Birdie Putt From Place Par-five

Golf Betting Lines

"I got off to a bad start, but regrouped with that birdie on No. 4, " Armour admitted. "I didn't drive it well on the back nine."

 

The two-time Nationwide Tour winner parred his next four holes. Down the stretch, he turned it on. Bowden birdied the par-four 15th from 18 feet out and made it two straight as he drained an improbable 80-foot putt at 16.

 

"I've been playing good golf all year long, but I'm surprised to be in the picture. Realistically, I thought I had no shot after the first round," Bowden said of his opening 70.

 

"I came into this week without any expectations at all," admitted Bowden. "After the first day, I thought it would be an absolute moral victory to just make the cut. I have no expectations tomorrow. I'll just go out, have fun and think about my daughter."

 

Second-round leader Bradley Hughes faltered to a four-over 75 that dropped him all the way into a share of 35th.

 

"There's nothing more that helps your confidence than being able to say, 'I've done this before," said Woods, who is two weeks removed from his emotional win at the British Open. "My record is what it is."

 

As if trying to catch Woods on Sunday wasn't a difficult enough task, Verplank and Glover have other things on their mind. Both are outside the top-10 on the United States Ryder Cup points list with only three weeks remaining to automatically qualify.

 

Before they start figuring Ryder Cup points, there's the matter of trying to catch the No. 1 player in the world.

 

When Taylor, who is 11th on the American Ryder Cup points list, three-putted the 17th green for a bogey, Woods tapped in a short birdie putt at 10 to draw even.

 

He parred that hole and 15, where he hit a nine-iron from 175 yards out. Woods pulled another outrageous club at the par-five 16th, when he roped a four- iron from 248 yards to 30 feet. His eagle putt came up well short, but Woods converted the five-footer for birdie and the outright lead.

 

His drive on the 18th became a tale of two different types of luck. Woods' tee ball struck a spectator in the hand, but sent the ball back into the fairway. After an autographed glove and quick check on the man's health, Woods knocked his second to seven feet. He drained the putt to give himself the two-shot advantage.

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Betting the NFL preseason

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.