12/01/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - PGA TOUR NATIONAL QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT, PGA West (Nicklaus Tournament and TPC Stadium Courses), La Quinta, California - The final stage of the PGA Tour's Q-School will be contested over 90 holes running from Wednesday to Monday.
In a rare occurrence, last year's Q-School winner Frank Lickliter is back to defend his title. He opened with back-to-back 62s last year and cruised to a four-stroke win.
There are plenty of known players trying to gain their 2009 PGA Tour cards at PGA West this week. Among them are Ricky Barnes, Notah Begay III, 1996 PGA Champion Mark Brooks, Robert Gamez, Jason Gore, John Huston, Bob May and Chris Riley.
After 108 holes of action at Q-School, the top 25 and ties will earn their PGA Tour cards for 2009.
Players will compete on both the Nicklaus and TPC Stadium course three times. The final three stages will be televised on the Golf Channel.
There are two more off-season events for the PGA Tour. Next week is the Merrill Lynch Shootout, where Woody Austin and Mark Calcavecchia were victorious last year.
LPGA TOUR
LPGA TOUR FINAL QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT, LPGA International (Champions and Legends Courses), Daytona Beach, Florida - LPGA Q-School kicks off Wednesday and this year's version has a little added star power.
Michelle Wie is one of the 140 players teeing it up at LPGA International this week. Wie made the cut in four of seven starts in 2008.
Wie's last top-10 finish was in 2006 when she tied for second at the Evian Masters. That year, she finished in the top five in the season's first three majors.
Joining Wie in the field will be Shiho Oyama, a standout on the LPGA of Japan. Oyama is currently ranked 40th in the world.
Also in the field are former LPGA Tour winners Jackie Gallagher-Smith, Patricia Meunier-Lebouc and Stacy Lewis, whose win at the 2007 NW Arkansas LPGA Championship was unofficial because the event was shortened to 18 holes by rain.
The five-day marathon will be played on the Legends and Champions courses at LPGA International. The field will play two rounds on each course before the cut to the low 70 and ties. The final round will be played on the Champions Course.
The top 20 will gain LPGA status for the 2009 season.
This is the final LPGA event of the year. The tour will return to action February 12-14 with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
DEL WEBB FATHER-SON CHALLENGE, ChampionsGate Golf Club (International Course), ChampionsGate, Florida - Ryder Cup captains Paul Azinger and Nick Faldo will be in the field for the Del Webb Father-Son Challenge this weekend, facing each other three months after Azinger's United States team rolled to a five- point win over Faldo's European squad.
Azinger and Faldo will both be appearing at the non-official Champions Tour event for the first time -- Azinger with the late Payne Stewart's son Aaron, and Faldo with his own son Matthew.
Among the other father/son teams in the field will be two-time winners Bernhard and Stefan Langer, Jack Nicklaus and Jack Nicklaus II, Arnold Palmer and grandson Sam Saunders, Greg and Gregory Norman, Vijay and Qass Singh and Raymond Floyd and Raymond Floyd, Jr., who have won the tournament three times together.
Last year, Larry Nelson became the second father to win the event with two different sons when he combined with Josh Nelson for a second consecutive 12- under 60 in the final round on Sunday. Larry will play this year with Drew, who won the tournament with his father in 2004.
The tournament will take place Saturday and Sunday on the International Course at ChampionsGate. It will be covered by NBC and is the final event on the Champions Tour's 2008 schedule.
CANADIAN TOUR
ARGENTINE MASTERS, Olives Golf Club, Buenos Aires, Argentina - The Canadian Tour remains in South America for its second event of the 2009 season.
Angel Cabrera, the 2007 U.S. Open champion, is scheduled to headline the field in his native country.
Also expected to play this week at Olives Golf Club are reigning U.S. Senior Open champion Eduardo Romero and four-time Champions Tour winner Vicente Fernandez, both from Argentina.
The Canadian Tour's 2009 season kicked off last week at the Sport Frances Open in Chile. Rafael Gomez claimed a one-shot win over Daniel Im to earn a two- year exemption on the North American tour.
The circuit remains in warmer climates next week for the Costa Rica Classic, its last event until the third week in March.
<< Donaldson, Edwards, Landers Named as Payton Finalists
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Running back Herb Donaldson of Western
Illinois, Appalachian State signal caller Armanti Edwards and quarterback
Rodney Landers of James Madison were announced on Monday as the three
finalis
<< Browns' injury woes continue, Dorsey to start vs. Titans
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ken Dorsey will be the Browns starting
quarterback when Cleveland travels to take on the Tennessee Titans next
Sunday, while the team will be without both quarterback Derek Anderson and
tight end Kellen Winslow.
<< Cardinals cut Johnson, sign Graham
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arizona Cardinals signed punter Ben Graham
to replace Dirk Johnson, who was released earlier Monday.
Graham is a former Australian rules football player who began the 2008 season
with the New York Jets,
<< Kinnear and Newcastle have become a good match
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The abrupt resignation of manager Kevin
Keegan in September left some big shoes to be filled at Newcastle, and not too
many people were thrilled that Joe Kinnear would be the one attempting to fill
them.
Boston recalls Boychuk, Lashoff from Providence >>
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Bruins recalled defensemen Johnny
Boychuk and Matt Lashoff from their American Hockey league affiliate, the
Providence Bruins, it was announced on Monday.
Boychuk, 24, has posted four goals
Christensen to take over at Wyoming >>
Casper, WY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wyoming is reportedly set to name Dave
Christensen its new head football coach.
According to the Casper Star Tribune, Christensen will leave his job as the
Missouri offensive coordinator to take ove
Rivet, Kaleta out but Kotalik returns for Sabres >>
Buffalo, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Buffalo Sabres will miss a pair of players
but also will get one back for Monday's home game against Nashville.
Defenseman Craig Rivet was a late scratch due to an undisclosed upper body
injury while
Astros agree to deal with Hampton pending a physical >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Astros have reportedly come to an
agreement on a deal with free agent starting pitcher Mike Hampton pending a
physical.
According to MLB.com, the 36-year-old Hampton will travel to Houston
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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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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