TPC at Sawgrass: golf specials betting

The PGA Tour moves to the Players Championship in Sawgrass this week and one bookmaker is running a series of special bets on the famous island hole - the 17th. Tiger Woods is missing and for once it's 12/1 the field for what has become known as the fifth Major and boasts the biggest prizemoney on tour - $9m. Instead of predicting a winner, the tournament has become notorious for being able to predict which top golfers will fail and there are several names to avoid at the Pete Dye-designed par 72 course as some of golf's biggest names struggle to find form around the Ponte Vedra course. Both Ernie Els and Vinjay Singh have struggled to find the top 10 yet alone the winner's enclosure so save your money on the two normally reliable players. Candidates to go all the way include Adam Scott (14/1) who played superbly in his final two rounds last week in the Wachovia Championship to tie eighth, a rejuventated Stewart Cink (28/1), who has a series of top 10 finishes this year but still no win, favourite in the betting and former winner Phil Mickelson (12/1) and Ponte Verda resident Jim Furyk (20/1) who knows the course as well as anyone. The course is famous for its 17th hole which has thrown up scores of 1 to 12 in this tournament and as a result Paddy Power are running a series of special markets on the hole this week. They go 3/1 that there is a hole in one on the 17th, 5/1 the leader goes in the water on the 17th in the final round - as Scott did on his way to victory in 2004 and 25/1 that both players in the final group go in the water in the final round. They go 7/4 Els, 2/1 Singh, 2/1 Padraig Harrington and 2/1 Mickelson find their way into the water on 17 and 5/2 that 54 or under balls go into the water at the 17th during the tournament and 6/5 that 66 or more balls find a watery grave. They are also 1/2 that the highest score on the hole during the week is 7 or more.