FOCSports
FOCSports
Green, Singh share Irish Open lead
Golf Betting Lines
05/15/2008 - Adare, Limerick, Ireland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Richard Green and Jeev Milkha Singh opened with matching rounds of six-under-par 66 Thursday to share the lead after the first round of the Irish Open at Adare Manor Hotel & Golf Resort.
Green and Singh are both two-time winners on the European Tour with Green winning most recently last year at the BA-CA Golf Open.
Marcel Siem dropped a shot at the last to card a four-under-par 68 and share third place with Bradley Dredge, Johan Edfors and Michael Lorenzo-Vera.
Green started on the back nine and opened with a birdie at the 10th. He flew up the leaderboard with three straight birdies from the 14th.
The Australian stumbled to a bogey on the first, but recovered that lost stroke with a birdie at the fifth.
Green got within one of the lead as he birdied No. 7. At the par-five closing hole, Green kicked in a short birdie putt to join Singh in the lead.
"I think the focus was pretty good today, that was the key," Green stated. "I just focused very hard on concentrating and it worked out pretty well. I hit some pretty nice iron shots, which kind of surprised me a little bit because my iron play hasn't been that great the first half of the year."
Singh also played the back nine first. He opened with five straight pars before converting birdie efforts on the 15th and 16th.
Around the turn, he moved to three-under with a birdie on the par-four first. Singh sank his fourth birdie of the round at the par-four fifth.
Singh eagled the par-five seventh to jump into the lead at six-under. He parred his final two holes, including a 40-foot par saving putt after knocking his third into the bushes near the ninth green.
"When I saw the ball, I knew the first thing was to go to the referee and make sure that I could take a stance without breaking any rules because there was a chance of being penalized," said Singh. "That's why I called the official in there, and he told me the way to get in there without touching anything.
"I was just trying to chip it out from there and it came out perfect. I missed the hole and went to about 40 feet away; I was happy with that. And that's the story of the day really -- I made a lot of great up and downs today."
S.S.P. Chowrasia, the Indian Masters winner, shot a three-under 69 in the opening round and was joined in seventh place by Lee S. James and Alvaro Velasco, who were both celebrating their birthday on Thursday.
Defending champion Padraig Harrington opened with an even-par 72 and is tied for 30th place.
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - One of tennis' greatest champions abruptly called it a career this week, as Justine Henin decided she'd had enough of the tennis lifestyle at only 25 years of age. Much like Bjorn Borg in the early 1980s,
<< Coburn, Roberts out for Game 4
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Philadelphia defenseman Braydon Coburn and
Pittsburgh forward Gary Roberts will miss tonight's Game 4 of the Eastern
Conference finals at the Wachovia Center.
Coburn took a puck to the face early
<< Barcelona and MLS establish multi-year partnership
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Major League Soccer announced Thursday it has
entered into a multi-year partnership with Barcelona, one of the world's most
popular and celebrated professional soccer clubs.
The new, five-year partnership -
<< Dodgers 3B DeWitt scratched from lineup
Milwaukee, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Blake
DeWitt was a late scratch from the lineup for Thursday's game against the
Milwaukee Brewers after experiencing lower back pain.
Everyday catcher Russell Ma
<< AFL approves instant replay for 2008 playoffs
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Arena Football League approved the use of
instant replay for this year's playoffs.
The league's Board of Directors unanimously approved the change, marking the
first time in the AFL's 22-season history
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers guard Daniel Gibson will miss the next 1-2 weeks of action due to a shoulder injury, possibly keeping him out the remainder of the playoffs. Gibson left Wednesday's 96-89 loss at Bost
Federer, Nadal, Djokovic ease into Hamburg QFs >>
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The world's top-three stars --
Swiss Roger Federer, Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Serbian Novak Djokovic -- were
all straight-set third-round winners Thursday at the $2.955 million
Masters
Paterno hospitalized for dehydration >>
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Penn State legendary football head
coach Joe Paterno was taken by ambulance to Mount Nittany Medical Center on
Thursday due to an apparent case of dehydration.
The Centre Daily Times reports
Celtic legend Burns dies at 51 >>
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Celtic legend Tommy Burns, 51, died on
Thursday morning after losing his long battle with cancer.
The former Scotland international, who played more than 400 games for Celtic
between 1975 and 1989, h
United's Ferdinand officially signs five-year deal >>
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester United defender Rio
Ferdinand has finally signed a new five-year contract which will effectively
keep him at Old Trafford for the rest of his career.
The 29-year-old England inte
2007 NFL Football Betting Preview
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa
Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.
Should be in:
Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?
Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.
Work left to do:
Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.
Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.
Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.
Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.
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