Some options for golf

Since Tiger Woods was forced to take time off to recover from surgery he had on his knee in mid-April, golf gamblers have taken advantage of increased betting options in recent weeks.

With more respectable odds available for a higher number of golfers, a variety of bets were made on Tiger-less events such as the Byron Nelson Championship, the Players Championship and last week’s Crowne Plaza Invitational.

And with Woods still sidelined this week, the same “wide-open” betting action is expected for this weekend’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.

The Memorial, won by K.J. Choi last year, also will be missing Vijay Singh and Adam Scott, who will sit out the event.

To take advantage of the uncertainty regarding this weekend, Sportsbetting.com has listed “the field” as a 3-1 favorite, followed by Phil Mickelson, who is coming off a one-stroke win at Colonial and is listed at 7-1.

Sergio Garcia, who won the Players Championship this month, is next at 15-1, followed by Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy at 20-1. Ernie Els, who initially planned to skip the Memorial but wrote on his website on Tuesday that he’ll play this weekend, was given 25-1 odds.

Pro basketball

Boston and Detroit head into tonight’s Game 5 needing two victories to reach this year’s NBA Finals. The Celtics and Pistons are tied at 2-2 in the best-of-seven series with Boston listed as a 5 1/2 -point favorite to win tonight’s game.

The money line for tonight’s game has Boston at -260 and Detroit at +220.

What’s so remarkable about the Celtics’ playoff run has been their dismal 7-11 record against the point spread in the postseason.

-- Lonnie White