19-year-old Belfast sensation--next month we can start calling him a 20-year-old--got his name on the Augusta National leaderboards on Friday when he went to four under for the tournament after an eagle on the 15th hole.

Tiger was playing in front of him, and McIlroy's mother and father and girlfriend and agents were positioning themselves in discreet places to cheer him on. Then, disaster, Masters-style: a four-putt double bogey on the par-3 16th and a triple on the par-4 18th, after two swipes out of a greenside bunker that you'd never have expected him to find in the first place. (He smashed his drive.)

He seemed like he was having a great time, playing with Anthony Kim and Ryo Ishikawa, and his name looked right at home on the leaderboard. But with scores of 72 and 73, this will likely be a year for learning. Anyway, it's not all bad. He'll be the only teenager playing on the weekend.

*Update, Saturday 10:40 a.m.: On Friday evening in the press center, rumors that McIlroy might be disqualified started circulating. According to the Associated Press, officials reviewed his adventures in the bunker at 18 for a possible violation: "His second shot landed in the bunker on the right side, and McIlroy left it there with his third shot. He kicked at the sand in disgust -- a no-no according to the rules, which forbid players from testing the surface before hitting any shots in a hazard. That could have disqualified him. But after a review, the rules committee decided no violation had occurred."

Read Michael Bamberger's recent Sports Illustrated profile of McIlroy.

Young stars take their lumps at Augusta National

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- You would have had a hard time finding a spot against the gallery rope as Tiger Woods played through at the 2009 Masters on Thursday, with Stewart Cink and Jeev Milkha Singh.

But if you waited 15 minutes, the crowd would thin as fans chased golf's present No. 1 player, allowing an unimpeded view of golf's future. Woods's group was trailed by three of the youngest, most heralded players in the field: Japan's Ryo Ishikawa, 17; American Anthony Kim, 23; and Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy, 19.

The trio made up the final (2:03 p.m.) group of the day and seemed to have color-coordinated their outfits before the round. Ishikawa wore a red shirt, Kim white, McIlroy blue. Kim and McIlroy went with retro, with white belts, while Ishikawa's was red. All wore dark slacks.

And all three displayed impeccable golf swings, at times hitting towering, precise drives and approach shots. You could see the game. Not that the "patrons" always knew what they were looking at, or who. After Kim hit a laser-like iron shot from out of the pine straw left of the eighth fairway, one impressed onlooker bellowed, "At a boy, Andrew!"

Andrew, Anthony--whatever.

Truth is, none of the three played well enough to gain any additional fame, and all of them made the kind of silly mistakes that typically plague fresh-faced Masters participants, especially at the par-5 eighth. Ishikawa tried to bite off too much from the fairway bunker, catching a tree and leaving himself with a long third shot to the green. He managed to reach the green with his long-iron third, however, and made par.

After laying up in two, both Kim and McIlroy went at the sucker pin in the back of the green and airmailed the putting surface. Kim salvaged par; McIlroy fluffed his chip and made a painful bogey 6.

On a day when the abundance of red numbers made the Masters seem like the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, none of the young guns took advantage. McIlroy finished at even par, Ishikawa at 1-over 73 and Kim at 3-over 75. Playing two groups ahead of them was the reigning U.S. Amateur champion, 18-year-old Danny Lee, who shot 74.

Chad Campbell, 34, was seven shots ahead of the best of the youngsters, McIlroy, after an opening 65. Larry Mize, 50, the 1987 champion here, shot a 5-under 67. Greg Norman, 54, carded a 2-under 70.

For the youngest, most promising players in the field, it seemed the 2009 Masters would offer seasoning, as expected. It would offer a lesson in humility, and patience (rounds took five-plus hours). But alas, it seemed almost certain there would be no green jacket. Not yet.

More on: Rory McIlroy | Ryo Ishikawa | Anthony Kim | Danny Lee

Tiger Woods says Rory McIlroy has tools to be No. 1

By Paul Mahoney
Contributor to Golf Magazine

Shortly after signing for a 4-under 68 on Saturday, Tiger Woods said that he has seen the future of golf and his name is Rory McIlroy. The World No.1 said that the 19-year-old from Belfast, Northern Ireland has what it takes to get to the top spot in golf.

"There's no doubt," Woods said. "But hopefully it's not while I'm around," he added, laughing. "Certainly he has the talent. We can all see it. The way he hits the ball, the way he putts, the way he can chip, and get up-and-down. He has the composure and all the components to be the best player in the world. It's just a matter of time and experience and then gaining that experience in big events. That just takes time and, I mean, geez, he's only 19. Just give him some time and I'm sure he'll be there."

Two takes from the first tee

While watching golf coverage online this afternoon, I saw just how tough being a starter on the first tee can be, especially in a World Golf Championship. There are players from all over the globe with a million different pronunciations.

On Saturday, though, the starter stumbled over the seemingly simple introduction of Rory McIlroy and Kenny Perry.

As McIlroy stuck a tee in the ground, the starter began: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the third round of the 2009 World Golf Championships-CA Championship. From......from.......

"Northern Ireland," somebody said as the crowd laughed.

The starter caught himself. "Mr. Perry has the honor," he said.

"Oh, I thought I did," McIlroy said.

McIlroy scooped up his ball, and Perry stepped to the box.

"Age before beauty," Perry said as the gallery laughed.

After Perry teed off, McIlroy placed his ball down again.

"From Northern Ireland," the starter said, bringing a new round of chuckles.

What To Watch For Saturday at the WGC-CA Championship

What Rory McIlory is doing here, on his first trip to the PGA Tour, is so impressive. He's 19, from Belfast, and playing in his first stroke-play event on the PGA Tour.

Maybe you're thinking he's thinking: Help me, mummy, this is all so new for me and I can't handle it!

Hardly.

How can a 19-year-old be so seasoned? He opened with a 68, improved by two in the second round, talked to the press and signed autographs like a veteran, and always has a look about like this-is-fun.

He won a junior event as a kid at Doral, no shot scares him. It's hard to imagine that he won't narrow the distance on Saturday between himself and the leader. Unless he becomes the leader himself. I've been watching this kid closely for three weeks now. I've figured out one thing: he ain't no kid. It's not just the shots, which are fantastic; it's how he carries himself.