Levin, Stanley post matching 62s at Torrey Pines
Golf Betting Lines
01/26/2012 - La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spencer Levin and Kyle Stanley both fired 10- under 62s on Thursday to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open.
Levin and Stanley are both looking for their first PGA Tour victories. Both also played the easier North Course at Torrey Pines on Thursday and will rotate to the harder South Course on Friday. The South Course will also host the final two rounds.
Despite a double-bogey on his 14th hole, reigning FedExCup champion Bill Haas carded a nine-under 63 on the North Course and is alone in third.
John Huh posted a 64 and was joined in fourth place by Rod Pampling, Josh Teater and Vijay Singh. All four played the North Course. Huh matched a PGA Tour record with three eagles in his round.
Only six of the top-35 players on the leaderboard played the South Course on Friday. The leader of that group is Marc Turnesa, who carded a six-under 66 and is tied for 13th.
Among those that struggled on the South Course were Phil Mickelson and J.B. Holmes. Mickelson, who shared 49th at the Humana Challenge last week, faltered to a five-over 77 and tied for the most bogeys (seven) in the first round.
Holmes is competing for the first time since brain surgery last year. He had four bogeys in a round of four-over 76.
Levin started with a birdie on the first, but his next birdie didn't come until the par-four seventh. After a par at the eighth, he birdied eight of the last 10 holes.
He birdied the ninth and followed with a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 10. The 27-year-old dropped his approach within four feet at the 11th. After knocking that in, he got up and down for par on the par-three 12th.
Levin caught fire from there, At the 13th, he left himself three feet for birdie. On each of the next three holes, he made birdie putts of eight feet on each hole to grab a share of the lead at minus-nine.
Levin, a three-time winner on the Canadian Tour, two-putted for birdie at the last to finish at 10-under.
"It feels great. I drove the ball well today. The first couple weeks I played decent," said Levin, who tied for 23rd and 64th in his first two starts. "In those two tournaments, I didn't drive it particularly good. I drove it well today and kind of set me up because I've been putting pretty good. I had some putts for birdies instead of pars today and kind of added up to a good score."
Stanley did his scoring in bunches. He birdied the first, then parred No. 2. He poured in three consecutive birdie efforts from the third to move to four- under.
After five straight pars, Stanley tripped to a bogey on the 11th. The 24-year- old ran off four birdies in a row from the 12th to jump to minus-seven.
Stanley birdied the 17th to move within two of Levin. He erased that deficit and grabbed a piece of the lead with a three-foot eagle putt at the 18th.
"It was good. I know it was a 62, but it was a pretty boring round of golf," said an understated Stanley. "Hit a lot of greens and made a lot of putts."
NOTES: Defending champion Bubba Watson posted a three-under 69 on the North Course and is tied for 37th...Dustin Johnson, who withdrew last week with a sore back and is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, fired a six- under 66 on the North Course and is tied for 13th...The North Course played to an average of 69.244, while the South Course played to an average of 72.846...The last first-time winner of this event was Jay Don Blake in 1991.
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Shenise
SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.
FOOTBALL BETTING
After all the trouble that’s ensued since Braylon Edwards allegedly punched one of LeBron James’ homeboys in the face at a club, the Cleveland Browns have sent away their last remaining player of worth to the New York Jets. This is a great move for Dirty Sanchez and all, but it’s even better for the Knicks. Now Donnie Walsh can say, “You get to haunt Braylon Edwards with your posse if you sign here!” next summer.
Putting that aside for a moment, the move is a clear indication that the new-look Jets are gunning for the Super Bowl this year. I don’t think that New York thought that Dirty Sanchez was going to be such a rock star. With a 75.2 passer rating that was killed against the Jets, Sanchez is doing an admirable job of managing games and putting the Jets in a position to win. The defense has been the major story in New York thus far, but the acquisition of Braylon Edwards makes this offense loaded with talent that can dent any defense…as long as Dirty Sanchez continues his meteoric rise.
Thus far, Edwards has been a non-factor in the NFL piling up just 139 receiving yards on 10 catches. He has yet to find the endzone, and with the Browns mired in the most unsexy quarterback controversy of all time (Anderson vs. Quinn...yawn), there going nowhere fast. Edwards is two seasons removed from a career year which saw him catch 80 passes for 1,289 yards and 16 touchdowns when the Browns were the spread killing monsters of 2007. In 2008, injuries slowed the receiver down to just 873 yards and three touchdowns though he played in all 16 games.
So that being said, we really don’t know if Braylon Edwards is just a flash in the pan, or a legit threat. At 6-foot-3 and 215 pounds, he is a prototypical receiver. But he’s also shown a strange, and unwarranted, talent for dropping passes. Lining up opposite Jericho Cotchery, a speed demon with 23 catches, 356 yards and a single touchdown, may give Braylon the open looks he needs. A change of scenery may also rejuvenate the star receiver.
In return, the Browns will receive Chansi Stuckey, online football betting a special teams player you’ve never heard of and a pair of draft picks. That’s a tall order for a guy whose only real value right now is in his name, and it shows no promise to the Browns that they can rebuild around those acquisitions. Braylon was the only reason to hope for the Browns to go 3-14 SU this year. Without him, they don’t have a single guy on offense that can scare any team.
For the Jets, it’s a response to the pounding that they took at the hand of the Saints. Thomas Jones and Leon Washington have averaged around 4.0 yards per carry each on the ground, but striking a fair balance between the passing and rushing attacks in New York has been a struggle. You have to believe that the trio of Dustin Keller, Jericho Cotchery and Braylon Edwards will give Sanchez the weapons he needs to unleash through the air. Theoretically, that would open up holes for the rushing game. But the proposed public option health care plan works in theory too. We need to see the proof in the pudding before we start loading up mega bucks on the New York Jets to take the AFC.
The one wrinkle in this whole thing is that Braylon could very well be suspended by the league for disciplinary action due to his “brawl” with LeBron’s friend. If that’s the case, the Jets may have to bench him for a few games leaving them with a somewhat depleted receiving corps for a few games. Also, this is a guy who gets in fights with people at clubs. New York may not be the best place for him. Just sayin’.
The Jets have a long week before they meet the Miami Dolphins on Monday Night Football Betting in a virtual pick ‘em game. Braylon’s excess baggage may be a distraction, and his curiously low production may be what we should be expecting of him overall, but for the Jets, taking a chance to strike gold is well worth it. At the end of the year, they can simply just blame it on their rookie quarterback.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.