Sportsbet Blog

Disgraced golfer Tiger Woods finds himself in a peculiar spot this weekend going in to the Players Championship. After a dismal display at Quail Hollow where he uncharacteristically missed the cut the bookies have given him his longest tournament odds in almost 3 years with Sportsbet willing to pay $8.00 if he can take out the title. This amazing payout comes in spite of Tigers unprecedented run of 258 weeks as the games number one ranked player and could be a great time for punters to cash in. Tiger has undoubtedly been under a lot of pressure of late with experts saying that it is showing through in his swing. But you can never ever right off the man that is quite simply the greatest golfer of all time and with Sportsbet offering you up to $200 in free bets on top of these great odds it is an opportunity that you simply can not miss.

Tigers amazing odds caused me have a little look around the sporting world to see if there was any other good outside bets going around and found a couple that could tickle you taste buds. The French Open Tennis tournament is nearly upon us and we find the usual suspects Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer pitted in as hot favourites paying $1.40 and $4.50 respectively. Novak Djokovic is third favourite at $13, but what about Aussie open finalist Andy Murray? You can find him further down the list with Sportsbet offering a whopping $51 for him to take out his first major. While I seriously don’t think that he will win a small bet on him making the final could be well worth it.

Another good looking bet is $6.50 for Australian F1 driver Mark Webber to win the Spanish GP. His Red Bull car has looked the business this year and with a little bit of luck he could very well be sitting a top of the podium. But watch out Lewis “Doughnut King” Hamilton.

After the accident that placed Felipe Massa in hospital, Michael Schumacher was being touted as the driver to replace him at Ferrari while Massa recovers. In the end, Luca Badoer ($34 for a win @ SportingBet.com.au) was selected as the replacement. With all this excitement, people have been talking about little else and there is much anticipation for this weekend’s European F1 Grand Prix to be held around the streets of Valencia.

While the comeback of the retired legend German legend is not going to be happening (at least for now), the matter of the 2009 drivers championship is back into discussion. This years’ battle for the championship has been very interesting up until the month long break and should continue to be very competitive.

The question on many people’s minds is will Brawn GP be able to regain the early season form that seen an amazing debut season start for the team? Without the benefit of any mid-season testing and restricted development time, can Brawn fix up all their bugs in time for the grand prix in Valencia?

Ross Brawn, team principal and technical brain, is convinced that one of the modifications that have been made to the car has been seriously detrimental to the cars ability to get heat in to the tyres. The problems that Brawn GP has faced have seriously hampered the grip level of the vehicle that saw Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello ($34 for a win @ SportingBet.com.au) dominate in the opening rounds.

The Spanish home crowd will be happily cheering as their national hero Fernando Alonso and his team, Renault, have been given the green light to race in Valencia on the weekend. It was a possibility that Renault would not compete after an incident in the Hungarian GP that saw them incorrectly fit a wheel to the Spaniard’s car, which later came off further around the track. Renault was able to win the appeal which they made to the FIA after a ban was imposed.

The race organisers, along with the home fans will most certainly be happy to see that the ban has been lifted. Romain Grosjean will also have a smile on his face as he is set to make his formula one debut after the sacking of Nelson Piquet Jr. after the Hungarian GP.

After taking a win at the Hungaroring before the month long break, McLaren will be looking to continue with the improvement that they have made since the start of the season. Lewis Hamilton is tipped to be the outright winner this weekend with odds of $3.25 at Sporting Bet.

McLaren is believed to have the best KERS system in the field and they were able to use it o great effect in Hungary. KERS is looking to be the main weapon in the arsenal of McLaren this weekend as overtaking opportunities will be few and far between.

Last year’s maiden grand prix in Valencia showed that overtaking was next to impossible. The teams whose drivers are equipped with the KERS system will be looking to use it to maximum effect off the grid to make up a few extra positions.

For those that get caught behind as a result of this will be suffering a major setback as they may find themselves trapped behind another driver slower than them with no passing opportunity.

In my opinion, anyone not running KERS will more than likely be running light, as they will be looking to hold position off of the grid and possibly make a fast getaway to take an early lead.

My prediction for the podium finishers gives first place to Lewis Hamilton ($3.25 for a win), second to Jenson Button ($8 for a win) and third place to Sebastian Vettel ($3.75 for a win @ SportingBet.com.au).

Sportingbet are covering the F1 round this weekend and give new customers a offer hard to refuse. Simply make an account with Sportingbet and deposit $30 or more and they will credit you with a $100 free bet that can be place on this weekends race!

After a five month wait The Formula One season is set to begin all over again on Sunday with drivers today gearing up for their final qualifying sessions in Melbourne.

Two Seasons Of Intensely Close Competition

The last two seasons have produced the most thrilling conclusions in the history of the sport, and in both years it was Lewis Hamilton who was at the centre of the action.

In 2007 the young Brit went within one point of doing what is considered an impossible task – claim an F1 title in your rookie season. He was pipped at the post by his Finnish rival Kimi Raikkonen who was the epitome of Scandinavian composure, winning the last two races of the season to leapfrog the British rookie and claim the title by a single point.

2008 once again saw an incredibly close race, with the consistency of Hamilton’s performances seeing him needing just a top five finish in the final race to snare his maiden championship win.

Things could not have been more tense for the 23yr old, who rounded the final bend in sixth place but was able to capitalise on a poor choice of tyres by rival Timo Glock to clamber up into fifth position and claim the season title…by a single point.

Will 2009 Match The Epic Showdowns Of The Past Two Seasons

So expectations are obviously high for another close championship in 2009. This will be the final season under the current points scoring system where drivers are awarded points for finishing anywhere in the top 10. The new system will see the F1 title going to the driver with the most race wins, and the governing body had originally planned to run with the new format this year. It was met was such fierce opposition from drivers and teams that it has been pushed back until 2010, and will force a major rethink when it comes to strategy and teamwork.

But for now the title will in effect go to the most consistent driver, and Hamilton has shown that to be one of his strengths in his first two seasons at the top.

Performances in testing have been a little underwhelming for the Brit this year, but the good news is that so far none of his rivals have handed in any electrifying performances of their own.

In an interview yesterday Mark Webber commented on how level the competition seemed to be at this stage. “It is literally us, Toyota, Williams and BMW” Webber said. “We have all at certain times, done the business. And the Renault as well”.

Who will do the business this year?

In a bit of a surprise a resurgent Jenson Button has come back from obscurity to be installed as favourite to take the Australian Grand Prix at odds of 4/1. He is closely followed by Rubens Barrichello and Kimi Raikkonen with last years champion well back in the betting at this stage.

Crooksy