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This Week in Golf -- February 9th through February 12thGolf Betting Lines02/06/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO- AM - Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Spyglass Hill Golf Club, Pebble Beach, California - One might look at this week's field for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and think it is lacking the stars with just one player ranked in the top-10 in the world playing this week. That surely isn't the case however. Tiger Woods makes his return to this event for the first time since 2002 and is one of eight former champions in the field that account for 12 titles. World No. 9 Dustin Johnson, who won this event in 2009-10, is the highest- ranked player in the field. Woods and Johnson are joined in the field by Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy. However, it is D.A. Points that is the defending champion. Points fired a seven-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula in the opening round and closed with a five-under 67 en route to a two-stroke win over Hunter Mahan. Points not only won the professional title, but he teamed with Bill Murray to win the Pro-Am crown as well. For Murray, it marked the first time he won the Pro-Am in 20 years of competing at this event. The 35-year-old Points has had a solid start to his season as he has made the cut in each of his four events, has three top-12 finishes and ranks 12th on the money list. Woods played on the European Tour two weeks ago and shared the lead entering the final round, but closed with an even-par 72 to share third place behind Robert Rock. In 2000, Woods erased a five-stroke deficit to come from behind and win this title. It was his sixth straight PGA Tour victory. Later that year, Woods would win three of the four majors. Among those three was his dominating 15-stroke victory at the U.S. Open on this same Pebble Beach course. Woods is still searching for his first PGA Tour win since the 2009 BMW Championship. With the amateurs included in the event, the field will play one round apiece at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Spyglass Hill Golf Club before the final round is contested at Pebble Beach. Murray is back to defend his Pro-Am title against a field of celebrities that includes musicians Michael Bolton, Huey Lewis and Darius Rucker; football coaches Jim Harbuagh, Nick Saban and Bob Stoops; as well as a group of athletes that includes Clyde Drexler, Matt Cain, Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo, who will team with Woods in the Pro-Am. Golf Channel will broadcast the first two rounds before CBS takes over on the weekend. The PGA Tour heads to Riviera next week for the Northern Trust Open, where Aaron Baddeley earned a two-stroke win over Vijay Singh last year. EUROPEAN TOUR OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC - Emirates Golf Club, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - The European Tour wraps up its three-week swing through the Persian Gulf region with the Dubai Desert Classic. Spain's Alvaro Quiros enjoyed Dubai, twice last year. He closed with three straight 68s at this event to win by a shot over Anders Hansen and James Kingston. Quiros wasn't done in Dubai though. When the tour returned in December for the season-ending Dubai World Championship, Quiros had four straight sub-par rounds en route to a two-stroke victory over Paul Lawrie. He sealed the win with a 50-foot eagle putt at the last. The Spaniard will have a tough battle on his hands in his title defense as World Nos. 2, 3 and 4 - Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer - are in the field this week. A group of Americans also highlights the field as Champions Tour stalwarts Fred Couples and Mark O'Meara will be joined at Emirates Golf Club by Nicholas Thompson, Peter Uihlein and John Daly, who took fourth place last week behind Paul Lawrie. Golf Channel will have early morning coverage of all four rounds. The tour shifts to India next week, where local favorite S.S.P. Chowrasia closed with back-to-back 67s to win the Avantha Masters by a shot over Robert Coles. LPGA TOUR ISPS HANDA WOMEN'S AUSTRALIAN OPEN - Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Victoria, Australia - The Women's Australian Open joins the LPGA Tour schedule this year for the first time. The event has been around since 1974, but was only played 20 times in those 37 years. Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng won this title each of the last two years. Last year, she rolled to a seven-stroke win over three players. The event will be played on the par-73 Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the first time. Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds. The LPGA continues its three-event Asia swing next week with the Honda LPGA Thailand, where Tseng cruised to a five-stroke win over Michelle Wie. CHAMPIONS TOUR ALLIANZ CHAMPIONSHIP - The Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton, Florida - The Champions Tour returns after a two-week break with the first of two events in Florida. Tom Lehman back-to-back 69s win last year's Allianz Championship by a single stroke over Jeff Sluman and Rod Spittle. Lehman needed a birdie on the final hole to win for the third time on the Champions Tour. The 1996 British Open champion went on to win two more events en route to being named the tour's Player of the Year. Lehman, Sluman and Spittle are all in the field this week at the Old Course at Broken Sound, which has hosted the event all five years of its existence. Golf Channel has tape-delayed coverage all week. The Champions Tour moves to Naples next week for the ACE Group Classic. Bernhard Langer shot 66 in the final two rounds to cruise to a four-stroke win over Fred Funk.
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Online Sportsbook Football BettingColts give the ‘D’ its dueThe Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain. They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities. "They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure." Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line. New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest. Not so sound on the ground If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU. Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com “We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star. Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground. Brees says bring it on Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites. Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship. Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game. "I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time." SportsBooks ready for a shootout Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses. “This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.” New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts. The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game. “Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.” |
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