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05/08/2009 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Cejka posted a five-under 67 on Friday to move atop the leaderboard after the second round of The Players Championship.
Cejka finished 36 holes at 11-under 133 and is two clear of Ian Poulter, who managed a four-under 68 on Friday, at the famous Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass.
Masters champion Angel Cabrera tallied nine birdies Friday, including seven in a 10-hole span, and ended up with a seven-under 65. That vaulted the two-time major winner into a tie for third at minus-seven.
"All tournaments are important to me. I really haven't changed the way I prepare for them," said Cabrera. "My tee shots were pretty much the difference today. I was able to get the hole started out right."
Tiger Woods managed a three-under 69 and finished two rounds at minus-four. The 2001 champion, who hasn't finished inside the top-10 here since that win, is tied for 22nd place.
Woods was even at the turn after a six-foot birdie at nine, but a 15-foot birdie putt at 10 and a two-putt birdie at 11 got him to three-under for the championship.
He failed to save par from a bunker at the 12th, but back-to-back birdies from the 14th got him to four-under for the tournament. Woods hit a spectacular punch shot from the right rough by a tree at the last, but could not hole his 10-footer for birdie.
"I made a couple of mistakes today, but overall I'm still right back in the ball game," said Woods, who found several terrible lies en route to his 69. "Take your medicine sometimes and move on from there."
One player who didn't have to take his medicine much on Friday was Cejka.
He parred the first hole Friday, but made a great save from left of the green at the par-five second for a birdie. Cejka knocked his tee ball to 10 feet at the par-three third and canned the birdie putt. Cejka made it three in a row at the fourth when he drained a 15-footer.
At the par-three seventh, Cejka hit a seven-iron inside a foot. He tapped in for a birdie, then converted a 30-foot par save at the very next hole to stay at 10-under par for the championship.
After he made the turn, Cejka hit his approach almost 20 feet left of the hole, but slightly off the putting surface. He holed that birdie effort to get to minus-11 and tapped in a short birdie putt at the par-five 11th to become the first player to get to 12-under par.
Cejka parred his next three holes, but found some trouble at the 15th when his approach landed in a greenside bunker. He could not get up and down for par and fell back to minus-11.
Cejka parred 16 and 17, but once again found some problems, this time at the par-four closing hole. He drove into the right rough and missed the green with his second. The best Cejka could muster was a pitch to 18 feet, but he ran home the par putt to finish at 11-under par.
"I didn't really hit the ball as well as yesterday. Yesterday was kind of flawless," said Cejka. "But I still made a couple good up-and-downs, and when I had a birdie chance I took it."
Cejka is quite an interesting leader.
At the end of last season, Cejka had neck fusion surgery and admittedly, came back too soon. He had an epidural injection in his neck just last week to curtail some numbness in his arm and fingers.
"It's still a little bit numb, but there's no pain," he said.
But Cejka's story predates neck surgery or the lead in the Players Championship.
When Cejka was nine years old, he and his father fled Communist Czechoslovakia. They went to Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Italy and eventually landed in Germany.
"I was too young to understand what's going on," said Cejka. "My dad told nobody what he was doing. I was nine years old. Back then I didn't know. For me it was a vacation, so for me it was a smooth ride."
That ride went by foot, by train, by bike and even through water.
"I think we swam across the Rhine," said Cejka, a four-time winner on the European Tour.
He hit a few balls in Czechoslovakia, but started taking lessons when he and his father settled in Germany. Cejka became more interested in golf in the mid-80s when Bernhard Langer started to burst on to the scene.
"I skipped school and I watched him even in pro-ams, and he was my inspiration," Cejka said of Langer. "He was the only German guy who was on Tour, the only German guy who won tournaments, the only German who won a major, so that was inspiration."
Cabrera was joined in third by 2001 PGA Champion David Toms (70), Kevin Na (66), Jason Dufner (70), John Mallinger (71) and world No. 9 Henrik Stenson (69).
Overnight-leader Ben Crane struggled to a one-over 73 on Friday and fell into a tie for ninth with Richard S. Johnson (72), Jeff Overton (67) and Tim Petrovic (70) at six-under 138.
The last two winners of this championship, Phil Mickelson (2007) and Sergio Garcia (2008), both made the cut on the number at even-par 144.
Among those who did make the weekend were: Adam Scott (145), Davis Love III (147), last week's Quail Hollow Championship winner Sean O'Hair (148), 2008 playoff loser Paul Goydos (148) and Anthony Kim (155).
<< In a Hinch: D-Backs tab former catcher new skipper
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Hinch was introduced as Arizona's new
manager at a press conference on Friday, one day after the Diamondbacks
dismissed Bob Melvin.
"It's a big day, an emotional day," Hinch said. "I'm excited
<< A's acquire INF Kennedy from Rays
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics acquired infielder
Adam Kennedy from the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday for a player to be named.
Kennedy was assigned to Oakland's Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.
Kennedy, the 2002
<< Ochoa pushes lead to three strokes in Virginia
Williamsburg, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lorena Ochoa posted a six-under 65 Friday
to extend her lead to three strokes after two rounds of the Michelob Ultra
Open.
Ochoa, a three-time runner-up at this event, completed 36 holes at 13-under
<< L.A. trades Fletcher, Welsh to St. Louis for draft picks
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Sol traded defender Kendall
Fletcher, forward Christie Welsh and a 2011 second-round draft pick to the
Saint Louis Athletica for a conditional 2010 first-round draft pick and a 2011
first-r
Kenseth takes pole at Darlington with new track record >>
Darlington, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kenseth will start on the pole for
Saturday's Southern 500 after setting a new track qualifying record at
Darlington Raceway.
Kenseth, the 2009 Daytona 500 champion, topped the charts wi
Penguins D Gonchar leaves game >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Sergei
Gonchar left Friday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against
Washington after a knee-to-knee hit by Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin.
The play oc
Dallas, Houston to resume Texas rivalry >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas renew their
Texas rivalry when they square off at Robertson Stadium on Saturday night.
The Dynamo (2-2-2) are riding a two-game winning streak and would love nothing
more th
Yanks P Kennedy to have surgery >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees pitching prospect
Ian Kennedy has been diagnosed with an aneurysm under his right armpit, and
will undergo surgery on Tuesday.
Kennedy, 24, left an April 27 start for Triple-A
MySportsbook.com Favors Fighting Irish to win College Football betting odds
According to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, on January 8, the Fighting Irish faithful may be toasting their 14th national title in Arizona – Notre Dame’s first national championship in close to 20 years.
Although MySportsbook.com has listed Notre Dame as the 5-1 favorite to win thecollege football College Football betting, fans in Columbus do not need to cancel their tickets to Glendale just yet. The Ohio State Buckeyes, listed right behind the Irish at 7-1, are also heavy favorites to win college football’s most coveted prize, while West Virginia, USC and the 2007 National Champion Texas Longhorns - all listed at 8-1 – are strong contenders as well.
MySportsbook.com has also posted gambling odds on the conference championships for the ACC, Big 12 and SEC. In the ACC – it could be anyone’s title, particularly for the two schools from the Sunshine State. Florida State and Miami, both listed at 2-1, are favored to win the ACC Championship Game odds, with the ‘Noles hoping to finish in the nation’s top 10 for the first time in five years, and the ‘Canes looking to avenge their 10-7 loss against FSU in last year’s ACC Championship betting.
Moving west to the Big 12, MySportsbook.com has betting lines listing Texas as 7-5 favorites to repeat as conference champions, even though the Longhorns lost their national championship-winning quarterback Vince Young to the NFL. In the south, the Auburn Tigers – led by Heisman-hopeful senior running back Kenny Irons – have been given the best odds to win the SEC Championship odds at 5-2.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.
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7-5 9-5 9-2 12-1 14-1 15-1 15-1 30-1 30-1 35-1 100-1 100-1 |
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5-2 11-4 4-1 6-1 7-1 7-1 9-1 20-1 28-1 75-1 100-1 300-1 |
For complete NCAA football odds please visit Mysportsbook.com.
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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