2014 Masters Betting: Top-Five Finish Futures Odds
by Dave Schwab - 4/8/2014

This Thursday at the storied Augusta National Golf Course in Augusta, Georgia, play gets underway with the first of four rounds in this season’s Masters Tournament. The Masters is professional golf’s first of four Majors that are played throughout the season and one of the most prestigious events in all of sports.

PGA Tour Picks: Shell Houston Open Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 4/2/2014

What would a Masters be like without both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson? The huge news this week was that Tiger would be forced to skip Augusta after undergoing back surgery. It's fair to say his availability for the U.S. Open also is in jeopardy, and maybe he decides to just take the rest of the year off to get fully healthy.

PGA Tour Picks: Valero Texas Open Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 3/26/2014

Now I'm just getting irritated with this golf season. I'm 0-for Hawaii, 0-for-California, 0-for Arizona and now zip-for Florida. I have never gotten to April without picking at least one winner. So perhaps it's good news the PGA Tour moves on to Texas this week from the Florida Swing.

PGA Tour Picks: Arnold Palmer Invitational Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 3/19/2014

I continued my 0-for-2014 last week at the Valspar -- although to be fair it's been an unusual start to the year in terms of winners -- as Australian John Senden won for the first time in eight years. He was in a three-way tie entering No. 16 on Sunday but chipped in for birdie on that extremely tough hole, and that propelled him to a one-shot win over Kevin Na.

PGA Tour Picks: Valspar Championship Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 3/12/2014

American Patrick Reed, just 23, says he's one of the five-best players in the world right now. Can you disagree? Reed, who played collegiately at Augusta State University, beat a very strong field last week at new-look Doral, taking the WGC-Cadillac Championship by a shot over Bubba Watson and Jamie Donaldson.

PGA Tour Picks: WGC-Cadillac Championship Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 3/5/2014

Before I get to this week's big-money, limited-field WGC-Cadillac Championship at a totally overhauled Blue Monster at Doral, let's look back to last week's Honda Classic, which is quickly becoming the most interesting non-major PGA Tour event on the annual schedule.

PGA Tour Picks: The Honda Classic Golf Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 2/27/2014

One of the great things about golf is that it's probably the most honorable sport around. Players are expected to call penalties on themselves and almost always do when aware of them. Can you imagine NBA players self-policing themselves and calling fouls in the NBA Finals like they do on the playground? Or Rafael Nadal admitting a Novak Djokovic shot was in and not out as was called by the referee in the fifth set of a close match at Wimbledon?

PGA Tour Picks: WGC-Match Play Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 2/18/2014

I'm going to be very happy to see the PGA Tour finish its West Coast Swing this week at the WGC-Accenture Match Play because it's been an 0-for thus far for me picking winners on Tour this year. Florida, however, has been very good for the past few years doing these stories.

PGA Tour Picks: Northern Trust Open Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 2/12/2014

Let this sink in for a moment: Jimmy Walker is the best player on the planet right now. OK, that's somewhat hyperbole, but you can't argue Walker's resume. The 35-year-old American has been around quite a while, but he got his first Tour win in career start No. 188 back in October at the Frys.com Open, the first event of the new wraparound season.

PGA Tour Picks: AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am Odds
by Alan Matthews - 2/5/2014

OK, I am pondering a change to my picking style on these PGA Tour events. I've never made it this deep into a season without recommending a winner. Well, I've made it through February without doing so but not this far into a season tournament-wise (this is No. 12). Maybe the new wraparound schedule has messed up my betting equilibrium.

PGA Tour Picks: Waste Management Phoenix Open Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 1/29/2014

What a disappointing Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines last week! It was golf fans' first chance this year to see both Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the same tournament, and both had huge previous success on the San Diego course. Yet come Sunday, neither was playing in the final round of a tournament in which they both started in more than 20 years.

PGA Tour Picks: Farmers Insurance Open Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 1/22/2014

You can't argue that Patrick Reed didn't deserve his second career PGA Tour title last week at Humana Challenge. Reed broke the Tour record for relation to par for the first 54 holes, finishing at 27 under Saturday to take a seven-stroke lead into the final round. The previous mark was 25 under, last shot by Steve Stricker in the 2010 John Deere Classic; Pat Perez also had a 25 under at this tournament in 2009. Stricker still holds the stroke record of 188 through 54 set on a par-71.

PGA Tour Picks: Humana Challenge Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 1/15/2014

Only in golf -- OK maybe bowling and darts too -- can a player potentially find his prime in his mid-30s. Reason No. 47 why golf isn't a true sport, but I digress. American Jimmy Walker was a stellar amateur player, and great things were expected from him on the PGA Tour, but he mostly flopped. He just needed to hit his mid-30s, apparently.

PGA Tour Picks: Sony Open of Hawaii Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 1/8/2014

So does it make me a golf nerd that I was watching the final round of the PGA Tour's Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Monday during the breaks of the BCS National Championship Game? Well, I was. Zach Johnson continued building off his excellent 2013 season by shooting a final-round 66 at Kapalua to win the event by a shot over reigning Rookie of the Year Jordan Spieth, who had a one-shot lead on back nine Sunday.

PGA Tour Picks: Hyundai Tournament of Champions Odds and Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 1/2/2014

Look, I understand that golfers are independent contractors. They pay their own way to tournaments and their caddies out of their pockets. But it just makes you realize how wealthy and privileged some of these guys are when the turn down the chance to play in Hawaii for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions and at worst pocket tens of thousands of dollars just for showing up at the beautiful Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui.

Golf Odds and Predictions: 2014 Major Championship Winners
by Alan Matthews - 12/24/2013

The 2013-14 PGA Tour season is already underway with the new wraparound schedule, but for all intents and purposes it really doesn't kick off until the Hyundai Tournament of Champions next week in Hawaii, and of course I'll be previewing that and all tournaments as usual. Some casual golf fans would argue a typical season really doesn't begin until the Masters in April at Augusta. It's usually northerners who think that way because they are stuck up in the cold and snow and unable to get back on the links until around the Masters.

Golf Odds and Predictions: Franklin Templeton Shootout Picks
by Alan Matthews - 12/11/2013

It was a very exciting finish to the unofficial Northwestern Mutual World Challenge last week in its final incarnation in California before moving to the Orlando area for 2014. Tiger Woods looked in great position to win his own tournament and get a great springboard for next year.

Golf Odds and Picks: Northwestern Mutual World Challenge Predictions
by Alan Matthews - 12/4/2013

First I will address last week's Alfred Dunhill Championship results on the European Tour, but then I quickly also want to look at what happened in Australia because I think it has a huge bearing on the golf world in 2014.

Golf Odds and Predictions: Alfred Dunhill Championship
by Alan Matthews - 11/26/2013

The golf karma gods were very kind last week at the World Cup of Golf in Australia. No, I didn't pick Aussie Jason Day to win the event but sure hoped he would in the wake of losing his grandmother, uncle and six cousins in Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the Philippines. And win Day did, shooting a final-round 1-under 70 to beat out Denmark's Thomas Bjorn by two shots. It as Day's first victory since taking the 2010 Byron Nelson Championship in Texas.

Golf Odds and Predictions: World Cup of Golf Picks
by Alan Matthews - 11/19/2013

It certainly wouldn't suck to be Henrik Stenson right now as he sits on top of the golf world. Despite playing with a wrist injury that forced him out of the pro-am,. the Swede dominated at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship in Dubai by finishing at a tournament-record 25-under 263 to win the European Tour's Race to Dubai on top of the PGA Tour's FedEx Cup title.