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WHILE Tiger Woods rests his wounded knee at his luxury Florida home this week, he can comfort himself with the knowledge that his pain is being felt in the boardrooms of such sponsors as Nike and Buick, whose endorsement dollars are devalued considerably by his absence from Birkdale, and among those television executives whose viewing figures tend to take a sharp turn to the south when the world's most famous athlete disappears from the screens.

As Forbes magazine recently predicted that his career income is likely to pass the dollars1 billion mark within two years, Woods can probably scrape by without the few more bawbees he would undoubtedly have trousered at an Open Championship that offers a winner's cheque of around GBP800,000 from a total prize pot of close to dollars5 million. His loss, though, is likely to prove a boon to British bookmakers, who expect to reap a rich harvest from his absence.

For, while commercial and broadcasting interests have been hit by Woods' decision to forgo the pleasures of a week on the Lancashire coastline, punters have not been slow to spot the opportunities created by his absence. For as long as he has been involved in professional golf, Woods has been the shoo-in favourite at almost every tournament he has played, so the betting market has been alive with possibilities since it was confirmed his name would not be on the start-list.

"There's no doubt it's the most open Open since before the Tiger era, " says Jonathan Chapman, golf specialist with the Racing Post.

"Everyone knows Tiger has been great for the game in general, but his odds have tended to suppress interest among all but the highrollers. It's all right backing him at 2/1 if you're putting down GBP10,000, but it's not a lot of fun if you're just betting a tenner or so."

Woods may have turned the small-time gambler away from picking potential winners, but his presence at the sport's top level has contributed to the growth of more imaginative betting practices.

Increasingly, it seems, punters get their kicks not only from forecasting which player is likely to win a tournament, but from predicting who will come first among a certain group of players, in a certain match or pairing or of a particular nationality. And while the odds against a Woods victory are usually discouragingly short, there is always some interest to be found in guessing what the margin of his win might be.

Online gambling, betting exchanges and spread betting have been the dominant trends that have shaped the industry over the past few years. Yet while gross gambling yield has increased from just over GBP7bn in 1999 to just under GBP10bn in 2007, the bulk of that money still crosses the counters of high-street shops. And as the Open attracts a fair number of gamblers from the one-punt-a-year school of sporting speculation, the majority of bets, albeit hedged as eachway efforts, are still on who will actually win the thing.

While astute punters will wait to check where form and odds might stand after the conclusion of this weekend's events, the Scottish Open at Loch Lomond and the John Deere Classic in Illinois, the market makers have already put their cards on the table with their near-unanimous declaration that Sergio Garcia is the favourite to triumph at Birkdale. The Spaniard has been a lover of links golf since he won the Amateur Championship at Muirfield in 1998, has finished in the top 10 in six of the last seven Opens, and in his recent victory at the Players Championship at Sawgrass he showed the big-game composure that has not always been a feature of his play.

Garcia is being quoted as low as 10/1 by some bookmakers, with Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson and reigning champion Padraig Harrington queuing up behind with prices below 20/1. On the face of it, the most obvious sign of generosity is provided by the fact that some of the layers are offering Adam Scott, ranked third in the world, as long as 30/1, but anyone tempted by that price should bear in mind that the Australian's Open record is on the unimpressive side of execrable.

"Most of the bets will come in over the next few days, " says Graham Sharpe of William Hill.

"Until now, most of the wagers have simply been about the winner, but when it gets going you start to see some of the more imaginative bets as well: top Brit, top European, holes in one, victory margins and that sort of thing.

"There definitely has been a Tiger effect in the past few years, and it seems a long time since there have been so many potential winners in the fi eld. It's good to see things open up like that because we're experiencing a lot of interest already. Obviously, it would be good to see Tiger take part from a purely golfing point of view, but there's no doubt that he can have an intimidating effect and put people off betting at times."

It has been said that Woods likes the occasional punt himself, so his tips could make interesting reading. Just so long as you remember that he can probably afford to lose a few bob as well.