This Week in Golf - August 9th through August 12th

Golf Betting Lines

08/06/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA OF AMERICA - PGA CHAMPIONSHIP, Southern Hills Country Club, Tulsa, Oklahoma - The final major of the season is upon us with the 89th PGA Championship.

Last year, the championship was contested at Medinah Country Club, and this year returns to Southern Hills Country Club.

Southern Hills Country Club is the first course to host the PGA Championship four times. Southern Hills was also home to three U.S. Opens, including the 2001 Open where Retief Goosen defeated Mark Brooks in a playoff.

Along with the various ways professionals gain entry into this championship, the 20 low scorers from the PGA Professional National Championship also will tee it up at Southern Hills this week.

Last year, Tiger Woods collected his 12th professional major championship and his third PGA Championship, as he won the PGA for the second time at Medinah. Woods became the first player to win the PGA Championship on the same course twice.

Woods led entering the final round and is now 12-for-12 when owning at least a share of the 54-hole lead. His 18-under 270 total matched his own PGA Championship record for lowest score in relation to par.

TNT has extensive coverage of the event on Thursday and Friday, beginning at 2:00 p.m. (et), then has mid-day coverage on Saturday and Sunday. CBS takes over Saturday and Sunday afternoons, with live action from 2:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. each day.

The PGA Tour returns to action next week with the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, where Davis Love III won last year.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

NORTHEAST PENNSYLVANIA CLASSIC, Glenmaura National Golf Club, Scranton, Pennsylvania - The Nationwide Tour returns to Scranton and Glenmaura National for the eighth year of the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic.

Craig Bowden parred the first extra hole last year to beat Jess Daley and win the title. It was Bowden's third Nationwide Tour win overall, and helped him return to the PGA Tour.

Daley was not as lucky, as he remains on the Nationwide Tour having finished 25th on the money list last year. He is only 99th on the money list this year, but will look to improve that position this week at Glenmaura.

There is no television coverage this week. The Nationwide Tour returns to New York next week for the Xerox Classic, where Kevin Stadler won in 2006.

USGA

U.S. WOMEN'S AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP, Crooked Stick Golf Club, Carmel, Indiana - The U.S. Women's Amateur heads to Indiana for the fifth USGA Championship, hosted by Crooked Stick.

The last USGA event here was the 1993 U.S. Women's Open. It is the first time this event is being contested at Crooked Stick.

The format is 36 holes of stroke play, before the match-play rounds start Wednesday and conclude Sunday with the 36-hole final.

Fourteen-year-old Kimberly Kim became the youngest winner ever last year, when she came from behind to beat Katharina Schallenberg at Pumpkin Ridge. Kim was five down after 15 holes, but she rallied and won on the 36-hole when she sank a five-foot birdie effort.

Among those trying to take the crown from Kim this week include Meghan Bolger, the 2006 U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Champion; Mina Harigae, the 2007 U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Champion; Diane Lang, 2006 USGA Senior Women's Amateur Champion; Stacy Lewis, 2007 NCAA Individual Champion; Kristen Park and Jenny Shin, the last two U.S. Girls' Junior champions.

The Golf Channel will cover five days of action starting with Wednesday's First Round of Match Play.

The next USGA event on the schedule is the U.S. Amateur, which will be played at Olympic Club in San Francisco starting August 20th. Richie Ramsay won last year, but has turned professional.

DURAMED FUTURES TOUR

BETTY PUSKAR GOLF CLASSIC, The Pines Country Club, Morgantown, West Virginia - The Duramed Futures Tour is down to the final four events, as players jockey for position on the money list in an attempt to gain their LPGA Tour card for next year.

Last year's winner, Kristy McPherson, has moved on to the LPGA and will not be on hand to defend her title. The top-10 players on the money list are all scheduled to play this week, however.

Next week the tour moves to Maryland for the Hunters Oak Golf Classic.

Focsports Golf Betting News

<< Lightning's Craig granted arbitration award
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Lightning forward Ryan Craig was awarded a one-year, $850,000 deal through arbitration on Monday. The only Lightning player to file for arbitration this offseason, Craig had been seeking a o

<< Cowboys' Owens has MRI
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Terrell Owens had an MRI on Monday to examine his stiff lower back. Owens missed practice for a second straight day with lower back spasms and the team sent him for a precau

<< Bammer advances in Carson
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Thirteenth-seeded Austrian Sybille Bammer was among Monday's first-round winners at the $600,000 East West Bank Classic. Bammer, a 27-year-old mother on the WTA Tour, handled American Laura Granville 6-4, 6-2 on

<< Cano, Yanks edge Blue Jays thanks to four-run sixth
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robinson Cano keyed a four-run sixth inning with a two-run double and a run scored, leading the New York Yankees to a 5-4 victory over the Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a three-game series at Rogers

<< Hewitt wins; Berdych bows out at Rogers Masters
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt posted a first-round win, while 10th-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych came up a Day-2 loser at the $2.45 million Rogers Masters -- the sixth of nine Masters Series events this year.

Ochoa strengthens lead in Rolex Rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lorena Ochoa finally collected her first major championship victory Sunday at the Women's British Open Championship and is now a little less than seven points ahead in the Rolex Rankings. Karrie Webb an

Panthers' Minter to retire >>
Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carolina Panthers safety Mike Minter is expected to announce his retirement on Tuesday, a Charlotte newspaper reported Monday. The 33-year-old safety was planning to make the 2007 season his 11th and fi

New York Jets 2007 Season Preview >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Soon after he was spotted at a restaurant table chatting with New York Jets coach Eric Mangini, things began to go awry for one Tony Soprano. And not so long after it had seemed that the fictional Soprano had the world on a s

Getting to 53: New York Jets Roster Prediction >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Below we take our stab at predicting how the 53-man roster of the 2007 New York Jets will take shape: QB (3): Chad Pennington, Kellen Clemens, Marques Tuiasosopo RB (4): Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, Tony Hollings, D

Warriors re-sign Barnes >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Golden State Warriors re-signed forward Matt Barnes, rewarding the 6-foot-7, 226-pounder's breakout 2006-2007 season. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Golden State re-signed Barnes for $3.5

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Big Ten Conference odds

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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