Lehman, Weibring share Tradition lead
Golf Betting Lines
08/19/2010 - Sunriver, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Lehman birdied the 18th hole Thursday to join D.A. Weibring atop the leaderboard after the first round of the Tradition.
Lehman and Weibring posted five-under 67s to share a one-stroke lead over five players at the season's fourth major.
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin is one of those players that carded a 68 Thursday. He stands alongside Fulton Allem, 2008 champion Fred Funk, Bob Gilder and two-time champion Gil Morgan at the Crosswater Club at Sunriver Resort.
Lehman parred his first five holes before making birdie on the par-five sixth. After two more pars, he birdied the ninth to turn in minus-two.
The 2006 U.S. Ryder Cup captain caught fire on the back nine. He converted three straight birdie efforts from the 12th to join Weibring atop the leaderboard at minus-five.
Lehman, who was playing in the final group, stumbled to a bogey on the 16th to fall one back. He remained there thanks to a clutch par putt at No. 17. At the last, Lehman rolled in a 20-footer for birdie and a share of the lead.
"I drove the ball beautifully and rolled the ball well," Lehman said in a television interview after his round. "The course is here for the taking. The fairways are pretty soft, the greens are pretty soft, the speed is just about right and the weather is ideal."
Weibring was among the leaders most of the round. He birdied the third from about 15 feet out, then ran off three straight birdies from the fifth to grab a share of the lead at minus-four.
The five-time winner on the Champions Tour parred six consecutive holes from the eighth.
Weibring fell out of the lead when he faltered to a bogey on the 14th. He fought back late in his round. Weibring birdied the final two holes to be the first player in at five-under.
"I got off to a pretty good start. I had a couple pretty good chances at birdie early, but didn't get them in at one and two," Weibring said. "You don't normally plan on making birdie at 17 and 18. The momentum from shooting four-under on the front nine carried me into that back nine."
There is a logjam of 13 players tied for eighth place at three-under 69. Among that group is Mark Calcavecchia, Hale Irwin and Bernhard Langer, who has won the last two Champions Tour majors.
Langer played the front nine in even-par with two bogeys and a pair of birdies. On the back nine, he birdied the 10th, 15th, and 16th to finish two back.
The German is trying to join Gary Player as the only two men in Champions Tour history to win three straight major championships. Player did so in 1987-88 when he won the last two majors in '87 and the first one in '88.
If Irwin can rally for the win, he would join Jack Nicklaus as the only two men to win four different majors on the Champions Tour.
NOTES: Lehman owns the first-round lead for the first time in an individual event on the Champions Tour...He did lead the 2009 Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf after one round, and he went on to victory that week with Langer, his playing partner...Weibring shares the first-round lead for the fifth time in his Champions Tour career...He also shared the lead at this event in 2005 and finished fifth that week...Paul Azinger was disqualified before the event because he missed Tuesday's pro-am.
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Betting Football
NFL Football Betting OnlineIs there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?
I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.
Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.
There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.
Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.
For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.
A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.
The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.
Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.
So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.
Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.
“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.
Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.
“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.
It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.
Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.
The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.
“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.
“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”
Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.
The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.
“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”
Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?
“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”
Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.