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07/12/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Golf's most historic championship heads to its most historic venue for the 139th playing of the British Open Championship.
The championship is celebrating its 150th anniversary -- it was not held 11 times due to World Wars I and II -- at the course where it has been played the most times.
The Old Course at St. Andrews, known as the "Home of Golf," will host the Open for the 27th time. The list of winners on the Old Course includes golf legends such as Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Peter Thompson, Tony Lema, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.
Woods, who has won the last two Opens at St. Andrews, is one of four people who have won twice at the Old Course.
Over the last eight Open Championships on the Old Course, John Daly was the least accomplished winner and that is saying something since it was Daly's fourth win overall and second major championship title.
In the last two Opens at St. Andrews, Woods put on a show. He cruised to a five-stroke win over Colin Montgomerie in 2005 and fired four rounds in the 60s to beat Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn by eight shots in 2000.
In his 2000 victory, Woods did not hit a single bunker and was just the third winner to post all four rounds in the 60s.
In 2005, the British Open said goodbye to three-time champion Jack Nicklaus. Like Woods, Nicklaus earned two of his three Open Championship titles on the Old Course.
Last year, Tom Watson made a serious charge while trying to win a record-tying sixth Open Championship title. The 59-year-old fell just short of becoming the oldest major champion in golf history.
Watson led by a stroke heading to the final hole after making birdie on the 17th at Turnberry. After he knocked his second shot over the 18th green, Watson pitched his third to eight feet. He started walking just after hitting the putt and the ball slid by the hole on the right.
He tapped in for bogey, then headed to a playoff with Stewart Cink. In the four-hole playoff, Cink easily bested Watson for his first major championship victory.
Cink needed just 14 strokes, while Watson struggled with 20 shots. Cink went par-par-birdie-birdie to deny Watson from being the third player to win the Open Championship in three different decades.
The 36-year-old Cink did not own a share of the lead at any point during the tournament until his birdie on the 72nd hole of regulation found the bottom of the cup. Watson, playing three groups behind Cink, would have won the title if not for his bogey at the last.
Watson's incredible run was the second straight year someone over 50 years of age was in contention.
In 2008, 53-year-old Greg Norman held the third-round lead and was still atop the leaderboard standing on the 10th tee in the final round. The Australian stumbled to four bogeys on the back nine en route to a seven-over 77. He slid into a share of third at plus-nine.
Norman's crash enabled Padraig Harrington to win the Open Championship for the second straight year. His first win in 2007 came in a playoff over Sergio Garcia. Harrington defeated the Spaniard by a single stroke (15-16) for the first of his three major championship titles.
Phil Mickelson enters the week at St. Andrews coming off two top-five finishes. Earlier in the season, Mickelson closed with back-to-back 67s to beat Lee Westwood by three strokes at the Masters. The victory was Mickelson's third at Augusta and fourth in a major championship.
Mickelson missed last year's Open to be with his wife, Amy, and his mother, who were both in the early stages of cancer treatment.
He has struggled at the British Open in the past with his best finish coming in 2004. Mickelson missed the playoff that year by a single stroke. His next best finish was at St. Andrews in 2000, when he tied for 11th.
Heading into the 139th Open Championship, two of the favorites are Steve Stricker and Justin Rose.
Stricker is coming off a repeat victory at the John Deere Classic, where several records fell throughout the week. Stricker opened with a 60, but trailed Paul Goydos, who fired a 59 on Thursday.
The 43-year-old Stricker set the 54-hole record with his total of 188 and ended up beating Goydos by two. Goydos did earn the final spot in the field at St. Andrews thanks to his second-place finish.
Rose is coming off two wins in his last three starts. He won the Memorial the first weekend in June for his first PGA Tour title, but still failed to qualify for the U.S. Open.
The Englishman said he considered the AT&T National his U.S. Open and held on for a one-stroke win over a hard-charging Ryan Moore.
Rose and Moore both earned spots in the British Open field thanks to those finishes.
The 29-year-old Rose burst onto the golf scene as a teenager at the 1998 British Open, where he holed out for eagle on the final hole to jump into a share of fourth place. Rose will be competing in his ninth Open championship, and first at St. Andrews.
He will look to avoid the fate of Westwood at the U.S. Open. Westwood entered the U.S. Open having finished second at the Masters and earned his second PGA Tour title the week before Pebble Beach at the St. Jude Classic.
Westwood never got anything going at the U.S. Open and finished tied for 16th at plus-eight. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell closed with a three-over 74, but it was enough for a one-stroke win at the U.S. Open.
McDowell, a six-time winner on the European Tour, claimed his first major championship title as well as his first win on the PGA Tour at Pebble. He is coming off a tie for 21st at the Scottish Open, which was his first start since the U.S. Open.
Heading into St. Andrews, it would be tough to call Woods one of the favorites because of his underwhelming play so far this season. However, he has dominated this course in the past.
Will this be the week Westwood or Ian Poulter breaks through for his first major? Can Els win his fourth major championship title? Or will Miguel Angel Jimenez turn his solid play into his third victory of the season and first major title?
There are plenty of questions entering the Open Championship. It remains to be seen who has the right answers on the Old Course at St. Andrews.
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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout
An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.
Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off. Randy was not impressed though. Paula thought he started off fantastic. "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either.
Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed. Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact. He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition.
Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula. Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.
Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next. Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential. Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell. He sang "Careless Whisper".
22 year old Chris Richardson was up next. He was listed with +1100 odds coming in. He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great.
Nick was boring and pitchy. Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week. Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition.
Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds . These of course were the early odds. He was considered original for picking an "odd song". He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night.
Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good.
Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds. Great voice and a great sense of humor. He's a real standout. Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit. Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig".
Jared Cotter followed. He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition. The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good.
22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next. "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon. Though the judges felt he performed okay. Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.
Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition. He was the last to perform. He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start.
Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys. Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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 online football betting 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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