General / Editor / 24 May 2007 / Leave a Comment

Last year's battle for the Order of Merit was one of the closest and dramatic in living memory, and there are signs that the 2007 race to be crowned Europe's number one player could be every bit as exciting.

It wasn't until the final hole of the season's final tournament that Padraig Harrington was confirmed as the winner as he pipped Paul Casey and David Howell to the title thanks to Sergio Garcia's bogey at Valderrama.

While Henrik Stenson made a flying start to the new season, his lead has been slowly whittled away in the last few months and there looks to be a fascinating race in store with the tour having returned to mainland Europe and now getting into full swing for the summer.

Five players dominate the Betfair market in Europe, while things look just as interesting in America, with four players making great starts in their bid to finish top of the 2007 PGA Money List.

Tiger Woods is the overwhelming favourite at 1.43 to finish top of the money list for an astonishing eighth occasion.

But he is one of four multiple winners across the Atlantic this season and, with Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh and Zach Johnson all playing near the top of their games, he may have his work cut out this year.

With successive victories in Dubai and at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship, Stenson appeared to have built up an almost unassailable lead at the top of the Order of Merit standings which was reflected in his odds shortening from 16 to as low as 1.5.

But, with the Swede having been based in America for the last couple of months, his nearest challengers have closed the gap considerably and he has now eased out to 2.22 to win his first Order of Merit crown.

Stenson, who has already amassed earnings of 1.65 million euros in 2007, is likely to continue playing for the most part in America until after the US Open in the middle of next month, and this will give his challengers a chance to close the gap further before the second half of the campaign.

Retief Goosen heads the challengers and the world number nine is now just 400,000 euros behind the leader thanks to his victory in Qatar and joint second place at the US Masters.

The 2001 and 2002 Order of Merit champion, who is trading at 8.2 to win his third title, has already recorded six top five finishes this year and looks a real threat.

But Harrington, Casey and world number five Ernie Els will be eager to have their own say in events and it promises to be an exciting few months ahead for golf fans.

Harrington's defence of his crown is now gathering pace after victory at the Irish Open lifted him up to third in the standings, but the Irishman, trading at a shade longer than Goosen, is still to pass the million mark for his earnings this season.

Casey, fourth in the standings, seems to relish this time of the season when the courses become hard and fast and is trading at 7.2 to go one better than last year when he was so unlucky to miss out.

Els has had a quiet spell since switching equipment manufacturers from Titleist to Callaway but the three-time major winner has the talent to rip any field apart.

He heads the statistics for having the best scoring average in 2007 and could be the value bet at 9.2 to win his third Order of Merit.

Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin has been one of the surprises of the season so far, winning the BMW Asian Open and recording five other top ten finishes to move up to sixth place in the present table.

He can be backed at 90 to be crowned Europe's top golfer this year while Ryder Cup star Lee Westwood has made a welcome return to form over the last month, winning in Spain, and is now trading at 23 to win the Order of Merit and 3.5 to come in the top four.

Charl Schwartzel, 65 to come top of the standings and 6.4 to finish in the first four, has impressed many with his performances this season and looks a star of the future while last week's runner-up in Ireland Bradley Dredge and Robert Karlsson may represent good value and can be backed at around 10 to place in the top four.

Woods has been the dominant force in America for the last ten years and three victories in seven appearances have helped him to the top of the money list with earnings of $4.18 million.

But an eighth Money List title is by no means a foregone conclusion with the world number one having shown signs of fallibility this season at the US Masters and The Players Championship.

Woods is presently only $60,000 clear of Mickelson in the standings while how the prospect of becoming a father for the first time later this summer affects him remains to be seen.

After a shaky opening to the year, Mickelson is growing in confidence and it is no coincidence that he has started hitting the ball better since he teamed up with coach Butch Harmon.

Mickelson can still be backed at 6.6 to win the Money List, while he is favourite at 1.81 to finish top of the standings without Woods in the field.

After a poor 2006 by his high standards, Singh has returned with added determination this year and, less than £1 million behind Woods in third place, he is trading at 14.4 to win, and emulate his feat of 2004, and 3.55 to triumph without Woods.

Without doubt, the revelation of the year has been Johnson and no one could have predicted how well he would do over the last seven weeks.

At the start of April, he was just another good, solid but unspectacular member of the PGA Tour but victories at the US Masters and AT & T Classic now mean he is a player to be respected and feared.

Johnson is still a long shot to finish top of the money table and is available to back at 70, but the odds on him winning without Woods have been slashed and he is now trading at 9.8 having been available around 130 before his victory at Augusta.

The surprise failure of the season has been Jim Furyk, who has struggled to produce his best and is languishing in 30th place in the standings.

But he is nothing if not determined and the steely character, whose odds of winning the money list have now been pushed out to 70, is capable of mounting a challenge over the second half of the season and may still figure.

Stenson is trading at similar odds and it would be a remarkable achievement if he could pull off a historic 'double', while his Ryder Cup team-mates Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia - seventh and eighth in the standings and available at 110 to win - are close enough to get into the shake-up.

Donald has had a couple of chances to win this season, but has had to settle for second place and the Englishman can be backed at 40 to win in the field without Woods, while Garcia has managed four top-ten finishes in nine starts.

Adam Scott, coming off a career-best season last year, looks to be getting better with each week and is trading at 55 to win and 17.5 to triumph without Woods.

Charles Howell III, with current earnings of $2.5 million for the year and available to back at 36 to win without Woods, would be a name on most people's shortlist if he can rediscover the form he showed earlier in the season.

And South African Rory Sabbatini, 55 to win without Woods, is enjoying his best year to date and may continue to surprise.