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02/06/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO- AM - Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Spyglass Hill Golf Club, Pebble Beach, California - One might look at this week's field for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and think it is lacking the stars with just one player ranked in the top-10 in the world playing this week.
That surely isn't the case however.
Tiger Woods makes his return to this event for the first time since 2002 and is one of eight former champions in the field that account for 12 titles.
World No. 9 Dustin Johnson, who won this event in 2009-10, is the highest- ranked player in the field. Woods and Johnson are joined in the field by Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy.
However, it is D.A. Points that is the defending champion. Points fired a seven-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula in the opening round and closed with a five-under 67 en route to a two-stroke win over Hunter Mahan.
Points not only won the professional title, but he teamed with Bill Murray to win the Pro-Am crown as well. For Murray, it marked the first time he won the Pro-Am in 20 years of competing at this event.
The 35-year-old Points has had a solid start to his season as he has made the cut in each of his four events, has three top-12 finishes and ranks 12th on the money list.
Woods played on the European Tour two weeks ago and shared the lead entering the final round, but closed with an even-par 72 to share third place behind Robert Rock.
In 2000, Woods erased a five-stroke deficit to come from behind and win this title. It was his sixth straight PGA Tour victory.
Later that year, Woods would win three of the four majors. Among those three was his dominating 15-stroke victory at the U.S. Open on this same Pebble Beach course.
Woods is still searching for his first PGA Tour win since the 2009 BMW Championship.
With the amateurs included in the event, the field will play one round apiece at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Spyglass Hill Golf Club before the final round is contested at Pebble Beach.
Murray is back to defend his Pro-Am title against a field of celebrities that includes musicians Michael Bolton, Huey Lewis and Darius Rucker; football coaches Jim Harbuagh, Nick Saban and Bob Stoops; as well as a group of athletes that includes Clyde Drexler, Matt Cain, Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo, who will team with Woods in the Pro-Am.
Golf Channel will broadcast the first two rounds before CBS takes over on the weekend.
The PGA Tour heads to Riviera next week for the Northern Trust Open, where Aaron Baddeley earned a two-stroke win over Vijay Singh last year.
EUROPEAN TOUR
OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC - Emirates Golf Club, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - The European Tour wraps up its three-week swing through the Persian Gulf region with the Dubai Desert Classic.
Spain's Alvaro Quiros enjoyed Dubai, twice last year. He closed with three straight 68s at this event to win by a shot over Anders Hansen and James Kingston.
Quiros wasn't done in Dubai though. When the tour returned in December for the season-ending Dubai World Championship, Quiros had four straight sub-par rounds en route to a two-stroke victory over Paul Lawrie. He sealed the win with a 50-foot eagle putt at the last.
The Spaniard will have a tough battle on his hands in his title defense as World Nos. 2, 3 and 4 - Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer - are in the field this week.
A group of Americans also highlights the field as Champions Tour stalwarts Fred Couples and Mark O'Meara will be joined at Emirates Golf Club by Nicholas Thompson, Peter Uihlein and John Daly, who took fourth place last week behind Paul Lawrie.
Golf Channel will have early morning coverage of all four rounds.
The tour shifts to India next week, where local favorite S.S.P. Chowrasia closed with back-to-back 67s to win the Avantha Masters by a shot over Robert Coles.
LPGA TOUR
ISPS HANDA WOMEN'S AUSTRALIAN OPEN - Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Victoria, Australia - The Women's Australian Open joins the LPGA Tour schedule this year for the first time.
The event has been around since 1974, but was only played 20 times in those 37 years.
Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng won this title each of the last two years. Last year, she rolled to a seven-stroke win over three players.
The event will be played on the par-73 Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the first time.
Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.
The LPGA continues its three-event Asia swing next week with the Honda LPGA Thailand, where Tseng cruised to a five-stroke win over Michelle Wie.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
ALLIANZ CHAMPIONSHIP - The Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton, Florida - The Champions Tour returns after a two-week break with the first of two events in Florida.
Tom Lehman back-to-back 69s win last year's Allianz Championship by a single stroke over Jeff Sluman and Rod Spittle. Lehman needed a birdie on the final hole to win for the third time on the Champions Tour.
The 1996 British Open champion went on to win two more events en route to being named the tour's Player of the Year.
Lehman, Sluman and Spittle are all in the field this week at the Old Course at Broken Sound, which has hosted the event all five years of its existence.
Golf Channel has tape-delayed coverage all week.
The Champions Tour moves to Naples next week for the ACE Group Classic. Bernhard Langer shot 66 in the final two rounds to cruise to a four-stroke win over Fred Funk.
<< Meara signs with the Red Bulls
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York announced Monday that it has
officially signed goalkeeper Ryan Meara after selecting the goalkeeper in the
2012 MLS SuperDraft. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
"Ryan is a talented, y
<< Upcoming schedule for Saturday's winners in flux
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - This past Saturday had a trio of major
stakes races for three-year-olds on the Kentucky Derby trail. Where the
winners of the races will start next is not firmly decided.
Odds-favorite Alpha va
<< Marcelino sacked by Sevilla
Seville, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sevilla announced on Monday that the club
has decided to part ways with manager Marcelino Garcia Toral after a poor run
of results by the team.
Marcelino took charge of Sevilla last summer following the
<< Newcastle gets mixed news on injured duo
Newcastle, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Newcastle has received news on injured
duo Ryan Taylor and Leon Best, with Taylor's injury not as bad as initially
feared while Best will miss "a number of weeks" according to the club.
Taylor suff
In the FCS Huddle: QB openings not for the feint of heart >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You don't have to be Tim Tebow to be the
most scrutinized quarterback around.
The light in the microscope usually shines brightest on any team's signal-
caller.
Considering big expectations follow the s
Sabres coach Ruff suffers injury at practice >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff had to be
helped off the ice during Monday's practice after colliding with Jordan
Leopold, according to the team's Twitter page.
The Sabres had no update on Ruff's s
In the FCS Huddle: QB openings not for the faint of heart >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - You don't have to be Tim Tebow to be the
most scrutinized quarterback around.
The light in the microscope usually shines brightest on any team's signal-
caller.
Considering big expectations follow the s
Warriors waive Barron >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors have waived center
Earl Barron and recalled forward Chris Wright from the Dakota Wizards of the
NBA Development League.
Barron averaged 2.0 points in just two games for the
The most popular sports to bet on are NFL and college football along with NBA and NCAA basketball. There are multiple betting opportunities within those sports, beginning with the basic wager on a game’s outcome (also called betting the side). College Football Point spreads are used in both football and basketball in an attempt to even the attractiveness of each team in a match-up. ( See our article detailing how and why point spreads are made)
But you could also simply bet on the money line, or straight-up winner of the game. Oddsmakers use the money line so that more money must be risked on the favorite or expected winner and less money on the underdog to balance the action on both sides. While money line gambling is an attractive option for football and basketball bettors who only care about picking a winner, it is the primary option for those bettors who enjoy wagering on MLB baseball and individual sports like boxing, tennis, golf and racing events such as NASCAR. ( More details on playing the Money Line)
Another bet across all major team sports including football, basketball, baseball, and hockey involves wagering on the amount of scoring in a game, called an Over/Under total. For example, the Over/Under total on Super Bowl XXXIX was 48, which means a bettor could wager whether there would be more or less than 48 points scored by both teams combined in the game.
The final score of Super Bowl XXXIX was 24-21; the scoring of both teams added up to 45, which means the game went Under . So Under bettors won, and Over bettors lost.
Sports gambling doesn’t end there. Betting sides and totals are the most common wagers available everywhere, but many sportsbooks also offer future bets on big upcoming events like who will win next year’s Super Bowl and what movie will win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
The main advantage of futures is that you can get appealing odds by betting far in advance. For example, with NFL futures you often can get much higher odds on a team by betting before the season even starts. A NFL future bet on a team to win the Super Bowl odds might be 20/1 in the preseason; but by midseason, their odds might decrease to 10/1 if they turn out to be legitimate championship contenders.
Involves one individual wager, whether it be on your team to cover the point spread, to win the game straight-up on the money line, or to go over/under the total.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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