PGA Championship Third Round News & Notes

Golf Betting Lines

08/09/2008 - Bloomfield Hills Township, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When the horn sounded on Thursday evening to end play for darkness, three players shared the lead.

Robert Karlsson, with three top-10s in this year's majors, and Jeev Milkha Singh of India were in the clubhouse at two-under-par 68. One player had yet to finish his round.

That was Andres Romero.

Unfortunately, the Argentine bogeyed No. 18 to fall out of the lead.

It got a lot worse for Romero in the second round.

He tallied a birdied, three bogeys, a double-bogey at 18 and a quadruple-bogey eight on the 16th. Romero shot an eight-over 78 and fell down to plus-seven for the championship, which was one shot within the cut line.

"I couldn't come back after that eight. I made a double bogey at the 18th because I was mad," Romero acknowledged through an interpreter on Saturday. "And then I was almost fighting for the lead in the tournament and suddenly I was trying to make the cut, so I was going mad the whole round the rest of the round."

Romero atoned for the hideous second round with a five-under 65 on Saturday. That is the lowest score of the championship and got Romero back into the mix at plus-two, just three off the lead.

"I played an excellent round. Almost perfect," Romero said through his interpreter. "I can't believe it, I have a chance for tomorrow and, well, I have to wait, but it's great to be here."

Romero burst on to the golf scene with an amazing run Sunday at the 2007 British Open Championship. He held the lead, but closed with a double-bogey, then a bogey at 18 to finish one shot outside the playoff between eventual champion Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia.

Romero parlayed his good run at the Open Championship into a victory the following week in Germany. He won the Deutsche Bank Players Championship on the European Tour by three, then posted a top 10 the very next week at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

"I learned a lot after that week," said Romero, referring to the 2007 British Open. "That helped me a lot not to, I don't know, not to go down after that loss. It was a very good experience after The Open."

SO WHO'S READY FOR 36?

When people debate whether golfers are athletes, focus on Sunday's final round. At least six players will play 36 holes on what could be a truly soggy track.

Factor in this is for a major championship and Sunday sets up as a long day.

"It's going to be like college again, playing 36 in one day," said the second- round leader, J.B. Holmes. "It happens, and everybody else is going to do it, too, so just have to go out there and deal with it."

Not everyone is going to be doing it.

Romero is three off the lead and can wait until the final round before he goes out for the first time Sunday. Romero's tee time could be in the 2:00 p.m. (et) neighborhood as opposed to the 7:40 a.m. time Holmes and Charlie Wi have Sunday morning.

"Obviously the guys that finished today that played well will have a nice relaxing morning while we're out there grinding," said 2003 British Open champion Ben Curtis, who is one off the lead heading into Sunday morning. "It's going to be tough for us, but it can be done."

Curtis feels that playing 36 in one day could actually be an advantage. If someone has a sensational third round Sunday morning, that can be carried over to the final round.

Essentially, you could have one big day and win the PGA Championship.

"I'm a believer in big momentum in one day, not necessarily for three or four days at a time," said Curtis.

* Prior to Mickelson's win in 2005, the last Monday finish was Bob Tway's victory in 1986 at Inverness. The only other in the stroke-play era of the PGA Championship was Dave Stockton's 1976 win at Congressional.

* Romero's 65 in Saturday's third round matched the course record at Oakland Hills. He is the ninth player to shoot 65 at this venue and first since Tom Lehman in the third round of the 1996 U.S. Open.

* Sunday's forecast calls for some rain.

* The winner of the last 12 PGA Championships has come from the final group in the final round. Steve Elkington was tied for fifth heading into the final round in 1995 and was the last player to win without being in the final group in round four.

* All three major winners this year have come from the final pairing on Sunday.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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Super Bowl 2009 Betting

Super Bowl 2009 Betting propositions

Underdog bettors love the Super Bowl and, history suggests, the underdogs love them back. And the big dogs bite harder.

Even so, there is a warning in store for Super Bowl gamblers who must love dogs: The Arizona Cardinals Super Bowl betting lines might not be enough of a Cinderella to make it worth your while.

Although the Cardinals were widely panned as one of the worst division winners and least playoff-worthy teams in recent memory, their trip to Super Bowl XLIII Jan. 31 in Tampa against the Pittsburgh Steelers Super Bowl betting lines comes with a little more respect from the oddsmakers than you might imagine. They are a 7-point underdog at most sports books.

If you count yourself among those who covet the big dog in the big game, this isn’t exactly great news. You should have been hoping for more points. This is because the facts show that the bigger the dog, the better the bet in the Super Bowl.

Case in point: Over the past 13 seasons, double-figure underdogs in the Super Bowl are 4-0-1 ATS and have won the past three outright. In fact, the last double-digit chalk to do the deed for bettors was the 1995 San Francisco 49ers, who managed to beat the astounding 19-point spot afforded backers of the San Diego Chargers in the 49-26 romp in Super Bowl XXIX.

By contrast, 7-point favorites are 2-1-1 ATS in the same span, the last such contest resulting a cover grinded out by the Colts in their 29-17 win over the Bears two seasons ago in Super Bowl XLI.

In 2004, the Patriots failed to cover the number in their 32-29 triumph over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl props while the Rams and Titans gave everyone a refund in 2000 after the Rams posted a 23-16 win as a seven-point favorite.

So while Arizona’s run has included impressive upsets as a 10-point road underdog to the Carolina Panthers and Sunday’s 32-25 win in the NFC championship game to the 4-point favored Philadelphia Eagles, their long-shot story lacks a bit of the David vs. Goliath storyline of past Super Bowl underdogs.

While the seven-point spread represents a significant gap in the perception of strength between the two teams, it is far from monumental. For example, last season the Giants were the wild-card afterthought turned road-warrior buzzsaw, with stunning wins over the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers to earn their place in the Super Bowl.

There, they played spoiler to New England’s bid to become the first 19-0 team in NFL history and cemented their place in sports betting lore with a 17-14 win as a 12.5-point underdog.

In other words, the Cardinals appear to have their work cut out for them as a mid-range underdog. But in homage to the spread beaters who have come before them, here is a brief look back at recent colossal upsets in the Super Bowl:

SB XLII -- 2008 -- New York Giants 17, New England Patriots 14 (Giants +12.5) – Eli Manning’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress in the final minute clinched the historic upset for the Giants, who used a masterful defensive plan to slow down Tom Brady and the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

XXXVI -- 2002 -- Patriots 20, Rams 17 (Patriots +14) – This was the coming out party for the aforementioned Brady, who went from obscure sixth-round draft pick to Super Bowl hero in one fell swoop. He led the game-winning drive in the final minute – eschewing analyst John Madden’s advice to take a knee and play for overtime – leading to Adam Vinatieri’s memorable 48-yard field goal that split the uprights as time expired.

XXXII 1998 Broncos 31, Packers 24 (Denver +12) – The first of John Elway’s two consecutive Super Bowl titles to put an end to his Hall of Fame career was an upset for the ages. The Broncos used the determination of Elway and a 157-yard, three-touchdown performance from Terrell Davis to turn back Brett Favre and the heavily favored Packers.

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