Thompson leads Price Cutter by one
Golf Betting Lines
08/13/2010 - Springfield, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Thompson carded a five-under 67 Friday to finish atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the Price Cutter Charity Championship.
Thompson, who shared the first-round lead with Brandt Jobe, completed 36 holes at 14-under-par 130. He was two strokes off the tournament's 36-hole scoring record.
Tommy Biershenk fired a seven-under 65 to join Hunter Haas at minus-13. Haas posted a 66 to move from a share of fifth to a tie for second.
Jason Schultz (66), Justin Hicks (68) and Jonas Blixt (65) are tied for fourth at 12-under-par 132.
Thompson got his round going with a birdie on the par-four second. He parred the next four holes before posting his second birdie of the day at the seventh.
Around the turn, Thompson jumped out in front with four birdies in a six-hole span. He started that run at the par-five 11th and came back with a birdie on the 13th.
Thompson, a two-time winner in the 2007 season, dropped in back-to-back birdies from the 15th at Highland Springs Country Club to move to 15-under. However, he stumbled to a bogey at the last, after his second shot found a water hazard, to cut his lead to one stroke.
"Unfortunately, I hit it in the water on the last hole," said Thompson, who shared the first- and second-round lead two weeks ago at the Cox Classic. "I hit a great drive there, the best drive I've had in two days. I only had 215 yards and I hit it in the water, so that is really the only mistake I've made in two days with my swing."
Biershenk birdied the first and third before dropping a stroke on the fourth. He came back with four birdies in the next six holes to jump to 11-under.
After a birdie on 13, Biershenk tripped to another bogey on the 14th. He birdied the final two holes to grab a share of second.
"I like my chances this weekend," said Biershenk. "The reason I say that is I'm hitting it well. I'm very confident in my ball-striking right now and my putting. Everything is kind of falling together."
Haas opened with a birdie at the first, but he gave that stroke back as he faltered to a bogey at No. 4. Haas recovered that lost shot with a birdie on the eighth.
The 33-year-old poured in three consecutive birdies from the 11th to climb to 11-under. Haas birdied 16 and 18 to join Biershenk in second.
Jamie Lovemark, the tour's leading money winner, carded a five-under 67 and is tied for seventh at 11-under-par 133. He was joined there by Brian Smock (67) and Scott Gutschewski (67).
Jobe managed a one-under 71 and slid into a share of 10th at 10-under-par 134.
NOTES: The cut line fell at five-under-par 139 with 67 players moving on to the weekend...Ben Bates made the cut for the 225th time, a Nationwide Tour record...Gary Woodland and Chad Ginn are the only bogey-free players through two rounds.
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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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