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07/21/2007 - Carnoustie, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Any golf fan who went to Carnoustie would dream of an opportunity to meet the two-time defending champion and world No. 1, Tiger Woods.
A 60-year-old woman had that chance on Saturday at the sixth hole.
It could have gone better.
Woods missed his second shot well right at the par-five hole. His ball struck the woman in the head and Woods went over to check on her before hitting his third.
"I went over there and the lady was bleeding all over the place," said Woods. "I felt really bad. I've done that before. You don't ever feel good about it. You have kind of a pit in your stomach.
"She was smiling. I don't know how she was smiling. But I just apologized the best I could."
Woods gave her an autographed golf glove as well.
The adventure was not over for Woods at six. After receiving a favorable, albeit unfortunate, bounce off the women's skull, Woods had a clear shot for his third from the rough.
A camera went off in his backswing, but he stopped before making impact. Woods and his caddie reprimanded the cameraman, then he made par.
Woods shot a two-under 69 and is tied for 15th place at minus-one.
ANOTHER YEAR, ANOTHER RUN
Last year, Chris DiMarco came to Royal Liverpool in some bad shape.
He lost his mother not long before the British Open Championship and expectations were low. The Ryder Cup was a few months away and DiMarco, an admitted, unabashed fan of playing American team competitions, was not in the top 10. In fact, U.S. captain Tom Lehman basically said DiMarco was not playing well enough to warrant a wild-card pick.
DiMarco finished 65-69-68 and took second behind Tiger Woods. That vaulted him to sixth on the Ryder Cup points list and made everything a little bit better for the Florida Gator.
This year, things have not gone DiMarco's way much either. According to ABC's Paul Azinger, the next Ryder Cup captain, DiMarco's left shoulder pops out 70 percent of the time on his back swing.
With the Presidents Cup looming, DiMarco is 36th on the American points list. Barring a major run late this summer, DiMarco, the man who clinched The Presidents Cup for the U.S. in 2005, will be watching on the couch.
Well, the run started Saturday at Carnoustie.
DiMarco fired a five-under 66 in round three and is tied for third place at minus-three for the championship.
"You need to stay patient out here," said DiMarco. "As long as you give yourself chances out here, you can make some 20- or 30-footers."
DiMarco credited a change of caddies in part for turning his season around. Actually, it's a familiar face. He brought back his old caddie, who lost his job this time last year.
"Last year, I came over and I had lost my mom. I brought a friend over with me and we had a great finish," said DiMarco. "We kept him on for this year and I just wasn't feeling it."
He felt it on Saturday.
MASTERFUL ROUND
Masters champion Zach Johnson did not have a good start to his week at Carnoustie. He lost his golf clubs somewhere along the trip over to Scotland.
"I was a bit stressed to say the least," admitted Johnson, who missed the cut in Milwaukee last week. "I had my clothes, which are important, but nowhere near as important as my sticks."
Johnson got his clubs on time, but didn't do much with them through the first two rounds. He made the cut on the number, but shot a three-under 68 Saturday to finish in a tie for 20th at plus-one.
He will need a serious run on Sunday if he is to win both the Masters and British Open in the same year. Tiger Woods was the last to turn that feat in 2005, but before that was Mark O'Meara, Johnson's playing partner on Saturday.
"I won one golf tournament and I've got to stick to how I won that and why I won that green jacket and just keep going about my business," said Johnson. "It was an amazing week, but this is a new week. Hopefully I can have another amazing week because I love this championship."
* Steve Stricker's 64 on Saturday was a British Open Championship record at Carnoustie. The previous best was the 65 carded by Jack Newton in the third round in 1975.
* John Senden had perhaps the most bizarre shot of the tournament on the 18th Saturday. His third at the closing hole hit the grandstands on the left, then ricocheted hard to the right and seemed destined to go out of bounds. That was, until the ball hit a stake guarding the out of bounds mark and bounced back into play. Unfortunately, the Australian still double-bogeyed the hole.
* Four inches of rain was forecast on Saturday, but aside from light rain when the final pairing teed off and finished, there was very little precipitation. The wind is supposed to kick up on Sunday. "The forecast was wrong again today," said Woods. "We'll see."
* Woods was not the only player to hit a spectator. Garcia clunked a gentleman on the head left of the 17th green, but hit an amazing chip and saved par from three feet.
* If Garcia can hang on Sunday, he will become the first European to win a major since Paul Lawrie at the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie.
* The hardest hole on Saturday, and for the third consecutive round, was the par-four closing hole. It played easier than the first two rounds, but was still over par at 4.37.
* The easiest hole in round three was once again the par-five 14th, which played to an average of 4.36.
* For the week, 18 has been hardest at 4.65, while 14 has played the easiest at 4.60.
<< Phils' 2006 first-round pick to undergo Tommy John surgery
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies announced that
pitcher Kyle Drabek, the team's 2006 first-round draft pick, will undergo
season- ending Tommy John surgery on Wednesday.
The surgery will be performed in Ne
<< Report: Colts' Glenn to retire
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indianapolis Colts offensive tackle
Tarik Glenn is reportedly set to retire from the National Football League.
According to a report in the Indianapolis Star, several sources close to Glenn
have to
<< Nadal moves into Stuttgart final
Stuttgart, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Rafael Nadal advanced to
the final at the Mercedes Cup after posting a victory in the semifinals on
Saturday.
Nadal, who won this title in 2005, defeated fellow Spaniard Feliciano L
<< Castroneves upsets AGR for Mid-Ohio pole
Lexington, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brazilian Helio Castroneves beat out five
other drivers, including all four Andretti Green Racing teammates, in the
"Firestone Fast Six" to capture the pole for Sunday's inaugural The Honda 200
at Mid
Tampa's Crawford exits with ankle injury >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Carl Crawford
left Saturday's game against the New York Yankees in the fifth inning with a
sprained left ankle.
Crawford legged out an infield single in the third and began
Towers, Blue Jays blank Mariners >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Josh Towers pitched 6 2/3 shutout innings as
the Toronto Blue Jays edged the Seattle Mariners, 1-0, in the second contest
of a three-game set.
Towers (5-6) gave up just three hits while striking out four
Eschauer, Darcis to meet in Dutch Open final >>
Amersfoort, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Werner Eschauer of Austria and
Belgian Steve Darcis posted semifinal victories on Saturday at the Dutch Open.
Eschauer, who upset third seed Carlos Moya in the quarterfinals, whipped
Dutc
Muller, Szavay to meet in Palermo final >>
Palermo, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Martina Muller and Agnes Szavay will
meet in the final of the Palermo Open after both were victorious in their
semifinal matches on Saturday.
Muller, the second-seed from Germany, needed three
Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.
He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.
"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.
He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.
Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.
Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.
Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.
Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.
With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.
Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).
And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)
The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.
While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.
Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.
One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.
Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.
What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.
That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.
MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.
"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.
"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."
So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.
In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.
MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.
The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.
Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.
MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.
To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
The AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East.
Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around.
The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
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