Rusty Tiger Woods no U.S. Open favorite with some bookmakers
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}By Mark Lamport-Stokes
PEBBLE BEACH, California (Reuters) - Tiger Woods will step into unfamiliar territory when he tees off in Thursday's opening round of the U.S. Open without being made the tournament favorite by some leading odds-makers.
For the first time since the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic Club, the American world number one has not been installed as the leading choice by British bookmakers Ladbrokes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Woods, who has played only four events on the 2010 PGA Tour since returning to the game in April from a self-imposed exile of five months, is rated at 10-1 behind compatriot Phil Mickelson, an 8-1 favorite.
Britain's Lee Westwood, winner of the PGA Tour's St. Jude Classic on Sunday, is at 12-1 while three-times major winner Padraig Harrington of Ireland, American Dustin Johnson and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy are joint fourth best at 25-1.
"A favorite other than Woods would have been unthinkable not so long ago," Ladbrokes spokesman Nick Weinberg said Tuesday in a news release.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"But it's a sign of the times, and testimony to the former poster boy's monumental fall from grace that it's Mickelson who goes off as the man to beat."
Woods, a three-times U.S. Open winner who stormed to a record 15-shot victory when the championship was last held at Pebble Beach in 2000, has fallen well short of his own lofty standards this year.
He has missed one cut, withdrawn from the final round of the Players Championship because of a lingering neck injury and recorded just one top-10 -- a tie for fourth at the U.S. Masters.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Based on a survey of 20 leading bookmakers, Woods and Mickelson are each favored by four parlors for the U.S. Open, while they are the joint top choice in the remaining 12.
(Editing by Steve Ginsburg)