10/20/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - FRYS.COM OPEN, Grayhawk Golf Club (Raptor Course), Scottsdale, Arizona - The PGA Tour returns to Arizona for the first time since February.
Former Masters champion Mike Weir got up and down from a greenside bunker on the 72nd hole last year to secure a one-stroke win over Mark Hensby.
Weir was one of just four players to post all four rounds in the 60s for the week. The win was Weir's first since the 2004 Nissan Open.
The Canadian was aided by Sean O'Hair's disastrous double-bogey. O'Hair owned a piece of the lead late on the back nine, but closed double bogey-bogey to share fourth place.
Frys sponsored a pair of events last year, including last week's tournament in Las Vegas. The company condensed to one event this year and remained with this second-year tournament.
This week, 15 of the top 50 players on the money list are expected to compete as are seven players ranked in the top 50 in the world rankings. Weir, No. 22 in the world, is the highest-ranked player competing this week.
The Golf Channel has live coverage from 4:00-7:00 p.m. (et) all four days. Next week, the PGA Tour returns to Florida for the Ginn sur Mer Classic, where Daniel Chopra was a one-stroke winner last year.
EUROPEAN TOUR
CASTELLO MASTERS COSTA AZAHAR, Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, Castellon, Spain - The European Tour tees it up at a new event this week with the Castello Masters Coast Azahar.
Club de Campo del Mediterraneo, the host course this week, is the course that world No. 5 Sergio Garcia is attached to. Garcia will serve as host along with his father, Victor.
Garcia is one of seven players ranked in the top 50 in the world expected to compete this week. However, that number could be reduced by one as Camilo Villegas may pull out after the death of his uncle over the weekend.
Along with the big names, this is the final full-field event in which players can climb into the top 115 on the Order of Merit to keep their European Tour cards for next season.
Sam Little finished second in the final full-event last year to keep his card and needs another big week to do it again. Little enters the event hanging on to the 115th position in the Order of Merit.
The Golf Channel will broadcast three hours of action all four days. Next week is the Volvo Masters, which is reserved for the top 60 players in the Order of Merit. Justin Rose won the title in '07.
LPGA TOUR
GRAND CHINA AIR LPGA, Haikou West Golf Club, Hainan Island, China - The LPGA heads to the Far East for the first of three events, the Grand China Air LPGA.
This new event does have a strong field, headlined by the retiring Annika Sorenstam. Along with Sorenstam, two new majors champions are playing this week in the 63-player field.
Yani Tseng, the McDonald's LPGA Championship winner, and Inbee Park, the U.S. Women's Open champion, will join Sorenstam in the field. Also playing will be last week's winner, Morgan Pressel.
This will mark the first LPGA Tour event in China.
"Having visited China several times as part of my course-design business, I believe the Grand China Air LPGA will be a major milestone for the LPGA, taking elite women's golf to one of the world's most dynamic countries," said Sorenstam.
There is no television coverage for the event. The tour moves to Korea next week for the Hana Bank-KOLON Championship, where Suzann Pettersen won last year.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
AT&T CHAMPIONSHIP, Oak Hills Country Club, San Antonio, Texas - The Champions Tour returns to Oak Hills this week and the players couldn't be more excited.
Many on the Champions Tour competed at Oak Hills when the course hosted the PGA Tour's Texas Open. Oak Hills was host to that event 25 times.
"I have a lot of fond memories of Oak Hills from the Texas Open and I'm glad to be going back there," said Fred Funk, the 2006 champion of this event.
Last year, John Cook opened and closed with rounds of six-under 65 to card a two-stroke win over Mark O'Meara. The win for Cook came in just his second Champions Tour start.
This will mark the sixth straight year this event has served as the final tournament before the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
A pair of money list marks are what players are battling for. The top 30 on the money list gets players into the Charles Schwab Cup Championship, while the top 50 players on the money list retain full status on tour next year.
The busy Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all three rounds. Next week's Charles Schwab Cup Championship, where Jim Thorpe won last year.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
MICCOSUKEE CHAMPIONSHIP, Miccosukee Golf & Country Club, Miami, Florida - Last year's winner Marc Turnesa will not be on hand to defend his title as he is coming off his first PGA Tour win on Sunday.
Turnesa closed with a one-under 70 last year to hang on for a one-shot win over two players. He made things interesting at the last when his drive found water, but he scrambled for a bogey and the win.
The final day was a marathon. Weather issues on Friday pushed things back and the final group had just teed off in the third round Saturday when the horn sounded to suspend play due to darkness. They essentially played a 36-hole finale on Sunday.
This is the final full-field event for players to jump into the top 60 on the money list to gain entry into the season-ending Nationwide Tour Championship. Players are also trying to get into the top 25 on the money list to earn their PGA Tour cards for next season.
The Golf Channel will cover the action from 1:30-4:00 p.m. (et) all four days. After a week off, the tour wraps up its season at the Nationwide Tour Championship, where Richard Johnson won last year.
<< Quiros, Turnesa make big jumps in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alvaro Quiros claimed his second European
Tour win Sunday and leaped 202 places to 94th in the official world golf
rankings.
Marc Turnesa claimed his first PGA Title and moved 138 spots to No. 152 i
<< Pressel climbs to No. 13 in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Morgan Pressel claimed her second LPGA
Tour title on Sunday and moved 10 spots to No. 13 in the Rolex Women's World
Golf Rankings.
Just seven players in the top 20 remained in the same spots from las
<< Brampton goaltender wins OHL Player of the Week
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brandon Foote of the Brampton Battalion has
been named the Ontario Hockey League Player of the Week for the week ending
October 19, it was announced on Monday.
In four games this week, the Battalion go
<< Vanek, Backstrom, Brunnstrom selected as NHL's Three Stars
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Buffalo Sabres left wing Thomas Vanek,
Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom and Dallas Stars left wing Fabian
Brunnstrom have been named the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending October
19.
Bears' blueliner recalled by Caps >>
Arlington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NHL's Washington Capitals have recalled
defenseman Tyler Sloan from the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League,
it was announced on Monday.
The 27-year-old blueliner has recorded three assists i
Tursunov tumbles on home soil >>
St. Petersburg, Russia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Russian Dmitry Tursunov
was among Monday's first-round losers at the $1.49 million St. Petersburg
Open.
Slovakian veteran Dominik Hrbaty surprised the Moscow native Tursunov 6-1, 6-
Report: BC LB Toal done for season >>
Chestnut Hill, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston College fifth-year senior
linebacker Brian Toal broke his right leg in the Eagles' 28-23 victory over
then-No. 17 Virginia Tach on Saturday and, according to a report in the Boston
Herald,
Romo's status "to be determined" >>
Irving, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips said
Monday that quarterback Tony Romo's status for this week's game against Tampa
Bay is "to be determined."
"I think he's going to be similar to where he was last
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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.
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