Before he struck a ball in the 2008 season Tiger was unusually bullish.

“Do I see it as a possibility? I say yes,” Woods said. “For most of my career I’ve won more than four tournaments a year. It’s just winning the right four. If you put it all together, have the stars line up, I certainly think it’s possible.”

World No 2 Phil Mickelson has also suggested it’s a possibility while Arnold Palmer, the man whose PGA Career wins of 62 was matched by Tiger this week has also stated that Tiger can win the modern grand slam.

After his demolition job at the Buick Invitational last weekend the odds are being slashed on Tiger doing the Slam. On Betfair he is available at 14.5, is that value??

So what do you think - how many Majors will Tiger win in 2008. Vote in the sidebar and leave your comments below.

The St Andrews Trust is opening a new course at the home of golf. The Castle Course opens in the summer of 2008. I have always been a fan of the trust, and once again they are to be congratulated for making the course open to the public. What’s more they have not implemented any handicap restrictions on The Castle Course, so the novice golfer can experience golf at St Andrews; though from the back tees the Castle Course plays 7200 yards which will test the very best. The course is designed by David McLay Kidd of Bandon Dunes fame.

Also just to be aware all 7 courses can now be booked online at www.standrews.org.uk

For a straight golf shot, one must start with a straight or SQUARE club face: face pointing to the intended target. Often times golfers do not know what “square to the target” looks like.

The vertical lines on the club face should be parallel to the intended target line. To see this you can use stripes on a range ball: aim the lines toward where you want the ball to go and place the club face so that the vertical lines are parallel to the stripes on the ball.

(Click here to read the article in full)

Might I, Rey Pelayo, have the humility to conquer the mighty muni? What would it mean to reign supreme over the great equalizer, the omnipresent goat track where backspin and sidespin, loft and lie, stiffness and flexibility, are rendered insignificant? In the end, there is no finer place to reduce the touring professional to one of us, no finer place to watch her or his shots bound endlessly off concrete greens, through pavement fairways, off threadbare tee blocks, into infamy. No gallery nor grandstand to rebound shots toward safety; no grass pillows from which to play soaring iron shots to receptive targets. This is the muni, the netless basketball court, the unmarked soccer pitch, the dirt baseball field. It is where all arrogance becomes humility, this I give to you. This I embrace.

Or is he a golfing genius… Ok, so the headline may be a bit disingenuous, but having watched Rory on CNN’s Living Golf program I have to confess to being a bit confused as to what to make of him. What got me thinking was when he was asked what his goals for the year were - basically he seemed to imply nothing short of a starring role in the European Ryder Cup Team would do (he didn’t actually say that mind, but I felt it was implied). (Click here to read the article in full)

Odds courtesy of Betfair

Tiger is even money this week at the CA Championship at the Doral Golf Resort & Spa, Miami. It’s simply incredible that even money is on offer for any golfer in a field with 19 of the top 20 golfers in the world. But Tiger and more importantly his recent form has been incredible with 7 wins on the bounce. The talk of the grand slam and the chase of Byron Nelson’s 11 consecutive PGA Tour wins from back in 1945 have the world’s media focused almost solely on him. Coming up a long way behind in the odds are the usual suspects Els, Mickelson, Singh et al. While they have all had there moments so far in 2008 consistency has been poor.

The case for Woods is irrefutable. Unbeaten in 6 months, in WGC stroke play events such as this week’s, he has won 12 from 17 since the passing of his father. While Doral isn’t all that its Blue Monster name suggests, it favours a long hitter like Woods.

So this week the advice of The Speculator is to LAY Woods, and to have a small punt on Justin Rose at 45/1

What’s the rational?
Well firstly Woods was off form in the first two rounds last week and with a stronger field that may well count against him. Secondly and more importantly from an odds perspective Woods invariably drifts over the 4 days, at the World Match Play Tiger drifted to over 20.0, for anyone who has layed the hedge becomes very rewarding.

As for our punt on Rose, he played well last week in Florida and if he can sort his putting he can make a challenge.

Odds courtesy of Betfair

At the Fairway Golf Blog we aim to provide the best golf travel blog on the internet. The Fairway Golf Blog focuses on golf and specifically golf travel all over the world – from where to go, courses to play, how to book, golf schools, the travel media etc etc. Naturally as golf enthusiasts we are also likely to stray into more general golf topics occasionally, but if we get off message too much please let us know. For the uninitiated, blogs (or weblogs) work like this: (Click here to read the article in full)