Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting
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.
<< NL Rookie Pitcher Gets All-Star Snub
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - For those of you still wrapped up in Strasburg-
mania, I have to regretfully inform you that he's not the pitcher referred to
in the above headline. As impressive as the Nationals' rookie has been, and as
much as
<< Mural of LeBron James removed in Cleveland
CLEVELAND (AP) -LeBron James has left the building.Workers have removed a gigantic Nike banner featuring James, a sign that hung on the side of a downtown building for years and served as a background for the Cleveland Cavaliers' success during the
<< Woods to play with Rose in first two rounds of British Open
St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods and Justin Rose, the
world's top-ranked player and one of the hottest players in golf,
respectively, will be paired together for the first two rounds of the 2010
British
<< Report: Suns close to acquiring Turkoglu, Childress
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Phoenix Suns are reportedly close to
replacing Amare Stoudemire with a combination of Hedo Turkoglu and Josh
Childress, according to The Arizona Republic.
The report states that the Suns wo
National League mid-term grades >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the National League, those preseason
predictions are little more than a distant memory. A pair of surprising teams
have emerged -- the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres -- at the top of the
class, while
Blackhawks re-sign assistant coach Haviland; add Kitchen to staff >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blackhawks on Monday re-signed assistant
coach Mike Haviland and named Mike Kitchen an assistant coach.
"Adding Mike Kitchen and bringing back Mike Haviland bolster what is already a
tremendous coaching
Seven finalists return to Walter Payton Award Watch List >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The race for the 2010 Walter Payton Award,
sponsored by Fathead.com, kicked off Monday with The Sportsbook Betting Lines's
announcement that seven finalists from last season are part of a stellar 20-
player Watch List
Jimenez, Price named starters for All-Star Game >>
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Colorado Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez
and Tampa Bay Rays lefty David Price have been selected as the starting
pitchers for the 2010 All-Star Game at Angel Stadium.
National League manager Cha
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
The 2008 NFL betting lines season is almost upon us! If you like to bet on the NFL, you are in the best possible place for online betting. The sportsbook has NFL odds up on a ton of futures, and you will also find NFL lines up for early games as well. Join sportbook today and we'll help guide you right through to Super Bowl XLIII and beyond!
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting odds .
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | NFL Football Betting | College Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | College Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting