This Week in Golf - May 7th through May 10th

Golf Betting Lines

05/04/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida - Last year, Sergio Garcia broke a three- year winless drought with a playoff victory over Paul Goydos at The Players Championship.

Garcia, who won for the seventh time on the PGA Tour, hopes to rekindle that magic this week. After a solid start to his season on the European Tour, Garcia has struggled mightily since coming to the United States.

The Spaniard has collected just one finish inside the top 30 in six starts on the PGA Tour. He tied for 13th at the Honda Classic for his best finish.

Goydos, who earned the biggest paycheck of his career ($1.026 million) despite last year's loss, has also had a tough year. His ex-wife passed away in mid- January and he took time off after that.

With that weighing on him, Goydos missed the cut in five of his first six starts. His best finish was a tie for 17th in his first event -- the Buick Invitational -- after the death of his former wife.

Two years ago, Phil Mickelson walked away with the win, but the late story was Sean O'Hair. Trailing by two shots with two holes to go, O'Hair dumped two balls into the water surrounding the island green at the par-three 17th.

O'Hair enters this week as one of the players to beat as he is coming off his third PGA Tour win at the Quail Hollow Championship and has three top 10 finishes in his last three starts. Other than a single missed cut, O'Hair has finished no worse than tied for 25th in his other nine events in '09.

This will be one of the stronger fields of the year with 45 of the top 50 players in the world rankings playing. The field also features 21 major champions who have combined for 44 major titles; 10 former winners of this event; and every PGA Tour winner -- 53 in all -- dating back to the '07 AT&T National.

The Golf Channel has six hours of coverage on Thursday and Friday, while NBC will carry five hours of action on both of the final two days.

The PGA Tour starts a three-event swing in Texas next week with the Valero Texas Open. Last year, when the event was part of the Fall Series, Zach Johnson closed with rounds of 62-64 to win by two strokes over Mark Wilson, Charlie Wi and Tim Wilkinson.

EUROPEAN TOUR

BMW ITALIAN OPEN, Royal Park I Roveri, Turin, Italy - The Italian Open was a birdie-fest last year and Hennie Otto collected enough of them to post a one- shot win over Oliver Wilson.

Otto closed with his worst round of the week, a three-under 69, but still walked off with his first European Tour title. Wilson nearly stole the title from Otto as he fired an eight-under 64 in the final round to finish one stroke back.

There isn't a lack of big names in Turin this week. Eight-time Order of Merit winner and European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie will be joined by former major champions John Daly and Paul Lawrie.

There are seven other players in the field who have won BMW-sponsored events -- Soren Hansen, David Howell, Thomas Bjorn, Niclas Fasth, Jarmo Sandelin, Raphael Jacquelin and Marcus Fraser.

The Golf Channel has coverage starting at 9:30 a.m. (et) all four days. The European Tour heads to the Emerald Isle next week for The Irish Open, where Richard Finch was a two-stroke winner last year.

LPGA TOUR

MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN AT KINGSMILL, Kingsmill Resort & Spa (River Course) Williamsburg, Virginia - Last year's Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill was an historic event in that it was Annika Sorenstam's last LPGA Tour win.

Sorenstam announced three days after this event ended last year that she would be stepping away from the game at the end of the 2008 season. She had been off to a great start with three wins in eight starts, but went winless after her announcement.

The Swede cruised to a seven-stroke win over four players as she opened with a seven-under 64, then closed with rounds of 66-69-66 to collect her 72nd LPGA Tour title.

This week, 17 of the top 20 players in the world rankings will tee it up at Kingsmill. Four of the six former winners are slated to play this week. The other former winner not playing -- in addition to Sorenstam -- is Grace Park, who had hip surgery last week and is out of action for four months.

ESPN2 will have two hours of coverage Friday through Sunday. The LPGA Tour heads to New Jersey next week for the Sybase Classic, where Lorena Ochoa is the three-time defending champion.

Gamblingfromhome Golf Betting News

<< Benesova moves on in Estoril
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic highlighted Monday's first-round winners at the $220,000 Estoril Open. The 2008 Estoril runner-up Benesova snuck past Portuguese wild card Neuz

<< Sloppy Track, Sloppy Results
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mine That Bird defied long odds and romped by 6 3/4-lengths over a sloppy, sealed track at Churchill Downs. The gelding overpowered his 18 rivals in one of the most convincing triumphs in Kentucky Derby his

<< Rays' Longoria earns AL weekly honor
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending May 3. It is Longoria's second weekly honor this season, as he also won for the we

<< Cantu named NL Player of the Week
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins first baseman Jorge Cantu has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending May 3. Cantu led the NL and tied for the major league lead with 14 RB

<< O'Hair moves to No. 12 in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With his win Sunday at the Quail Hollow championship, Sean O'Hair jumped 10 places to a career-best ranking of No. 12 in the latest world golf rankings. With three top-10s in his last three starts, O'

Rain wipes out Day 1 in Belgrade >>
Belgrade, Serbia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rain washed away three first-round matches Monday at the inaugural clay-court Serbia Open. Eighth-seeded Belgian Christophe Rochus was tied with Frenchman Nicolas Devilder 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 5-5 when p

Nets G Dooling has surgery >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Jersey Nets guard Keyon Dooling had successful surgery on Monday. The ninth-year pro underwent an arthroscopic procedure to clean out loose bodies in his right hip. Following recovery,

Venus wins Rome opener >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was tested in her second-round match Monday at the $2 million Internazionali BNL d'Italia tennis event. The fourth-seeded former world No. 1 Williams snuck past Czech Lucie

Rachel Alexandra gains top spot in NTRA Poll >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Following her 20 1/4-length victory in Friday's Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, the filly Rachel Alexandra has vaulted to the top of the weekly NTRA poll of three-year-olds. Kentucky Derby winner

King James crowned: LeBron named MVP >>
Akron, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James has been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player, making him the first Cleveland Cavaliers player to win the award. James garnered 1,172 points, including 109 first-place votes out of a possib

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Cassel Signs Contract

Kansas City, MO - Kansas City has not officially named Matt Cassel its starting quarterback, but there can be no doubt now.

NFL Betting
After praising his leadership and work ethic through spring workouts, the Chiefs announced Tuesday they had signed the 27-year-old Cassel to a multiyear contract. Terms were not disclosed, but he will almost certainly be one of the highest-paid members of the team.
"We are excited to be able to reach a long-term agreement for Matt Cassel to be a Kansas City Chief for many years to come," owner and board chairman Clark Hunt said in a statement. "His proven leadership on and off the field will be a tremendous asset to the organization."
Patriots made him their franchise player, meaning his salary for this season will be about $15 million.
New head coach Todd Haley, taking over for Herm Edwards after a 2-14 season, refused to name a starter at any position during offseason workouts. But it was obvious to everyone the team belonged to Cassel.
"I go out there each and every day with that focus that I'm the starter," Cassel said during a June minicamp. "Competition brings out the best in everybody."
The signing will come as welcome news to Cassel's new coaches and teammates. Amiable and hardworking, online football betting he appeared to win over everyone at minicamp.
"I think he's got some unique leadership qualities. I think his teammates like him and have respect for him. I think he's doing a pretty good job on the field, too," Haley said last month. "He's doing everything that I'm asking him, that our coaches are asking him to do. I don't have one single complaint how he's carrying himself."
After one workout, wide receiver Devard Darling declared Cassel "a breath of fresh air."
"He has a lot of swagger, a lot of confidence. It's good for us," said Darling. "We trust in him that he's going to go out there and lead us all the way."
nse to accommodate his specific abilities.
Trapped on the bench behind Heisman winners Carson Palmer and Matt Leinart at USC and then unable to unseat Super Bowl MVP Brady at New England, Cassel seemed destined to be a backup all his life. As Brady was helped off the field last September, Cassel seized the opportunity he'd been waiting for since high school.
In his only sustained action since his teens, he hit 349 of 555 passes for 3,949 yards at New England. He had 23 touchdown passes and 13 interceptions as the Patriots, who had gone unbeaten through the regular season the year before, finished 11-5 and out of the playoffs.
Chiefs general manager Scott Pioli, who had been Bill Belichick's assistant in New England, engineered the trade after the Patriots became convinced that Brady would recover fully from his knee operation.
"Since Matt arrived in Kansas City, he has embraced the team and the community," Pioli said. "His work ethic, his ability and competitive presence is what we expect from our players."

NFL Betting Lines

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