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This Week in Golf - September 9th through September 12thGolf Betting Lines09/06/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - BMW CHAMPIONSHIP, Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, Lemont, Illinois - The BMW Championship marks the third round of the PGA Tour playoffs, reserved for the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings. Following the fourth round at Cog Hill, only the top 30 players on the points list will make the field for the playoff finale at the Tour Championship, which begins after a one-week break in the schedule. Tiger Woods won last year's BMW Championship by eight shots after posting four consecutive rounds of 68 or better, collecting his fifth career victory at the tournament. The win catapulted Woods to his second FedExCup title in three years. Fighting for his playoff life -- and his No. 1 ranking -- Woods birdied three of his last four holes at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday to earn the right to defend his title. He closed with a three-under 68 to share 11th place at 10-under-par 274. That was good enough to hold off Phil Mickelson and retain his No. 1 ranking. Mickelson needed a top-four finish to pass Woods and was there for a while. However, Mickelson had a birdie, two bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey on the back nine en route to a closing 76. That dropped him 14 spots behind Woods on the leaderboard as the left-hander finished at minus-seven. Charley Hoffman soared to No. 2 on the FedExCup points list as he won the Deutsche Bank Championship by five strokes. Hoffman carded six birdies on the back nine, and 11 in his round, as he fired a nine-under 62. He matched the tournament scoring record of 262. Padraig Harrington, Lucas Glover, Chris Couch and Charles Howell III started the week inside the top 70, but were bumped out and will miss the final two playoff events. Scott Verplank was 70th after the Deutsche Bank, but is out for the year with a wrist injury. Golf Channel will have coverage of the first two rounds of the BMW Championship, while NBC will broadcast the final two rounds. Mickelson will defend his title at the Tour Championship beginning Sept. 23. Any player inside the top five in the playoff standings will have a shot to win the FedEx Cup by winning the Tour Championship. LPGA TOUR NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Arkansas - The LPGA Tour returns from a one-week break for the NW Arkansas Championship, a 54-hole event. The tour has been away since Michelle Wie's victory at the Canadian Women's Open. At last year's NW Arkansas Championship, Jiyai Shin birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Angela Stanford and Sun Young Yoo. Seon-Hwa Lee also earned a hard-fought win at this event in 2008 when she birdied the final hole for a one-shot victory over Jane Park and Meena Lee. The tournament suffered an inelegant debut in 2007 when it was shortened to 18 holes after three days of weather-related problems in the wake of Hurricane Henriette. Stacy Lewis, then an amateur and the reigning NCAA champion, carded a 65 for the best score, but was not credited for an official win. Officials believed it was the first full-length tour event ever shortened to 18 holes. Shin, Lee and Lewis will be part of a field at Pinnacle Country Club that is also scheduled to feature Wie, who has begun another year of juggling golf and college. Golf Channel will have coverage of all three rounds. The tour is off until Oct. 7 when the Navistar LPGA Classic begins. Lorena Ochoa won the tournament last year, but retired earlier this season. EUROPEAN TOUR KLM OPEN, Hilversumsche Golf Club, Hilversum, Netherlands - Simon Dyson birdied the first playoff hole at last year's KLM Open to beat Peter Lawrie and Peter Hedblom for his third European Tour title. Dyson, who also won the 2006 KLM Open in a playoff, went on to capture win No. 4 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship four starts later. The Englishman will try to defend his title this week against a field that also includes the last two major championship winners -- British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer. The tournament returns to Hilversumsche Golf Club in the Netherlands for the first time in five years. Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds beginning at 9:30 a.m. (et) on the first two days and an hour earlier on the last two. Next week's event is the Austrian Golf Open, where Rafael Cabrera-Bello won last season. CHAMPIONS TOUR SONGDO CHAMPIONSHIP, Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, Songdo, South Korea - The Champions Tour travels to Asia for the first time ever this week for the Songdo Championship. The tournament will be played at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, a new track designed by the Hall of Famer. The field is scheduled to include half of the players ranked in the top-10 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, including leader and five-time 2010 winner Bernhard Langer. U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, who is 10th in the standings, has bigger things on his mind and won't be in attendance. Golf Channel will have coverage of all three rounds. The Champions Tour will take a one-week break before returning for the SAS Championship, which was won by Tom Pernice Jr. last year. NATIONWIDE TOUR UTAH CHAMPIONSHIP, Willow Creek Country Club, Sandy, Utah - Three players in the field this week will be looking to drastically improve their fortunes. Chris Kirk, Tommy Gainey and Martin Piller are each seeking their third victory of the season. If any one of them reaches the milestone, they would earn automatic promotions to the PGA Tour. The promotion wouldn't kick in until the PGA Tour playoffs are over. Josh Teater, who won last year's Utah Championship, is playing on the PGA Tour this season and has earned $900,723 in 26 starts. By contrast, Kirk, the leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour this season, has earned $400,475 in 18 events. Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds. Next week is the Albertsons Boise Open, which was won by Fran Quinn last year.
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MySportsbook.com week 1 NFL linesNow that the 2008 NFL schedule is finally out, it is only matter-of-course for lines on “Week 1” to follow. Of course MySportsbook.com is the first to churn out odds for the NFL’s inaugural week for the upcoming season. Expect a lot of fireworks the first Thursday night of the season as the defending champion Indianapolis Colts face off against the surprise of the 2008 season, the New Orleans Saints. These teams were ranked #1 and #3 in the NFL respectively a season ago so a high scoring affair could be in order. As of now, the Colts will be giving 6 points to the Saints; keep in mind the Saints were one of the better road teams last season going 6-3 SU and 7-2 ATS. The first Monday night of the season will again provide a “double feature”. Coming off a disappointing season, the Cincinnati Bengals will look to get back to playoffs and improve their public image as they take on the AFC North favorite Baltimore Ravens. The second game features a couple of teams that haven’t had too much success recently but each could make some noise if the NFC is as weak as it was last year as the San Francisco 49ers host the Arizona Cardinals. The most interesting game of the opening week will feature the NFC champion Bears as they hit the road to take on the NFL’s top team during last year’s regular season, the San Diego Chargers. MySportsbook.com Week 1 odds: Saints +6 @ Colts -6 Falcons @ Vikings (pick ‘em) Panthers @ Rams (pick ‘em) Broncos -3.5 @ Bills +3.5 Chiefs -1 @ Texans +1 Dolphins +3 @ Redskins -3 Patriots -5 @ Jets +5 Eagles -3.5 @ Packers +3.5 Steelers -4 @ Browns +4 Titans +6 @ Jaguars -6 Bears +6 @ Chargers -6 Lions +3 @ Raiders -3 Bucs +6.5 @ Seahawks -6.5 Giants +4 @ Cowboys -4 Ravens +3 @ Bengals -3 Cardinals +3 @ 49ers -3 Super Bowl line (2008) NFC +6.5 vs. AFC -6.5 MySportsbook is a large, publicly traded company with strong financial backing. You will find their customer service is second to none and their web site is extremely user friendly and easy-to-use. All major professional sports games are available. Once you signup with MySportsbook, you may never use another online sportsbook again. To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football sportsbook needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Horse Betting(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine). The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late. "You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest. "A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve." When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential: CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped. DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins. PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge. You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike. "You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders." Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of. (By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.) Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout." But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing." Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you." Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front." All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold. In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse. "Now," says Avello, "it's time for action." To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs. |
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