Its likely no surprise that Tiger Woods is the odds on favorite to win his own tournament this week at the AT&T National at Congressional Country Club. What I how little action the others are getting. Jim Furyk is the second favorite at 16/1, Hunter Mahan at 18/1, then Paul Casey, Sean O’Hair, and Anthony Kim at 22/1.

I like Anthony Kim this week.

Read the rest of the post to see the complete odds for the AT&T National, provided courtesy of Bodoglife.Com, the world’s largest online sports betting destination.

The Washington Examiner has an article on how Tiger Woods’ AT&T National saved professional golf in the Nations Capital. It came, of course, at the expense of the well-liked and unique International in Denver, but the Tour has a real need to schmooze and keep the politicians happy, so a tournament in the D.C. area probably is necessary.

The AT&T National is the descendant of the Kemper Open, which then became the Booz Allen. Back in the early 1980s, I worked at the Kemper Open in one of the tents as one of my assignments for the temporary labor agency, Temps & Co. Most of my jobs for Temps involved typing (I typed 110 words a minute in those days) and computer geekery. I helped set up the computers and databases for the Discovery Channel in the first weeks that they opened. But the Kemper assignment sounded interesting, so I took a break from my usual air conditioned assignments.

About the only thing I remember is endlessly schlepping food and drink supplies to the tent in a golf cart. I can’t recall seeing any of the tournament at all.

The Buick Open this year is scheduled for July 27 - August 2 and tickets are on sale now. You can save $5 on day tickets by ordering now.

With the demise a couple of years ago of the Ford Senior Championship, the Buick is the only professional Tour event in Michigan. And given the trouble that GM is in lately, I’m sure that it’s continued existence is iffy, at best. The best way to keep the Buick in Michigan is to fill the stands.

You can see some photos of my visit to the Buick two years ago here. For a tour of Warwick Hills, visit here.

Dwight Eisenhower has become the first president inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. His recognition comes for Lifetime Achievement.

Arnold Palmer likely was correct in his statement that “One would be hard pressed to find any single person who did more to popularize the game of golf, not only in the United States but throughout the world, than President Eisenhower. His visibility, coupled with his passion for the game, were the inspiration for literally millions of people picking up the game for the first time. Those involved in golf today owe him a great debt of gratitude.”

Palmer of course humbly left himself out of that equation. But together, Arnold and Ike epitomized that era of golf.

Ike was a member of Augusta National. The club built him a cabin there which currently is best known for its use in the “Green Jacket Ceremony” following each Masters Tournament.

I think its also likely that George H.W. Bush will make the World Golf Hall of Fame for his work with the USGA and the First Tee program. I just hope that they see fit to give him the honor while he’s still alive.

The entire text of the induction press release is below:

Another example of how golf is different from other sports:

Following a first round 68 in this week’s Travelers, Paul Azinger realized that he had played a Callaway ball that had recently been labeled as non-conforming. So he did the right thing: he called the infraction himself, resulting in a disqualification.

That’s bad enough. What makes it worse is that this could very well be the last tournament he plays on the regular PGA Tour. Azinger is playing this year on a major medical exemption, and had five tournaments to earn the $568,521 he needed to keep his card. This was the fifth—and he had $557,721 to go.

Azinger turns 50 in January and will be eligible for the senior Champions Tour. In the meantime, he still is eligible for the PGA Championship as a past champion. He can play in other tournaments this year on sponsors’ exemptions.