This Week in Golf -- February 22nd through February 26th
Golf Betting Lines
02/20/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - EUROPEAN TOUR - WGC-ACCENTURE MATCH PLAY CHAMPIONSHIP, The Ritz-Carlton Golf Club (Saguaro/Tortolita Nines), Dove Mountain, Marana, Arizona - Professional golf's version of March Madness hits in February.
The top 64 players in the world rankings are eligible to tee it up this week, although two backed out. Phil Mickelson, a playoff loser at Riviera, announced weeks ago that he had a family vacation scheduled, so he's out.
Paul Casey, a two-time runner-up, is still out with injury. The benefactors of those withdrawals are George Coetzee and Ernie Els, who, surprisingly, will be the No. 64 seed.
That means Els drew world No. 1 and defending champion Luke Donald in Wednesday's first round.
Donald's ascension to the No. 1 ranking began in a lot of ways at this time last year. He bested Martin Kaymer in, 3 & 2 in the final. The loss pushed Kaymer to first in the rankings, but Donald used the victory, where none of his matches made it to the 18th hole, as a springboard.
He won the BMW PGA Championship on the European Tour and then became No. 1. Donald captured the Scottish Open and, needing a victory to win the money title on the PGA Tour, took home the season-ending Children's Miracle Network Hospitals Classic.
All totaled, Donald won the money title on both the PGA Tour and European Tour, becoming the first player in history to accomplish the feat.
Donald is No. 1 overall and tops the Bobby Jones bracket. Kaymer is first in the Ben Hogan bracket, while U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy is highest-ranked in the Gary Player bracket. Lee Westwood is the final No. 1 seed and he heads up the Sam Snead bracket.
There will be 32 first-round matches on Wednesday, followed by 16 second-round matches on Thursday, eight third-round matches on Friday, with the quarterfinals on Saturday. The semifinals are Sunday morning, while the championship and consolation matches will be held Sunday afternoon.
Could this be the week Tiger Woods finally wins again on the PGA Tour? He's a three-time champion, a match-play wizard and owner of impressive tournament records.
Woods trounced Stewart Cink, 8 & 7, to win in 2008. That is the largest margin of victory in a championship and Woods' owns the biggest winning margin in tournament history with a 9 & 8, drubbing of Stephen Ames in 2006.
Golf Channel has the broadcast for the first three rounds and early coverage on Saturday and Sunday. NBC has the end of the action on the weekend.
The PGA Tour travels to Florida next week for The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, where Rory Sabbatini is the defending champion. The European Tour and PGA Tour will be in Florida in two weeks for the WGC - Cadillac Championship in Miami, where Nick Watney will defend his title.
PGA TOUR
MAYAKOBA GOLF CLASSIC - El Camaleon, Riviera Maya, Mexico - With the world's best at the WGC - Accenture Match Play Championship, the rest of the PGA Tour can tee it up down in Mexico.
Last year, Johnson Wagner downed Spencer Levin in a playoff to earn his second PGA Tour title. This year, these two have had major roles in the 2012 PGA Tour season.
Wagner won the Sony Open in Hawaii, after a top 10 at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. He tied for second at the Humana Challenge and won January's PGA Tour Player of the Month.
Levin squandered a six-shot lead during the final round of the Phoenix Open.
Greg Norman is the course designer and will be playing in his second PGA Tour event of the season. Norman teed it up in the Humana Challenge at the behest of his friend and tournament host, President Bill Clinton.
John Cook, a Champions Tour standout, joins fellow elder circuit players, 2007 winner Fred Funk, Nick Price and Tom Lehman in the field. Funk became the second golfer in history to win on the Champions Tour, then go back and win on the PGA Tour when he titled here in 2007.
Golf Channel has tape-delayed coverage all week.
Next week, the PGA Tour travels to Florida for The Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, where Sabbatini is the defending champion.
LPGA TOUR
HSBC WOMEN'S CHAMPIONS 2012 - Tanah Merah Country Club, Garden Course, Singapore - The LPGA Tour ends its Asian swing with a stop in Singapore for the HSBC Women's Champions.
A select field will be on hand, including last week's winner in Thailand, world No. 1 Yani Tseng. European Solheim Cuppers Melissa Reid and Laura Davies were given sponsor's exemptions.
Last year, Karrie Webb shot a three-under 69 in Sunday's final round to overcome leader Chie Arimura. It was the 37th career LPGA Tour victory for Webb, who picked up win No. 38 in her very next start, the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup.
Arimura had led after each of the first three rounds, but the Hall-of-Famer snuck by in the final round. With Webb's first-place check for $210,000, she became the second player after Annika Sorenstam to surpass $16 million in career earnings.
The HSBC Women's Champions was the first official stroke-play event that the LPGA Tour has played in Singapore. Tanah Merah Country Club in Singapore is the site of this week's event and has hosted the Singapore Open, the Johnnie Walker Classic on the European Tour and the Lexus Cup on the LPGA Tour.
Golf Channel will handle the broadcast.
In three weeks, the LPGA Tour returns for the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup with Webb as its defending champion.
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the wake of Arsenal's 2-0 FA Cup defeat to Sunderland over the weekend there are two things that are near certainties. The first is that the Gunners will extend their run of seasons without a trophy to a sevent
<< Spurs sign Dawson to 10-day contract
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Antonio Spurs have signed forward
Eric Dawson to a 10-day contract.
Dawson has appeared in 18 games for Austin of the NBA Development League and
is averaging 15.9 points with 10.1 rebounds and
<< Brewers sign five to one-year contracts
Maryvale, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pitchers Marco Estrada, Mike McClendon and Tim
Dillard were among five players the Milwaukee Brewers signed to one-year
contracts on Monday.
Estrada went 4-8 with a 4.08 earned run average in 43 games
<< Hiller, Wheeler and Spezza named NHL's 'Three Stars'
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anaheim Ducks goaltender Jonas Hiller,
Winnipeg Jets forward Blake Wheeler and Ottawa Senators forward Jason Spezza
have been selected as the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending February 19.
Hill
<< Raonic on the rise
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If you're trying to find young tennis
stars from Canada (or anywhere else for that matter), look no further than
Milos Raonic.
Okay, Raonic (pronounced Rau-nitch) plays under the Canadian flag o
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bill Haas knocked off Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley in a playoff at the Northern Trust Open on Sunday and that helped Haas move to a career-best spot of No. 12 in this week's world ranking
Rangers don't need to make a big move >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York fans made it clear on Sunday just
how much they want the Rangers to pursue Columbus Blue Jackets superstar Rick
Nash.
After Nash scored a game-tying goal with 1:33 left in Sunday's game at
Madiso
Baylor remains undisputed No. 1; Stanford moves to second >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baylor remained an undisputed choice as the
No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll.
The undefeated Lady Bears again received all 40 first-place votes and a total
of 1,000 point
Bolts' Ohlund to have knee surgery >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Tampa Bay Lightning announced Monday that
defenseman Mattias Ohlund will have left knee surgery later in the week.
The 35-year-old Swede hasn't played a game this season because of the
troublesom
Golf Rantings: February Madness! >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite the efforts of Golf Channel and
its bracket announcement special Monday morning, the WGC-Accenture Match Play
Championship pales a wee bit in comparison to the Selection Sunday you'll see
in a little
MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined
Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.
"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."
Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)
According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.
As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).
Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.
Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at
17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.
*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007
New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers
By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.
"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."
While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."
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