Donald out, Woods survives at Match Play
Golf Betting Lines
02/22/2012 -
Marana, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top overall seed and defending champion Luke
Donald was eliminated Wednesday in the first round of the WGC-Accenture Match
Play Championship.
Donald drew no ordinary No. 64 seed.
Ernie Els, who only made the field thanks to withdrawals by Phil Mickelson and
Paul Casey, trounced Donald, 5 & 4, at the Ritz Carlton Golf Club.
"Obviously playing against Luke, I needed to be on," Els said in a televised
interview. "I knew had to play really well and I did. I kept it in play and
made some big putts in the end."
Donald never trailed en route to victory last year and he never reached the
18th green. He didn't get there on Wednesday, either, but that was due to the
play of his Hall of Fame opponent.
Donald never led in the match and Els built a 2-up lead at the turn. Donald
fought gamely, but never won another hole. Els took the 11th, 12th and 14th
holes to knock off the No. 1 player in the Bobby Jones bracket.
Donald was the only No. 1 seed to lose. Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and last
year's runner-up, Martin Kaymer, were victorious.
Tiger Woods, a three-time champion, holed a gutsy 12-foot par putt to beat
Gonzalo-Fernandez Castano. Woods, seeded No. 5 in the Sam Snead bracket,
didn't have his best game, but hung tough and did better than last year when
he was eliminated in the first round.
"We both made our share of mistakes; there's no doubt about that," said Woods.
"But somehow I was able to move on."
Woods fell 2-down right out of the gate, but built a 1-up lead with wins at
five, seven and eight. Woods stumbled badly with losses at 10 and 11, then
made a tough par save just to halve the 12th and stay 1-down.
Woods squared the match with a birdie at 15 and Fernandez-Castano let one get
away at 16. He had six feet to halve the hole, but missed to give Woods a 1-up
lead.
After pars at 17, Woods' second flew into the back bunker at the last. He had
a tough shot from the trap with little green to work with and did well to get
it 12 feet past the flag.
Fernandez-Castano had a decent look at birdie, but missed and was conceded
par. Woods needed to make his putt to avoid extra holes and did just that.
Woods will meet the fourth seed in the Snead bracket, Nick Watney, who
advanced with a resounding 5 & 4 victory over reigning British Open champion
Darren Clarke.
The top seeds moved on in Woods' part of the Snead bracket. Westwood defeated
Nicolas Colsaerts, 3 & 1, while eighth-ranked Robert Karlsson trounced fellow
Swede Fredrik Jacobson, 6 & 5.
The bottom portion of that bracket featured all upsets. Matteo Manassero, No.
15, eliminated the second seed, Webb Simpson, 3 & 2. Martin Laird knocked off
Alvaro Quiros, 1-up, while Ryo Ishikawa won the 18th to upend last week's
Northern Trust Open winner and third seed, Bill Haas, 1-up. Paul Lawrie, the
11th seed, beat Justin Rose, 1-up.
Kaymer, the highest seed in the Ben Hogan bracket, was steady in his win and
drew David Toms in the second round after Toms, the 2005 winner and eighth
seed this year, topped Rickie Fowler, 1-up.
The rest of that bracket almost totally went in form with higher seeds Steve
Stricker, Louis Oosthuizen, Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson and Hunter Mahan
winning. The only major upset was 14th-seeded Y.E. Yang knocking off No. 3
Graeme McDowell, 2 & 1.
McIlroy, tops in the Gary Player bracket, earned a hard-fought victory over
George Coetzee, 2-up. McIlroy will next meet Anders Hansen, who dusted
Kyung-tae Kim, 5 & 3.
"I felt like I played pretty good," McIlroy said in his televised interview.
"Thankfully I'm through to the second round."
Miguel Angel Jimenez upset fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia, 2 & 1, and "The
Mechanic" next has Keegan Bradley, a playoff loser last week but a 4 & 3
victor over two-time Accenture winner Geoff Ogilvy.
The No. 2 seed in the Player bracket, Jason Day, won the last three holes in
regulation, then the first playoff hole to beat Rafael Cabrera-Bello. Day's
opponent Thursday will be John Senden, the 10th seed, who beat Simon Dyson, 4
& 3.
Masters champion Charl Schwartzel advanced on Wednesday and has a tilt with
Sang-Moon Bae on Thursday after Bae handled 2010 winner Ian Poulter, 4 & 3.
Els will meet Peter Hanson on Thursday after Hanson topped Jason Dufner,
2 & 1.
Brandt Snedeker needed three extra holes to fend off Retief Goosen, setting up
a re-match of the Farmers Insurance Open playoff against Kyle Stanley, who
outlasted K.J. Choi, 2 & 1.
The other winners in the Jones bracket were No. 3 Dustin Johnson, No. 11
Francesco Molinari, 10th seed Mark Wilson and Robert Rock, the 15th seed, who
beat No. 2 Adam Scott.
NOTES: It was the third time the No. 1 overall seed lost in the first
round...There were 15 upsets in the first round, the second-most in tournament
history...The second round is on tap for Thursday, and the third round will be
played Friday. The quarterfinals are Saturday, then the semifinals Sunday
morning, followed by the final and consolation match in the afternoon.
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NFL Football Betting Online
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
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Pacific-10 Conference odds
Teams that should be in: Stanford
Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.
Should be in:
Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.
| Southeastern Conference odds |
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State
It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.
Work left to do:
Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.
Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.
Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.
Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile. |
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