Vaughan leads Senior Open by two

Golf Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - Seattle, WA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bruce Vaughan carded a four-under 66 Thursday to grab a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the U.S. Senior Open Championship at Sahalee Country Club.

Vaughan's lone win on the Champions Tour was a playoff victory over John Cook at the 2008 Senior British Open.

Loren Roberts, a four-time major winner on the Champions Tour, and amateur Tim Jackson share second place at two-under 68. Jackson, a two-time U.S. Mid- Amateur champion, was the 36-hole leader last year before fading into a share of 11th.

Bernhard Langer, who won the Senior British Open last week, posted a one-under 69. He was joined in fourth place by Mark Calcavecchia, Tom Lehman, Joe Ozaki and Michael Allen.

Vaughan played the back nine first on Friday. After hitting a tree with his tee shot, Vaughan still managed to birdie the par-five 11th. He gave that back at the 14th, where he found a bunker off the tee and came up short of the green with his second.

The 53-year-old was unable to get up and down for par from there. Vaughan got back into red figures with a birdie on the 16th. He turned at two-under after making another birdie on No. 18.

Around the turn, Vaughan rolled in back-to-back birdie efforts from the second to jump to minus-four.

Vaughan was alone atop the leaderboard at five-under after a birdie on the par-four sixth. He closed with a bogey at the last to cut his lead to two.

"I birdied probably two of the hardest holes on the golf course, Nos. 18 and 6," stated Vaughan, who is the solo leader after the first round for the first time in his Champions Tour career. "Those were probably two of the hardest holes on the golf course and I made birdie on them. That's like picking up three or four shots on everybody."

Vaughan is having a tough season, with just one top-five and four top-20 finishes. He turned his fortunes around on Thursday by hitting a lot of fairways.

"I did everything you're supposed to do, hit a lot of fairways, a few greens and made some putts," said Vaughan, who hit 12-of-14 fairways and 14-of-18 greens in regulation.

Roberts, who played five groups ahead of Vaughan, opened with four straight pars. He birdied two of the next three holes to get to minus-two.

After three straight pars around the turn, Roberts got to three-under with a birdie on the par-five second. He gave that stroke back with a bogey on the sixth. Roberts parred the last three to end two back.

"I was happy with the way I played. I hit a lot of good shots," Roberts said. "I only hit one bad tee shot at six, and made a bogey, and bad tee shot at nine, my last hole, but got it up and down. All in all, I played as solid as I played in a while today."

Jackson parred the first four holes, then dropped in a birdie effort on the par-three fifth. He followed that with a birdie on the seventh.

Jackson remained at minus-two until the 16th. He stumbled to a bogey on the par-four 16th, but fought right back with a birdie on 17 to end at minus-two.

"We have to do what we did last year, play one side at a time here, because the trees are hanging out and the hole locations are right over the mounds and you've got to be pretty precise," Jackson explained. "You've got to be patient."

Tom Watson, a three-time runner-up at this championship, posted an even-par 70. He was joined in ninth place by Jay Haas, Scott Simpson and local favorite Fred Couples, who was born in Seattle.

NOTES: Defending champion Fred Funk opened with a six-over 76 and is tied for 68th with among others Ben Crenshaw, Andy Bean and Gil Morgan...The last first-round leader to win this title was Peter Jacobsen in 2004...Corey Pavin's streak of 12 straight rounds in the 60s was snapped as he shot 72.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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Elite 8 NCAA Tournament Betting at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

In what should be an outstanding Saturday of March Madness betting action, the top four teams in the South and West Regions square off in what should be extremely close match-ups. Three of the four teams are coming off extremely close games on Thursday evening, only UCLA won semi comfortably over Pitt 64-55.

Ohio State is coming off their second game in a row where in all reality they should have lost. Of course that doesn’t matter now since the name of the game is “survive and advance” but as the tournament continues, they can’t afford to keep getting down to their opponents early. Kansas also avoided a scare by holding off a scrappy Southern Illinois squad. In the third thrilling game of the evening Memphis pulled off the minor upset (+3.5) despite being the higher seed to Texas A&M.

Although the spreads are fairly small for Saturday’s games, MySportsbook.com continue to bet against the underdogs. Despite OSU’s two scares, 86% of the “betting public” feels the Buckeyes (-1.5) have what it takes to make the Final Four. In fact, so much of the early money is on OSU that the line has already moved from -1 to -1.5. In the second game of the doubleheader, Kansas and their high-powered offense are 2 point favorites as they take on UCLA and their effective defense. About 63% of the early money thus far is once again backing the favorites. If those percentages stay that high, don’t be surprised if this line moves as well. If you like Kansas (-2) you might want to jump on it early.

Memphis vs. Ohio State

Both squads were involved in thrillers on Thursday evening and should come out fired up. OSU can ill afford to get behind early like they did versus their previous two opponents (Xavier, Tennessee). Greg Oden needs to stay out of foul trouble; the Buckeyes are a completely different team when he is on the court. Memphis definitely has the athleticism and length to match-up with OSU. Of Memphis’ five leading minute earners, the shortest of the bunch is 6’5”. Each team has a very effective defense; Memphis surrenders 62.3 PPG whereas the Buckeyes give up only 61 PPG. With those type of numbers, it isn’t surprising that Memphis covered the UNDER almost 69% of the time this season. As a favorite, OSU has covered the UNDER almost 66% of the time over the last three seasons. The major concern for Memphis which is magnifies this time of the year is their brutal foul shooting (62%). This season, OSU is 17-11 ATS versus teams with a winning record and 7-2 ATS in all tournament games. Memphis has been an extremely reliable cover in tournament play in recent years with a 23-8 ATS record over the last three seasons.

UCLA vs. Kansas

In the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader, UCLA will play in a role which they are very unfamiliar with that of the underdog. Only twice this season have they been getting points from the handicappers and both times they covered. Over the last three seasons UCLA is a reliable 23-7 ATS in this unfamiliar role. UCLA has not fared well against Big 12 opponents recently going 1-7 ATS since 1997. Giving up only 59.6 PPG, UCLA will definitely look to do what they do best: keep this game as low scoring as possible. Their defense has been especially tough during the tournament. UCLA opponents have been able to muster up only 48.7 PPG while shooting a combined 34.5% from the field. UCLA definitely has a challenge at hand with a Kansas team that is capable of putting points on the board in bunches. As a team, they average 79 PPG and shoot an impressive 49.6% from the field and 39.4% from beyond the arc. During the tournament Kansas has been “lights out” from the field having shot 56.2%.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at MySportsbook.com’s “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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