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Tiger's not around, so who's the best bet for the 'unofficial' majors?

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Paul Krishnamurty runs through the betting at the Wachovia and TPC, as the world's next best aim to step into Woods' shoes

The next fortnight offers a chance to imagine what the golfing world would be like without Tiger Woods. With the great one missing following surgery on his knee, we have a pair of stellar golf tournaments that come very close to resembling majors, in terms of both their venues and line-ups. First up this Thursday is the Wachovia Championship, played at Quail Hollow, a course that would befit a major and usually produces a world-class winner. If it wasn't for the surgery, Woods would be in North Carolina as defending champion. And then next weekend, we have the tournament widely known as the 'Fifth Major', the TPC from Sawgrass.

Tiger's temporary absence certainly provides a golden opportunity for the numerous players with aspirations of the highest realistic accolade in golf - to be second best in the world. In the decade since Woods emerged its been unimaginable that the favourite for one of the stellar events could start in double figures. Yet for the Wachovia, where 19 of the world's top 25 line up, we're back to 1990s style markets with current clear No.2 Phil Mickelson heading the way at [11.0].

Its a sign of Mickelson's class that he still managed to make the frame in the Masters having frittered any number of shots away. His problem at Augusta though was the same as it has been all year, a very cold putter. If it wasn't for that weakness, he'd very much be the man to beat, and with three top-sevens from four appearances at Quail Hollow Mickelson has to be a strong contender. Likewise, he's bound to start favourite at Sawgrass next week as defending champion. Nevertheless, I suspect the opposition will be too strong for that putting weakness to go unpunished and couldn't really back a favourite while such a cloud hovered over one crucial part of his game.

Vijay Singh is suffering, as usual, from the same problem. Fourteenth at Augusta doesn't look like a particularly great effort, but any kind of luck on the greens would have produced a much better result. On the 70th hole alone, he took four putts from just a few feet. Prior to that, the ageless Fijian had looked back to his best with top-three finshes at Doral and Bay Hill, quashing any suggestion that he had gone into terminal decline. Vijay's won at Quail Hollow too, and made four top-10s in five appearances. Ever consistent, he's a far more reliable bet than Mickelson this week at odds of [17.0], and looks rock-solid in the top-10 market at [2.6].

Whatever he does this week though, Singh still only has a limited amount of time left at the top level. It's unlikely that he will ever seriously throw down a challenge to Woods again now - whereas there are other contenders who are well capable of making the necessary improvement to at least cement themselves as the No.2. After a tremendous fighting performance to win his second title of the year on Sunday, Adam Scott is the name on everyone's lips. He's always been labelled a 'Tiger-clone', but there was an aura surrounding his golf on the closing holes in the Byron Nelson that was eerily reminiscent of Woods. His other 2008 victory came after a final-round 61, so I think any concerns about his final-day temperament have now been well and truly put to bed.

Scott has finished in the top-three at Quail Hollow before, and so is likely to be popular to go in again at odds around [16.0]. If he could win in consecutive weeks, everyone will be jumping aboard the bandwagon. More likely though than the rare feat of back-to-back wins is that he waits until next week at Sawgrass for his third title of the year. Scott won the Players' Championship back in 2004 and challenged strongly the following year. That enthralling stadium course obviously brings out the best in him in a way that major venues have yet to. Even if he fails to win either, the Australian's reputation is moving in one very clear positive direction, which make odds around [40.0] for the US Open and USPGA look tasty, and potentially risk-free long-term trades.

Sadly, its hard to justify including any Europeans in this debate. For all our much-touted potential, despite the fact there is greater strength in depth amongst the Euro faction on the PGA Tour than ever before, our biggest names continue to fail to cut the mustard. There were such high hopes for Justin Rose at the beginning of the year, but apart from again leading the Masters after day one he's done nothing of note in 2008. Luke Donald continues to under-achieve, and Sergio Garcia can't hole a putt for toffee.

So at Sawgrass next week, we'll be looking mainly towards the familiar challenge of Open champion Padraig Harrington. He remains a top-10 player and potential winner of any event, but it's hard to see him making much dramatic improvement upwards at this stage of his career. Nevertheless, Pod has a good record at Sawgrass, finishing runner-up there twice previously and so must rate our best hope in the 'Fifth Major'.