While the Farmer’s Insurance Open gets things going for Tiger Woods, the Volvo Golf Champions also tees off Thursday. It’s the European Tour’s first ever stop in Bahrain. The inaugural event will be played at the Royal Golf Club and has a quality field that has World #9 Paul Casey leading the odds by bookmakers.

The course is called the Montgomerie Course since it was designed by Colin Montgomerie. You would think he would have an advantage but the former Ryder Cup captain is listed steep at 125/1 odds. Look elsewhere other than the aging Montgomerie for better value.

Though Casey leads the odds, he didn’t have a great season last year and finished 18th at Abu Dhabi last week, which he won in 2009. Padraig Harrington will be looking to rectify last week’s mistake. He was disqualified last week after illegally signing for his cards of 65. He has good value and motivation to win at the Volvo Golf Champions.

Robert Karlsson comes in second in the odds for his first event of 2011. He has a good record at these kinds of golf tournaments with recent wins at the Qatar Masters and Dubai World Championships last year. He wasn’t mentioned much last year but the 2008 European Tour money winner will be looking to put his best foot forward this week.

Francesco Molinari also has good value and has consistently finished among the top 10 in recent tournaments. He did it again last week with a tie for eighth at Abu Dhabi. Ian Poulter missed the cut at Abu Dhabi but he is high up on the odds leaderboard. So is Sergio Garcia, who had a dreadful 2010 with just one top 10 finish.

Volvo Golf Champions Outright Odds (provided by William Hill)

Paul Casey: 7/1

Robert Karlssson: 10/1

Francesco Molinari: 11/1

Ian Poulter: 12/1

Padraig Harrington: 12/1

Ian Poulter: 12/1

Alvaro Quiros: 16/1

Miguel Angel Jimenez: 22/1

Matteo Manassero: 22/1

Sergio Garcia: 25/1

Seung-Yul Noh: 25/1

Peter Hanson: 33/1

Alexander Noren: 33/1

Anders Hansen: 35/1

Richard Green: 40/1

Edoardo Molinari: 40/1

Thomas Aiken: 50/1

Ricardo Gonzalez: 50/1

Thongchai Jaidee: 50/1