The Players Championship is one of the most anticipated events on the golf calendar, as only the best golfers in the world take on the dreadful TPC at Sawgrass, which is now known as The Players Stadium Course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

The 2012 Players Championship predictions & odds to win gets underway this Thursday morning at 8 AM ET on Golf-Channel, followed by weekend coverage on NBC Sports. Although everyone on the field this week is ranked among the worlds best, there will be one group in particular that’s sure to get all the attention.

With the first round of the US Masters 2012 in the books, Lee Westwood leads the way at -5, followed by a second-place tie between Louis Oosthuizen and Peter Hanson at -4, and six players tied for fourth at -3. The players everyone wants to know about are Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. Those guys finished the day tied for 14th and 29th respectively. McIlroy shot a -1, 71, while Tiger finished even after shooting a 72.

Tiger Woods 2012 Masters Prop Bets & Golf Picks: The moment of truth is finally here! After three days of hoopla and hype, we are now ready to tee off at the 2012 Masters. Former world No.1 Tiger Woods is out to resume his chase of Jack Nicklaus all-time record for major titles.

The moment of truth is almost amongst us, we are we now less than 24 hours away from the first tee time of the 2012 Masters. This of course, means that we will reveal tee times and pairing for the first couple of rounds, which will be played at Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia. We will also be taking one final look at the odds to win 2012 Masters!

Augusta National in Augusta, Georgia will take center stage this week in preparation for the first major of the season, the 2012 Masters predictions and its leading contenders. With the best golfers in the world competing for the coveted green jacket, the usual suspects that everyone will keeping a close eye on will be Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson.

Is there a better way than to tee off this year’s major tournament season than at the beautiful Augusta National for the 2012 US Masters? The fact that this year we will have one of the most exciting showdowns in quite some time, between Tiger Woods and his heir apparent Rory McIlroy, makes the betting odds to win 2012 US Masters that much more interesting.

About the only predictable part of this Open Championship has been the weather, and with the tournament heading into its final round, the betting odds are nowhere near where they were on Thursday morning. The biggest surprise is the list of contenders heading into Sunday’s action. The weather was wild again Saturday, shifting from a raging wind to a gentle sea breeze, from a driving rain to brilliant sunshine, and leaving most of the field wet, tired and feeling as though they got the short end of the draw. That's not unusual.

The 2011 Open Championship is just hours away and the adjusted odds are reflecting some late indecision on the favorite, Rory McIlroy (7/1). The weather at Royal St. Georges will be as fierce of a competitor as any of the golfers, making the mid-range game much more important. My golf picks for the weekend are sticking with Luke Donald (11/1), as the world’s number one ranked player is coming in with confidence. He has hardly been out of the top 10 in the last 12 months and he has the perfect game for links golf.

With the 2011 British Open less than two days away, the golf betting predictions are hovering over Rory McIlroy, who leads the pack as the 13/2 favorite to create some more magic this weekend across the pond. The draws have been released for this weekend major tournament and Lee Westwood (11/1), the No.2 ranked player in the world, will play alongside Steve Stricker (28/1), winner of Sunday’s John Deere Classic, and US Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (40/1).

It will be a wide open field again in terms of betting odds predictions when the 2011 Open Championship tees off on Thursday morning and it will be yet another major tournament without Tiger Woods. The Masters and US Open are perhaps more heralded amongst American golf fans, but no tournament is more prestigious overseas than the British Open. Thursday marks the return of one of golf’s trickiest courses – Royal St. Georges in Sandwich, England – where good tee shots go to die and low scores are nearly impossible.

Rory McIlroy enjoyed a triumphant march Sunday to his first major title as a two-under-par 69 gave him an eight-shot victory in the U.S. Open at Congressional Country Club in Maryland. McIlroy's 16-under aggregate of 268 was a record for the U.S. Open, breaking the mark set by Tiger Woods, who was 12-under in winning at Pebble Beach in 2000. He became only the third player in U.S. Open history to return all four rounds in the 60s and he was the youngest winner of the tournament since the legendary Bobby Jones in 1923.

As the second major of the season approaches its final round, Rory McIlroy enters Sunday as a huge U.S. Open picks favorite to hang on to his huge lead and win the first major of his career. Rory McIlroy has an eight-shot lead after three rounds at golf's U.S. Open, where his score of 14 under is the lowest in relation to par in the 111-year history of the major championship.

Sebastian Vettel coughed up a victory in the last lap in his previous race, but he will now go into the European F1 Grand Prix 2011 determined to win and will clearly be taking the track at Valencia as the F1 predictions favorite on Sunday, June 19th. Vettel has won five out of the seven races, and on the two occasions that he did not win, he has finished second in the race and hence got a podium position. This puts him at the top of the points table in formula one this season with 161 points, and makes him the favorite to finish the season on top again.

The NASCAR series continues this weekend in Michigan with the Heluva Good 400, and while the racing odds for this upcoming event make for tough betting predictions, a long look at every contestant will be necessary. The drivers will be hitting Michigan International Speedway for Sunday's race, which is the first of two there this season. Denney Hamlin is the defending race winner and he comes in as a +1000 Heluva Good 400 predictions long-shot to repeat as the winner on Sunday.

With the second major of the season upon us, it is time to gauge our 2011 U.S. Open Championship predictions. This year’s Open will be held at Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Maryland, and although Tiger Woods will not be participating this weekend, this should be a wide open field that could produce a surprise and yet another first-time winner. Out of the last eight U.S. Open championships, only two golfers, Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen, collected their second major title.

With Tiger Wood slated to miss the 2011 US Open, the field will take a crack at Phil Mickelson, who opened up the betting lines as the odds-on favorite. Heavy action on the British duo, #1 Luke Donald and #2 Lee Westwood, has moved both of those golfers ahead of Mickelson and now lists them as co-favorites at +1000. For the first time in the history of golf, no American owns a major championship at the same time that Europe has possession of the Ryder Cup. That could change at Congressional Country Club in Washington, D.C. this week if an American wins the tournament, though.

While Dan Wheldon wins the 96th Indy 500, this year's race brought a lot of the same story for Danica Patrick, as her bid for a win over the top IndyCar contenders fell short when her fuel conservation strategy left her brought her to a 10th-place finish. JR Hildebrand was one turn away from winning the Indianapolis 500 on his very first try, but then while within sight of the checkered flag, the 23-year-old Californian made the ultimate mistake, slamming into the wall on the final turn, allowing Dan Wheldon to drive past him to finish atop the 2011 Indianapolis 500 results.

The Indy 500 favorites are locked in for this year's big event and the top three names on that list will be the center of many race predictions on Sunday afternoon. Danica Patrick (28-1) will command plenty of attention as well, but she shouldn't take much of the spotlight off of Scott Dixon (7-2) and Dario Franchetti (4-1), who are currently the sports handicapping favorites to win the 2011 Indy 500. The Indianapolis 500 is still the most prestigious open-wheel race of the season.

This year's Indy 500 odds will include a lot of betting news buzz from the rumor mill, as this could be Danica Patrick's final IndyCar race. This year's Indianapolis 500 start time is set for Sunday, May 29h, at 12:00pm ET and has Scott Dixon and Dario Franchetti as the co-favorites at +350. This year's race features the closest field in the 100-year history of the race, with a scant 3.5 miles per hour separating the pole winner Alex Tagliani from the last qualifier, Ana Beatriz.

Drivers at Sunday’s Indy 500 had better hold onto their steering wheels a little tighter, because their rides will be bumpier than usual on restarts. The problem lies in Turn 1, as cars get up to 200 mph and are jockeying for position; and the way these cars get to that turn will affect which Indy 500 picks will hold up throughout the race. The turn itself is tight for cars running only one wide, but it will be made even tighter as cars line up two wide into that first curve.

The free sports picks schedule on Sunday, May 15th features the last game of the second round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs followed by the opening game of the Eastern Conference Finals. At 3:30pm ET on ABC, the Oklahoma City Thunder will host the Memphis Grizzlies in a pressure-packed game 7 at the Oklahoma City Arena. The nightcap features game 1 of what will certainly be the most exciting series of the postseason up to this point when the top-seeded Chicago Bulls open up their seven-game series at the United Center at 8:00pm ET on TNT against the Miami Heat.

In what I believe will be the last of my free sports picks for the second round of the 2011 NBA Playoffs, the Oklahoma City Thunder will visit the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday at 9:00pm ET on ESPN in game 6 of their best-of-seven, Western Conference series. The Thunder grabbed a 3-2 lead on Wednesday at the Oklahoma City Arena and now they sit just one win away from facing the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference finals.

The Chicago Bulls have an opportunity to close out the Atlanta Hawks and put an end to their somewhat surprising run in the 2011 NBA Playoffs. I’ve been more inclined to base my free sports picks on the Chicago Bulls as the playoffs have progressed and after their game-5 victory at United Center, game 6 will get them one step closer to a dream match-up against the Miami Heat as the Bulls are now a 7-2 favorite to win the 2011 NBA Championship.

The odds to win the 2011 Players Championship at Sawgrass have been posted and as most tournaments in the past, the field is wide open for a surprise winner. The 2011 The Players Championship will be played at TPC at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. The tournament begins on May 12th and will conclude on May 15th and all the action can be seen on NBC. Tiger Woods has not yet won another tournament since his personal life encountered some rough patches, but clearly he hasn’t fallen out of favor with the public or the odds-makers.

We have two free sports picks game 5's on the NBA calender for Wednesday, May 11th, in what I belive is a must-win scenario for both road teams. The Boston Celtics will look to avoid elimination in tonight's matchup in Miami at 7:00pm ET on TNT. Miami is up 3-1 and could put the final nail in Boston’s coffin with a victory at home tonight, but I’m sure that Boston will make it as tough as possible on the Heat. Miami has yet to lose a 2011 NBA Playoffs matchup at home and to be honest; this game won’t be any different.