April isn't the cruelest month despite what T.S. Eliot said. Nor is it only for fools.

I like April because it's a great time in sports, especially because of the Masters, my favorite golf tournament to watch on television. You know, azaleas, Augusta National, Amen Corner and all that. Also, it's the start of the baseball season. Now, if only someone can explain to me why March Madness is in April.

Anyway, March Madness is over. It's time for the Masters, starting today and ending on the second Sunday of the month. Again, someone please tell me why there's a new book about golf's first major called "First Sunday in April: The Masters."

Of course, Tiger Woods is the odds-on favorite to win his fifth green jacket. The latest Las Vegas odds on him to win are 11-10. It's as sure of a bet you will ever get, especially now that the Kwon Curse is over, having ended his winning streak. Tiger can snap his winless drought (of one tournament) and start another streak besides beginning his run for a Grand Slam, a single-season sweep of the majors.

"How can you not pick him," said Kapalua's Gary Planos, who runs the Mercedes-Benz Championship that launches the PGA Tour season.

If you're betting with your head screwed on straight, you've got to go with Woods. But a lot of people, myself included, don't always bet using our head. I know I don't. I took Hawai'i with the points against Georgia in the Sugar Bowl. Strictly for recreational purposes.

So Tiger would be my pick, if I was betting with my head. But if I'm betting with my heart, the choice would be K.J. Choi. What a story it would be if Choi becomes the first Asian to win a major. And a better story when he defends his Sony Open in Hawai'i title next year.

The sentimental bet? Planos and I agree: Ernie Els.

A pragmatist, Planos' choice if he were to bet with his heart is on anyone who hasn't won a tournament this year. In fact, he'd like to see a different winner every week because it would be more the merrier next year at Kapalua's Plantation Course.

Does anybody other than Tiger have a chance this week? Phil Mickelson is the best hope at 10-1, followed by Retief Goosen 15-1, Vijay Singh 18-1, Geoff Olgivy 20-1 and Adam Scott 25-1. Els is 20-1 and Choi 30-1. Defending champion Zach Johnson is a very good chance-um bet at a rewarding 60-1. I was going to go with Scott as the best bet to deprive Tiger until Sports Illustrated put the 27-year-old Australian on the cover of its special Masters Preview issue. It's as bad a curse as mine.

Scott is one of eight Australians in this year's field, which leads to another intriguing bet: will one of them be the first from Down Under to win a Masters, something Greg Norman couldn't do despite coming oh-so-close twice (1986 and '87) among his five top-5 finishes.

What about the long shots among the players in this year's Masters field? Of the more than 50 players listed at 100-1, I like Andres Romero the best of all. Even if Romero, who got in by winning the Zurich Classic of New Orleans two weeks ago and nearly won last year's British Open, is among the 19 pros playing Augusta National for the first time.

It'll be great viewing as the Masters will command all of our attention by being the only golf tournament on the tube this week. No Champions Tour, no Nationwide Tour. The LPGA is playing this week, but has enough sense to leave the country, going South of the Border, down Mexico way. The LPGA Corona Classic has no U.S. television coverage.

My only regret is that there's no local angle in this year's Masters unlike 2007 when Dean Wilson and Casey Watabu made it a double treat by being only the fourth and fifth golfers from Hawai'i to play in golf's most-watched event, joining David Ishii, Stan Souza and Guy Yamamoto in a very select group. Only Wilson survived the cut, finishing tied for 30th. Here's hoping that second-year tour pro Parker McLachlin can soon join the elite list.

NOTES

The Fields Open in Hawai'i at the Ko Olina Resort is in limbo in terms of its title sponsor and site, the latter even if Fields re-ups as title sponsor. Negotiations are still on, according to Greg Nichols, Ko Olina Golf Club's general manager. "We'd like to have a definite answer by June so we can move on," he said.

Planos also is trying to find a corporate title sponsor for the inaugural Kapalua LPGA Classic, a 72-hole event scheduled for Oct. 16-19 at the resort's Bay Course. "We're going to host the event for five years, no matter what," he said.

Planos has extended a sponsor's exemption for the new event to Michelle Wie. "We'd love to have her but it all depends on what events she's going to play. She can only accept six exemptions but I did extend her one." Team Wie hasn't said yes or no. Wie, who finished next to last among those making the cut in the Fields Open, her only LPGA appearance this year, has accepted an invite to the MIchelob Ultra Open next month at Kingsmill in Williamsburg, Va. She accepted an exemption but withdrew from the Safeway International because of a sore wrist two weeks ago.

Safeway has decided to stop underwriting the Arizona tournament starting 2009 but will continue as a sponsor of the Safeway Classic in Portland, Ore., later in the year. Here's hoping the LPGA can fill the pukas on its 2009 schedule.

Bill Kwon can be reached at billkwonrhs@aol.com