Funk among leaders in South Korea

Golf Betting Lines

09/10/2010 - Songdo, South Korea (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tradition winner Fred Funk, Michael Allen and Jay Don Blake each posted rounds of three-under 69 on Friday to share the opening-round lead of the Posco E&C Songdo Championship.

This was the Champions Tour's first trip to Asia and the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea was the big winner. In addition to the three co-leaders, only John Cook and Sandy Lyle, who share fourth at two-under 70, and Sandy Lyle, who shot a 71 on Friday, broke par.

The field averaged a score of 74.428 in the first round, which was the fourth- highest average for an opening round. The three ranked higher were all major championships.

Two inches of rain fell since early Thursday night and the start of play was delayed for almost an hour and 45 minutes on Friday due to the wet conditions. The round was contested under lift, clean and place rules.

"The conditions were remarkably good with all of the rain," said Funk.

The Tradition winner started off well with a very long birdie putt at the second and a two-putt birdie at the par-five third. Funk followed with a pair of nice par saves at four and five, but dropped a shot at the par-three eighth when his five-iron came up short.

Funk wedged his approach to 15 feet at the ninth and poured in the birdie putt. He made another nice par save after the turn, but had a four-foot look at birdie at No. 11. Funk's putt stayed above ground and he stayed at two- under par.

Funk made some more great par saves on the back nine, including a nine-footer at the par-five 15th. He sank a 15-foot birdie putt at the 17th to join the lead at minus-three and he had a chance for first on his own, but his six-foot birdie try at the last missed the hole.

"I played solid," said Funk, who won the season's fourth major championship last month. "Hit a lot of good shots, especially on the difficult holes. Overall, really pleased."

Allen started on the 10th tee and flew out of the gate with four front-nine birdies, including a chip-in at the 10th. He fell to three-under par after a missed three-foot par putt at No. 2, but got back into sole possession of the leader with a 30-footer for birdie at eight.

Allen fell back into a tie for first when he missed a six-foot par save at his last hole.

Blake also began on the back nine Friday and notched two birdies. He bogeyed the first, but rattled off back-to-back five-foot birdie putts at the second and third holes to reach three-under par.

Blake missed a four-foot par save at the sixth, but an eight-foot birdie putt at the ninth earned him a share of the lead.

"It was a good to finish with a birdie at No. 9," said Blake. "Because of the rain, the course played very long today. Conditions were difficult, but fairways weren't that wet. Hit a lot of good shots."

Olin Browne, Nam-Sin Park, Denis Watson and Joe Ozaki share seventh place at even-par 72.

NOTES: Champions Tour leading money winner Bernhard Langer managed a one-over 73 on Friday and shares 11th place...Due to more rain in the forecast, players will once again go off split tees in threesomes for the second round.

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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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.

Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds

Super Bowl XLIII, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Super Bowl XLIII is now set, the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet each other on February 1st in Tampa's Raymond James Stadium to battle it out for the coveted Lombardi Trophy. The game kicks off at 6:00pm ET on NBC with announcers Al Michaels and John Madden covering the on-field action. Super Bowl XLIII betting odds at online bookmaker MySportsbook.com have the Steelers listed as an early -6.5 against the spread favorite.Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds

Pittsburgh earned their passage to the big game by beating their division rival, the Baltimore Ravens, 23-14 in yesterday's AFC Championship Game. The Steelers jumped on Baltimore early, building a 13-0 first half lead, and never let up on their way to a fairly easy win. Although the Ravens did close to within two points in the fourth quarter, it never appeared as if they had enough offense to pull off the upset.

The Steelers dominating defense held Baltimore to a total of 198 yards while allowing them to convert just three third downs in 13 attempts. Pittsburgh also forced quarterback Joe Flacco into three interceptions, one of which safety Troy Polamalu returned fourty yards for a touchdown.

The Cardinals, by far the playoff team with the longest odds to reach Super Bowl XLIII, did so yesterday with a 32-25 upset of the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFC Championship. Arizona charged out of the gates and built a 24-6 halftime lead that had the Eagles venerable defense reeling. Quarterback Kurt Warner and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald did most of the damage, connecting on three first half touchdowns.

Arizona, however, could not sustain their momentum and the Eagles took a 25-24 with 10:45 left to play in the fourth. The Cardinals, with the franchise's first Super Bowl appearance hanging in the balance, mounted a fourteen play, 72 yard touchdown drive that consumed 7:52 off the clock. Warner hit running back Tim Hightower on a short screen for the go-ahead, game clinching score that will forever live in Cardinal infamy.

MySportsbook.com's Super Bowl XLIII Betting Odds:

Pittsburgh Steelers -6.5 (-110), Over 46.5 (-110), -260 (Money line)

Arizona Cardinals +6.5 (-110), Under 46.5 (-110), +220 (Money line)

Matt Foust won both of his conference championship plays yesterday and he is ready to serve up plenty of Super Bowl action. Each individual play costs $15.00, however, MySportsbook.com recommends purchasing Matt's NFL Playoff Package which includes all of Matt's Super Bowl props and picks from just $45.00.

Get free Super Bowl XLIII Betting from top rated online sportsbook MySportsbook.com. Mysportsbook.com online Super Bowl betting with credit cards