This Week in Golf - September 9th through September 12th
Golf Betting Lines
09/06/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - BMW CHAMPIONSHIP, Cog Hill Golf & Country Club, Lemont, Illinois - The BMW Championship marks the third round of the PGA Tour playoffs, reserved for the top 70 players in the FedExCup standings.
Following the fourth round at Cog Hill, only the top 30 players on the points list will make the field for the playoff finale at the Tour Championship, which begins after a one-week break in the schedule.
Tiger Woods won last year's BMW Championship by eight shots after posting four consecutive rounds of 68 or better, collecting his fifth career victory at the tournament.
The win catapulted Woods to his second FedExCup title in three years.
Fighting for his playoff life -- and his No. 1 ranking -- Woods birdied three of his last four holes at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Monday to earn the right to defend his title.
He closed with a three-under 68 to share 11th place at 10-under-par 274. That was good enough to hold off Phil Mickelson and retain his No. 1 ranking. Mickelson needed a top-four finish to pass Woods and was there for a while.
However, Mickelson had a birdie, two bogeys, a double-bogey and a triple-bogey on the back nine en route to a closing 76. That dropped him 14 spots behind Woods on the leaderboard as the left-hander finished at minus-seven.
Charley Hoffman soared to No. 2 on the FedExCup points list as he won the Deutsche Bank Championship by five strokes. Hoffman carded six birdies on the back nine, and 11 in his round, as he fired a nine-under 62. He matched the tournament scoring record of 262.
Padraig Harrington, Lucas Glover, Chris Couch and Charles Howell III started the week inside the top 70, but were bumped out and will miss the final two playoff events.
Scott Verplank was 70th after the Deutsche Bank, but is out for the year with a wrist injury.
Golf Channel will have coverage of the first two rounds of the BMW Championship, while NBC will broadcast the final two rounds.
Mickelson will defend his title at the Tour Championship beginning Sept. 23. Any player inside the top five in the playoff standings will have a shot to win the FedEx Cup by winning the Tour Championship.
LPGA TOUR
NW ARKANSAS CHAMPIONSHIP, Pinnacle Country Club, Rogers, Arkansas - The LPGA Tour returns from a one-week break for the NW Arkansas Championship, a 54-hole event.
The tour has been away since Michelle Wie's victory at the Canadian Women's Open.
At last year's NW Arkansas Championship, Jiyai Shin birdied the second playoff hole to defeat Angela Stanford and Sun Young Yoo.
Seon-Hwa Lee also earned a hard-fought win at this event in 2008 when she birdied the final hole for a one-shot victory over Jane Park and Meena Lee.
The tournament suffered an inelegant debut in 2007 when it was shortened to 18 holes after three days of weather-related problems in the wake of Hurricane Henriette.
Stacy Lewis, then an amateur and the reigning NCAA champion, carded a 65 for the best score, but was not credited for an official win. Officials believed it was the first full-length tour event ever shortened to 18 holes.
Shin, Lee and Lewis will be part of a field at Pinnacle Country Club that is also scheduled to feature Wie, who has begun another year of juggling golf and college.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all three rounds.
The tour is off until Oct. 7 when the Navistar LPGA Classic begins. Lorena Ochoa won the tournament last year, but retired earlier this season.
EUROPEAN TOUR
KLM OPEN, Hilversumsche Golf Club, Hilversum, Netherlands - Simon Dyson birdied the first playoff hole at last year's KLM Open to beat Peter Lawrie and Peter Hedblom for his third European Tour title.
Dyson, who also won the 2006 KLM Open in a playoff, went on to capture win No. 4 at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship four starts later.
The Englishman will try to defend his title this week against a field that also includes the last two major championship winners -- British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and PGA Championship winner Martin Kaymer.
The tournament returns to Hilversumsche Golf Club in the Netherlands for the first time in five years.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds beginning at 9:30 a.m. (et) on the first two days and an hour earlier on the last two.
Next week's event is the Austrian Golf Open, where Rafael Cabrera-Bello won last season.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
SONGDO CHAMPIONSHIP, Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, Songdo, South Korea - The Champions Tour travels to Asia for the first time ever this week for the Songdo Championship.
The tournament will be played at the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea, a new track designed by the Hall of Famer.
The field is scheduled to include half of the players ranked in the top-10 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings, including leader and five-time 2010 winner Bernhard Langer.
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, who is 10th in the standings, has bigger things on his mind and won't be in attendance.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all three rounds.
The Champions Tour will take a one-week break before returning for the SAS Championship, which was won by Tom Pernice Jr. last year.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
UTAH CHAMPIONSHIP, Willow Creek Country Club, Sandy, Utah - Three players in the field this week will be looking to drastically improve their fortunes.
Chris Kirk, Tommy Gainey and Martin Piller are each seeking their third victory of the season. If any one of them reaches the milestone, they would earn automatic promotions to the PGA Tour.
The promotion wouldn't kick in until the PGA Tour playoffs are over.
Josh Teater, who won last year's Utah Championship, is playing on the PGA Tour this season and has earned $900,723 in 26 starts. By contrast, Kirk, the leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour this season, has earned $400,475 in 18 events.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds.
Next week is the Albertsons Boise Open, which was won by Fran Quinn last year.
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Troy Tulowitzki hit the go-ahead home run and Ubaldo Jimenez finally picked up his long-awaited 18th win of the season as Colorado outlasted Cincinnati, 10-5, to begin a crucial four-game series at Coors F
<< Red Sox activate C Varitek
Boston, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Boston Red Sox have activated veteran
catcher Jason Varitek from the 15-day disabled list.
Varitek had been on the DL since July 1 with a right foot fracture. He was
hitting .263 with seven home
<< Alabama DE Dareus to remain sidelined against Penn State
Tuscaloosa, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alabama head football coach Nick Saban
stated on Monday the suspension for defensive end Marcell Dareus will not be
appealed.
Saban stated last week the school planned on appealing the two-game ban
<< Schierholtz helps San Fran down D'Backs in extras
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nate Schierholtz ended a pitchers' duel with a
two-run triple in the 11th inning, leading the surging Giants to a 2-0 win
over the Arizona Diamondbacks to start a three-game series.
Aubrey Huff and Edgar
<< Chargers sign QB O'Sullivan
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Diego Chargers signed quarterback
J.T. O'Sullivan to a one-year contract on Monday.
O'Sullivan will be the third-string quarterback behind starter Philip Rivers
and backup Billy Volek.
An eig
Flushing Meadows, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded 2009 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki upended former champion Maria Sharapova in straight sets Monday to advance at the U.S. Open. Another champion also lost on Monday, as Svetlana Kuz
Hoffman jumps to 51st in world rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Charley Hoffman fired a nine-under 62 on
Monday to come from behind and win the Deutsche Bank Championship.
With the victory, Hoffman soared 81 places to No. 51 in the latest world golf
rankings.
Tig
Wyoming football player killed, three injured in crash >>
Laramie, WY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wyoming freshman linebacker Ruben Narcisse was
killed and three other football players from the Cowboys were hurt during a
single-vehicle wreck early Monday morning.
Colorado State Patrol stated four playe
49ers sign QB Troy Smith >>
Santa Clara, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco 49ers signed Heisman
Trophy-winning quarterback Troy Smith on Monday, while releasing QB Nate
Davis.
Smith started two games with Baltimore during his rookie year of 2007, but h
Calgary stampedes Eskimos >>
Calgary, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Henry Burris threw three touchdowns and Calgary
rolled to a sixth straight win by forcing six Eskimos turnovers en route to a
a 52-5 rout in the annual Labour Day Classic.
Burris finished with 226 yards and an
Sportsbooks to bet on football
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.