Woods remains bettors’ choice

Analyzing the odds for upcoming games and events.

It is hardly startling news that Tiger Woods is the favorite to win the 136th British Open, which begins Thursday at Carnoustie in Scotland.

The online betting site bodog.com has defending champion Woods a 3-1 choice to win the Open for a fourth time, obviously believing he will better his performance from the last time the tournament was played at Carnoustie. In 1999, Woods finished in a tie for seventh.

Bettors looking elsewhere remember that the Open has had some monumental upsets in recent years. Ben Curtis shocked the world in 2003 and Todd Hamilton followed a year later, defeating Ernie Els in a playoff.

A two-time winner on the PGA Tour in 2006, Curtis hasn’t come close to matching his British Open success. He has missed the cut in the tournament the last three years, but those who still have faith can get large odds on him in 2007. Sportsbook.com lists Curtis at 100-1, but there are some who would say that price was underlaid.

Individual odds for Curtis and Hamilton weren’t listed on bodog, meaning they are included with the field. The field is the 5-1 second choice.

Those looking at the home-field advantage may focus on Colin Montgomerie or even Paul Lawrie, who was the surprise winner the last time the tournament was held at Carnoustie.

Bodog has Montgomerie, who won his first tournament in Europe in almost two years last week at the Smurfit Kappa European Open, at 40-1; Lawrie is 100-1. Both have recent history against them. No European has won a major since Lawrie’s Open stunner.

Horse racing

It is anybody’s guess how the new main track at Del Mar will play when the 43-day season begins today.

The conventional dirt track has been replaced by the synthetic Polytrack, a surface that is in place at several other venues, including Arlington Park, Keeneland, Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., and Woodbine in Toronto.

Some bettors will adopt a wait-and-see attitude on whether the track will favor speed or closers and if the outside will be better than the inside or vice versa. Those who want to go to school on the Polytrack will still have plenty of action at Del Mar. The track will offer four turf races today, including an unprecedented three divisions of the Oceanside Stakes.

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bob.mieszerski@latimes.com