11/15/2008 - Guadalajara, Mexico (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Angela Stanford only managed an even- par 72 on Saturday, but remained atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Stanford, the second-round leader, finished 54 holes at 10-under 206 at Guadalajara Country Club and is one shot ahead of Annika Sorenstam in her second-to-last event on the LPGA Tour.
Sorenstam fired a five-under 67 and is in the clubhouse at minus-nine. The Swede is trying to get one more win before she calls it a career next week after the ADT Championship.
"I would love to finish on a high note," said Sorenstam. "However, there's another 18 and a lot of good players here. I'm going to try and live in the moment and enjoy what's going on now."
The tournament host, world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa, shot a two-under 70 and moved into a tie for 13th place at minus-two.
"I feel much better and relaxed," said Ochoa, who has appeared to have trouble balancing the jobs of tournament host and tournament participant. "I tried to be calm. I need to concentrate on my golf game."
Katherine Hull matched the tournament course record on Saturday with a six- under 66. She is alone in third at eight-under 208, which is one shot better than Jee Young Lee, who carded a three-under 69 in the third round.
Stanford did not get off to the type of lead one expects from a leader. She bogeyed the second and fifth holes to lose her share of first, but a 25-foot birdie putt at six got her a piece of the lead at nine-under.
She stayed at nine-under over the next nine holes. Stanford converted some clutch par putts, but none bigger than a nine-footer at the 14th. That kept her tied for the lead with Sorenstam.
The former world No. 1 cruised up the leaderboard with three birdies in a four-hole span on the front nine. She bogeyed the ninth, but a 35-foot eagle putt at the par-five 10th got her within one of Stanford's lead.
At the par-four 12th, Sorenstam drained an eight-footer for birdie to tie her with Stanford, who missed a six-footer for birdie at the same hole a few groups later. Sorenstam sank a 30-foot birdie try at 14 and found herself alone atop the leaderboard.
That advantage lasted only one hole. At the 16th, Sorenstam drove into the tree and had to pitch out for her second. She knocked her third to nine feet, but the par putt skated by on the right edge.
Sorenstam landed 40 feet from the stick at the long, par-three 17th. She left herself around three feet for par, but missed and fell one behind Stanford at minus-eight.
At the par-five closing hole, Sorenstam played a spectacular third shot inside two feet. She tapped in the birdie putt to get to nine-under, but Stanford made a beautiful birdie from out of the rough at 16.
Stanford parred out and set up a battle between the two on Sunday.
If Sorenstam is to win that one last title, she might need to play better down the stretch. Over the last four holes, Sorenstam has six bogeys and two birdies, including a chip-in on 18 on Thursday.
"I'd like to finish better," admitted Sorenstam. "I just don't know. I love the holes. I think it's a great finish to the course. I just have not played it well."
For Sorenstam to reach the winner's circle, she will have to get past one of the hottest players on tour. Stanford collected her second win on tour in September and has not finished outside the top five since.
"My swing felt a little funny all day," acknowledged Stanford. "Thank goodness my putter didn't sleep in along with my golf swing."
Sun Young Yoo posted a two-under 70 on Saturday and is fifth at six-under 210.
Brittany Lang (69) and In-Kyung Kim (70) are knotted in sixth at five-under 211.
Cristie Kerr (69), Teresa Lu (69), Jeong Jang (71) and Nicole Castrale (72) share eighth place at minus-four.
Paula Creamer and Juli Inkster are among the golfers tied for 13th with Ochoa.
<< Lewis and Gibson lead USC in rout of Cal-Irvine
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dwight Lewis scored 18 points and Taj
Gibson added 17 with six rebounds and five blocked shots, as 18th-ranked
Southern California opened its season with a 78-55 victory over Cal-Irvine at
the Gal
<< Lorient scores three late goals to stun Marseille
Marseille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lorient scored three times in the final 14
minutes to stun Marseille, 3-2, at the Stade Velodrome on Saturday in France's
Ligue 1.
Morgan Amalfitano started the incredible comeback in the 76th minute,
<< Heerenveen holds on to edge Utrecht
Heerenveen, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Danijel Pranjic scored two times in
a first half with five combined goals and Heerenveen held on for a 3-2 win over
Utrecht despite playing a man down for the final 40 minutes on Saturday.
Pranjic
<< Taylor carries Montreal into Grey Cup
Montreal, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Larry Taylor returned two punts for
touchdowns, and the Montreal Alouettes defeated the Edmonton Eskimos 36-26 in
the East Division final to clinch a spot in the 2008 Grey Cup.
Taylor amassed a CF
Morrow leads Warriors over woeful Clips >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In his first career start, undrafted
rookie Anthony Morrow tallied 37 points and 11 rebounds to lead the Golden
State Warriors to a 121-103 victory over the hapless Los Angeles Clippers at
Staples
The Penn isn't mightier; UNC wins >>
Chapel Hill, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Deon Thompson scored 17 points and grabbed
seven rebounds, and top-ranked North Carolina survived Penn 86-71 in the
season-opener for the wounded Tar Heels.
Tyler Zeller scored 18 points, and Way
Harvin, Gators rout Spurrier and the Gamecocks >>
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Percy Harvin rushed for 167 yards and two
touchdowns on a mere eight carries, as No. 3 Florida further solidified itself
as a national title contender with a 56-6 thumping of Steve Spurrier's 24th-
ranked
Ducks D Beauchemin out six months >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Anaheim Ducks defenseman Francois Beauchemin
will be out the next six months due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament in
his left knee.
Beauchemin suffered the injury during the third period of Fri
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.
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