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01/18/2007 - Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Phillip Archer fired a nine-under 63 on Thursday to take a three-shot lead after one round at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.
Behind him sit some of the best players in the field.
Retief Goosen, Henrik Stenson and Nick Dougherty shot six-under 66 and are tied for second place at Abu Dhabi Golf Club -- all having posted bogey-free rounds, but none matching the leader's performance.
One week after missing the cut in South Africa, Archer collected 10 birdies with just one bogey and strung together three consecutive birdies twice during the round.
Archer's 63 was one shot off the 18-hole tournament record set by Stenson in the third round last year, and his second-best score ever on the European Tour.
He made a name for himself with his best score.
Last year, Archer shot a nine-under 60 in the first round of the Wales Open, missing a six-foot putt at the last hole for golf's magical milestone. It was his only other 18-hole lead on the European Tour (he finished fifth).
"When I qualified for the U.S. Open last year, a lot of people in the crowd called me Mr. 60," Archer recalled. "When I went to South Africa I met a few people who would hear my name and say, 'Oh, 60, I watched that.'"
Though it came on a par-69 course, Archer's brush with history allows him to put rounds like the one he had Thursday into perspective.
"I came really close, yet in the papers the next day it was as if I had done something wrong," Archer said. "I couldn't get my head round that. I just tried to take the positives from it."
If Goosen had struck the ball any better Thursday, he might be right there alongside Archer. The South African's putting was in order -- he needed just 21 -- but little else seemed to be working.
"I had a month without any golf, apart from the odd round, and the swing doesn't feel settled," Goosen admitted. "But hopefully the rust will fall away over the weekend."
Stenson, who parlayed his 62 into a second place finish behind Chris DiMarco last year, opened with six birdies Thursday. But his round was almost over before it began when he collided with a truck on the way to the course.
"I scratched my car and ended up in the sand off the road," said Stenson, who only arrived 45 minutes before his tee time. "The guy didn't speak English...and I had to leave the scene without waiting for the police. I didn't have many swings on the range, so 66 was a good start after everything that happened."
Dougherty, playing in a threesome with Archer, was surprised to find himself so far back after a flawless round.
"I didn't expect to be three shots behind one of my playing partners after that," Dougherty said. "He's a great guy with a really solid game, and you wonder where he's been up until now. You watch him play and it's top drawer stuff. He's as good as any of the other guys."
Paul Lawrie, Richard Green and Gary Emerson are tied for fifth place at five- under 67 -- one shot ahead of 10 players who are knotted at 68.
DiMarco began his title defense with a three-under 69 and shares 18th place with seven others.
<< Clippers edge shorthanded Warriors
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Elton Brand posted 27 points and 11
rebounds and the Los Angeles Clippers wrapped up a home-and-home set against
the shorthanded Golden State Warriors with a 115-109 victory at the Staples
Center.
<< Blazers pound road-weary Cavs
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Randolph scored 26 points and pulled down
12 rebounds, as the Portland Trail Blazers rolled to a 94-76 victory over the
road-weary Cleveland Cavaliers.
Brandon Roy added 19 points and 10 rebounds for the
<< Suns rally past Rockets, stretch winning streak to 11
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Nash played catalyst again for Phoenix
with 21 points and 14 assists, as the Suns stretched their winning streak to
11 games by rallying from a 15-point deficit in the second quarter for a
100-91
<< Bryant powers Lakers past Spurs
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kobe Bryant scored a game-high 34 points,
dished out eight assists and pulled down six rebounds to lead the Los Angeles
Lakers over the San Antonio Spurs, 100-96, at the At&T Center.
Bryant finished 12-
Wolf Pack on the hunt against Bulldogs >>
Reno, NV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Off to the best start in school history, the
15th-ranked Nevada Wolf Pack try to stay on top of the rest of the Western
Athletic Conference as they welcome the Fresno State Bulldogs to the Lawlor
Events
Bruins and Sun Devils meet in Pac-10 play >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The third-ranked UCLA Bruins are heavily
favored in tonight's Pac-10 Conference matchup with the struggling Arizona
State Sun Devils.
Arizona State has lost its last seven games and is off to
Streaking Ducks host Cardinal >>
Eugene, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The ninth-ranked Oregon Ducks are an explosive
scoring team, and they will attempt to cruise past the Stanford Cardinal
in Pac-10 Conference action.
Three straight victories have enabled the Cardinal to
Blue Devils and Demon Deacons meet up in Durham >>
Durham, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The "Cameron Crazies" will be in full force
tonight as the 14th-ranked Duke Blue Devils play host to the Wake Forest
Demon Deacons in ACC action.
Wake Forest is a respectable 9-7 overall this seaso
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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March Madness odds and printable March Madness brackets
With the field of 64/65 set, MySportsbook.com has the Florida Gators as the 4-1 favorite to successfully defend their National Championship. Men’s Division-1 College Basketball has not seen a team repeat as National Champions since Duke won back to back championships in ’91 & ‘92. After losing three out of four late in the season, the Gators are full of momentum as they won their last four games by an average of 18 points. Not surprisingly, right behind the Gators are the other three top seeds: Kansas 5-1, UNC 6-1, and Ohio State 7-1. Many consider Kansas to be the hottest team in the country, having won 11 straight. With Kansas, it is hard to ignore all of the early exits from the “dance” in recent years. With an impressive ACC Tournament, UNC ensured themselves the other top seed. UNC has about as much talent as any other team in the tournament but with a team that’s best players are primarily freshman and sophomores, could youth be a concern. Behind freshman sensation, Greg Oden, OSU will look to do what their football team failed to do just a few months earlier. OSU seems to have peeked at the right time, as they currently have a 17 game winning streak. Since the tournament field was expanded in 1985, there has never been an instance where all four #1 seeds advanced to the Final Four. It is obvious that each of the top seeds have the talent to make it through to Atlanta. But as everyone knows, when makes the NCAA Tournament so special are all of the spoilers and “Cinderella” stories that knock off the favorites on a daily basis.
Be sure to logon to MySportsbook.com to see check out all of the early lines and “March Madness” props. Also be sure to enter the “$10,000,000 Perfect Bracket Contest”. If someone has the skills to predict every winner, they will be set for life and walk away with $10,000,000. Even if no one can cash in on the Grand Prize, with a $35,000 guaranteed prize pool and a Mazda RX-8 to the first prize winner, Sportsbook.com’s bracket is a must for all “March Madness” fans.
MySportsbook.com’s odds to win the Championship and Regions:
| EAST | National Championship | Region |
| Arkansas | 300-1 | 50-1 |
| Belmont | 1000-1 | |
| Boston College | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Eastern KY | 1000-1 | |
| George Washington | 75-1 | |
| Georgetown | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| Marquette | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Michigan State | 100-1 | 25-1 |
| New Mexico St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| UNC | 6-1 | 6-5 |
| Oral Roberts | 500-1 | |
| Texas | 15-1 | 5-1 |
| Texas Tech | 200-1 | 5-1 |
| USC | 75-1 | 20-1 |
| Vanderbilt | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Washington State | 40-1 | 15-1 |
| WEST | ||
| Duke | 50-1 | 10-1 |
| Florida A&M | 1000-1 | |
| Gonzaga | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Holy Cross | 300-1 | |
| Illinois | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Indiana | 75-1 | 40-1 |
| Kansas | 5-1 | 13-10 |
| Kentucky | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| Niagara | 1000-1 | |
| Pittsburgh | 40-1 | 8-1 |
| Southern Ill. | 50-1 | 12-1 |
| UCLA | 10-1 | 3-2 |
| VCU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Villanova | 100-1 | 40-1 |
| VA Tech | 50-1 | 15-1 |
| Weber St | 1000-1 | |
| Wright St | 1000-1 | 300-1 |
| MIDWEST | ||
| Arizona | 50-1 | 30-1 |
| Butler | 40-1 | 30-1 |
| Davidson | 300-1 | |
| Florida | 4-1 | 4-5 |
| Georgia Tech | 75-1 | 25-1 |
| Jackson State | 1000-1 | |
| Maryland | 30-1 | 6-1 |
| Miami-OH | 300-1 | |
| Notre Dame | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| ODU | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Oregon | 40-1 | 6-1 |
| Purdue | 300-1 | 60-1 |
| Texas A&M CC | 1000-1 | |
| UNLV | 100-1 | 30-1 |
| Winthrop | 500-1 | 100-1 |
| Wisconsin | 15-1 | 7-2 |
| SOUTH | ||
| Albany | 200-1 | |
| BYU | 200-1 | 40-1 |
| Central CT St. | 1000-1 | |
| Creighton | 100-1 | 35-1 |
| Long Beach St. | 500-1 | 200-1 |
| Louisville | 40-1 | 10-1 |
| Memphis | 30-1 | 4-1 |
| Nevada | 75-1 | 35-1 |
| North Texas | 500-1 | |
| Ohio State | 7-1 | 6-5 |
| Penn | 500-1 | |
| Stanford | 200-1 | 50-1 |
| Tennessee | 100-1 | 20-1 |
| Texas A&M | 12-1 | 11-5 |
| Virginia | 75-1 | 18-1 |
| Xavier | 100-1 | 40-1 |
About MySportsbook.com MySportsbook.com is the largest sportsbook and casino on the planet, where millions of adult Americans bet on sports, play poker and enjoy blackjack and other casino games online in a regulated and licensed jurisdiction. Named the "Best US Sports Book" by the industry's top magazine, eGaming Review, MySportsbook.com has been leading the online gaming industry since 1996. Dwarfing its nearest competitors in the US, MySportsbook.com has been the first to achieve every significant industry milestone, from record turnover to active users to number of bets--achieving a peak of fifteen bets per second. As the US online gaming leader, the firm and it's products have been featured on CBS 60 Minutes, CNN, ESPN, Wall Street Journal, Barrons, Financial Times, USA Today and in every major newspaper in the US.
To bet on March Madness games this online sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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