This both in the betting marquee here at Sun City's Gary Player Country Club where the event has been played since its inception in 1981 when Johnny Miller won it, as well as with the English book-makers and online betting sites.

And why not?

In recent months he has stormed up the World Ranking list to grab Phil Mickelson's No 2 spot behind Tiger Woods, and with a record in 2008 that shows that he won the 'fifth' major, the Players' Championship, finished second in the final major, the PGA Championship, and did the same in the FedEx play-off events, The Barclays and the Tour Championship, it's no wonder he is being looked at as one of the hottest golfers on the planet right now.

Especially if you add to all this the fact that he also won the European Tour's Castello Masters in Spain in October.

Right now the odds on him vary between 5/2 and 9/4 to 13/5 as you will see if you click here.

Behind Garcia, last week's Omega Mission Hills World Cup winners, Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson of Sweden are the joint second favourites with England's Lee Westwood at around 7/1.

Trevor Immelman, the current Masters champion and defending champion here this week, is also quoted by some bookmakers at 7/1, but more see him at 8/1 and above.

Least favoured by the bookmakers is reigning South African Open champion James Kingston at a solid 40-1.