Will Tiger get bumped at the Buick Open?
Tiger Woods is eight shots behind leader Steve Lowery at the Buick Open after the first round and could be in danger of missing yet another cut. Despite that, he's still the favorite to win entering the weekend.
He might not make the cut – again. Yet Tiger Woods is still the favorite to win the 2009 Buick Open.
Woods shot a 1-under par 71 during Thursday’s opening round at Warwick Hills, leaving him eight strokes behind Steve Lowery for the lead. The revised Buick Open betting odds have Woods dropping from 3-2 at the open to 7-2 going into the second round. Second favorite Jim Furyk has slipped from 12-1 to 14-1 after carding a 3-under 69. Lowery is available at 20-1.
This is eerily similar to what happened earlier this month at the British Open. Difficult weather conditions are usually a given at Turnberry, but on the first day the winds were calm and 50 golfers broke par. Tiger was not one of them. This week, it’s the seasonal thunderstorms in southern Michigan that are supposed to play havoc at Warwick Hills. They may show up on the weekend, but the weather was mild during the opening round, making a relatively easy course that much easier.
Woods was not alone in taking advantage of the welcoming greens on Thursday. But once he got there, his putter failed him. “Probably one of the worst putting days I’ve ever had,” Woods told the Associated Press. “It was just terrible.”
Lowery, meanwhile, tied the Warwick Hills record with a 29 on the front nine. And John Senden (now 16-1) put together five straight birdies on the back nine to finish the first round one stroke behind Senden at 8-under.
The betting public is expecting a lot out of Woods in this situation, especially after his meltdown at Turnberry. Everybody hits a rough patch now and then. But how much credence should we give Lowery and Senden? Arguably more than Tom Watson, who was available at 100-1 after finishing the first round of the British Open one stroke behind leader Miguel Angel Jimenez. Watson stayed at or near the top of the leaderboard and came excruciatingly close to making some of us rich before losing to Stewart Cink in a playoff.
Lowery is a 48-year-old from Alabama who made a minor splash on the PGA Tour in 1994, winning the now-defunct International and finishing 12th on the money list. His next victory was the 2000 Southern Farm Bureau Classic (now the Viking Classic). That was it until last year, when he came up with a very important win at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am to retain his exempt status on the Tour. Lowery has zero Top-20 results in 20 events this year, making the cut just 12 times and sitting at No. 311 in the World Golf Rankings.
Senden, the 38-year-old Aussie, has the better golf resume despite turning pro nine years after Lowery in 1992. He took the 2006 John Deere Classic, finished tied for fourth at the 2007 PGA Championship, and is ranked No. 107 in the world. He also has a better drive than Lowery: 296.5 yards to 288.4, with a 64.1 percent accuracy rate to Lowery’s 63.7. Those who walk softly and carry a big stick generally perform well at Warwick Hills.
With the winning score for the Buick Open expected to go lower than 20-under, that one-stroke difference on the leaderboard between Senden and the peloton is pretty small. Four golfers sit at 7-under par 65: Y.E. Yang (16-1), James Nitties (28-1), Vaughn Taylor (28-1) and Brian Vranesh (Field, 5-1). Yang, from South Korea, is a fixture on the Japan Golf Tour who just got his PGA Tour card last year. He gets the shortest odds of this foursome after taking the 2009 Honda Classic in March. The unknown Vranesh earned his Tour card last year after turning pro in 1999; he’s a California native and ranked No. 572 in the world. If Vranesh weren’t lumped in with the field, he’d be worth a look, so make sure to check the revised odds after Friday’s second round if he continues to perform well.
Will Tiger get bumped at the Buick Open?
