The Bob Hope Classic has one thing that no other PGA Tour event does: it’s the only five-round, 90-hole event (obviously barring a playoff that could add to that total) on Tour. Unfortunately, this also used to be one of the most popular events on Tour, but it’s now mostly being avoided by golf’s big names – although the Hollywood types still often play in the pro-am portion.

This week’s Bob Hope Classic certainly has the weakest field of the early season and definitely is overshadowed by the European Tour's Abu Dhabi Championship, which features six of the world's top 10 players and 12 of the top 25, including world No. 1 Lee Westwood along with most of the top Europeans and American star Phil Mickelson -- but still no Tiger Woods to be found. Mickelson, a two-time winner of the Hope, is expected to make his PGA Tour debut next week in Torrey Pines, as is Tiger. Here we will give some PGA Tour odds and predictions for the top players at the Bob Hope Classic.

There are six of the world’s Top 50 players entered this week in La Quinta, Calif., for the first leg of the West Coast Swing. Matt Kuchar, at 13th, is the highest-ranked player and the only player from the Top 25. Apparently most big-name pros don’t like having to play the five full rounds and it is well know that the first four, played with amateur partners, take forever. This tournament also is played on four different courses. Golfers are assigned to one of the four courses over each of the first four rounds of the week, with Sunday's final round, played by the professionals only, hosted at the Palmer Course at PGA West.

Kuchar is the big favorite on WagerWeb this week at +650. He and Steve Stricker are the only two players who have finished in the Top 10 of the year’s first two tournaments, and Kuchar’s scoring average right now is a whopping 67.75. Kuchar led the PGA Tour money list, had a Tour-high 11 Top 10 finishes and captured the Vardon Trophy last season in his breakout year. Kuchar has played this event the past four years and finished tied for second last year behind winner Bill Haas.

Tim Clark is the second-favorite on WagerWeb at +900. He was a runner-up last week at the Sony Open, which followed a T17 in the season opener. Clark tied for second in last year’s Hope before winning his first Tour title later in the year at The Players Championship. There was some talk he might have to withdraw with blisters on his feet, but that’s considered unlikely.

Bill Haas (+1200) is the defending champion here. Haas birdied the final two holes of the final round to post a one-shot victory and finally earn that elusive first PGA tour win in his 140th tournament (it came on a Monday finish thanks to rain wiping out a day).

Mark Wilson was the winner last week at the Sony. Clark, who started the final round five shots behind, birdied three of his last four holes to earn his third career victory. He was one of a trio to finish tied for second last year at the Bob Hope Classic, his second runner-up at this tournament and third Top-5 finish. He carries great value this week at +4000.

Another great long-shot bet would be Mike Weir at +4000. He owns three top-10 finishes here in the past five years (sixth in 2010) -- more than any other player. And don’t overlook D.J. Trahan. He has three top-15 finishes in a row here, including the title in 2008.

Look for scores to be very low this week. Since 2000, the Hope winner has averaged 28.5 under par.