This Week in Golf - August 2nd through August 5th

Golf Betting Lines

07/30/2007 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LPGA TOUR - WOMEN'S BRITISH OPEN, Old Course at St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland - When Sherri Steinhauer won the Women's British Open last year, it took more than a couple of sentences to explain what she had accomplished.

Steinhauer capitalized on a Saturday 66 to win by three shots over Sophie Gustafson and Cristie Kerr at seven-under 281, even after closing with a pedestrian 72 in the final round at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.

It was her second major championship and first since the 1992 du Maurier Classic, the event that was replaced as a major by the Women's British Open in 2001.

Of course, Steinhauer had also won back-to-back Women's British Opens in 1998-99 before it was a major, so she was no stranger to holding that title -- even if she was a little surprised to be holding it again.

"I feel like I'm living in a dream. I just absolutely am stunned," she said afterward.

Steinhauer didn't have far to travel for her title defense this week. She was in France along with the other top pros for the Evian Masters last week, where Natalie Gulbis claimed her long-awaited first victory.

Annika Sorenstam tied for sixth place in France, her first top-10 finish since March. At last year's Women's British Open, she fumbled her way to a 79 in the final round and finished 14 shots behind Steinhauer.

Sorenstam has just one British Open win, in 2003 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes. Plenty of players will be looking for their first major this weekend, including world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa.

This is the first time the Women's British Open will be played at the Old Course at St. Andrews, the site of so many memorable men's British Opens.

TNT will have coverage for two hours on Thursday and Friday, beginning at 10:00 a.m. (et). ABC will broadcast afternoon coverage on the weekend.

The LPGA Tour is off for a week following the British Open, returning Aug. 16 for the CN Canadian Women's Open, which was won by Cristie Kerr last season.

WORLD GOLF CHAMPIONSHIPS

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, Firestone Country Club (South Course), Akron, Ohio - Of course we are not allowed to bet on golf, but that won't keep us from making recommendations to those who feel so inclined (so long as they bet where it's legal, you understand).

Put a sawbuck on Tiger Woods to win this week. You may only make enough to buy a couple of beers, but easily-earned beer is good beer.

Woods has won the Bridgestone Invitational five of the eight times it has been played since 1999, including last year's playoff victory over 2004 winner Stewart Cink, which came in the middle of Woods' long winning streak.

He has, of course, occasionally allowed others to walk away with this title. Cink's win in '04 marked the third straight year Woods failed to win (Craig Parry and Darren Clarke were victorious in '02 and '03).

His dominance in this event is made all the more impressive considering who it comes against: yearly, the best players in the world line up to play. This year's field is no different. All the usual suspects will be on hand, including each of the 2007 major winners so far (Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera and Padraig Harrington).

Keep an eye on Phil Mickelson, who has missed three of four cuts since withdrawing from the Memorial with a left wrist injury. The PGA Championship is next week, and Mickelson is emerging as an early sleeper pick in some circles.

We know: Mickelson a sleeper? He is when he's playing this inconsistently.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of the first two rounds of the Bridgestone from 2-6 p.m. (et) on Thursday and Friday. CBS will broadcast for five hours on both weekend days beginning at 1 p.m. (et).

This is the third and final WGC event of the season. Henrik Stenson and Woods won the previous two.

Woods will defend his title at the PGA Championship next week. There are no competing events on the PGA or European Tours while the players are at Southern Hills.

PGA TOUR

RENO-TAHOE OPEN, Montreux Golf and Country Club, Reno, Nevada - The competing event this week on the PGA Tour is the Reno-Tahoe Open, where Will MacKenzie birdied the 72nd hole last year for his first win.

The birdie put MacKenzie at 20-under 268, one shot shy of a tournament record and a stroke better than Bob Estes.

Only three of the previous seven champions will be in the field this week, including MacKenzie. Some of them -- like two-time winner Vaughn Taylor and Scott Verplank -- will be playing at the Bridgestone Invitational.

Tadd Fujikawa will also be on hand, playing as a professional. Fujikawa, you might recall, became the second-youngest player to make a PGA Tour cut at the Sony Open in January.

It came just four days after his 16th birthday.

The Golf Channel will have exclusive coverage of all four rounds, beginning at 6:30 p.m. (et) on Thursday and Friday and at 9:00 p.m. (et) on both weekend days. It will air replays of every round early in the morning.

EUROPEAN TOUR

THE RUSSIAN OPEN GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP, Le Meridien Moscow Country Club, Moscow Russia - It's unlikely anyone noticed -- as we wrote in our recap a year ago -- but no one has ever played better at the Russian Open than Alejandro Canizares.

Canizares rolled to a four-shot win at Le Meridien last year, posting four consecutive rounds of 67 or better to set a tournament scoring record and claim his first European Tour win.

The son of four-time Ryder Cup player Jose Maria Canizares, he became the quickest affiliate member to win on the European Tour, claiming title No. 1 in just his third start and surpassing better-known previous record holders Sergio Garcia and Graeme McDowell.

This obscure European Tour stop played opposite the PGA Championship last year. It will compete with the Bridgestone Invitational this week.

One thing to watch: the professional debut of U.S. Amateur champion Richie Ramsay of Scotland. His win at the Amateur was the first for a British subject since 1911.

The Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds, beginning at 8:30 a.m. (et) on the first two days and at 9:30 a.m. (et) on both weekend days.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

3M CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Twin Cities, Blaine, Minnesota - David Edwards closed with a 67 last year to claim his first win on the Champions Tour -- and first victory of any kind since the 1993 Heritage Golf Classic on the PGA Tour.

Hale Irwin, the winningest player in Champions Tour history, has also been the most successful golfer at this tournament. He has won it three times, but not since 2002.

Tom Watson is set to lead this week's field following his win at the Senior British Open on Sunday.

A very busy Golf Channel will have live coverage of all three rounds and will broadcast replays of each day in the evening.

The Champions Tour is off next week, returning Aug. 16th for the next major championship, the JELD-WEN Tradition. Eduardo Romero won last year's JELD-WEN in a playoff over Lonnie Nielsen.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

WICHITA OPEN, Crestview Country Club, Wichita, Kansas - Fresh off the yearly shootout known as the Cox Classic, the Nationwide Tour remains in the Midwest this week for the Wichita Open.

Last year, Kevin Johnson collected his fourth Nationwide Tour title and first since 2000. He won three times from 1997-2000, but had made just three cuts in 13 previous starts prior to his latest win.

The 40-year-old Johnson will be in the field this week, looking to become the first repeat champion in Nationwide Tour history.

Next week is the Northeast Pennsylvania Classic, where Craig Bowden won in a playoff last year. There is no television coverage for this week.

DURAMED FUTURES TOUR

USI CHAMPIONSHIP, Beaver Meadow Golf Course, Concord, New Hampshire - This is the first of five tournaments remaining before the Duramed Futures Tour 2008 Qualifying Tournament in November.

Last year, Charlotte Mayorkas claimed her second Futures Tour win (it was called the Laconia Savings Bank Golf Classic) on her way to becoming a rookie on the LPGA Tour.

Next week's event is the Betty Puskar Golf Classic, where Kristy McPherson won last year.

Mypokerface Golf Betting News

<< Gulbis' win reflected in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Natalie Gulbis finally wrapped up her first LPGA Tour win on Sunday by beating Jeong Jang in a playoff at the Evian Masters. It helped Gulbis, formerly a weekly top-20 presence in the world ranki

<< Furyk back to No. 2 in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jim Furyk moved back to No. 2 in the latest Official World Golf Ranking following his win Sunday at the Canadian Open. Furyk's last two wins have come at the Canadian Open. He moved past Phi

<< Beckham to sit again
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder David Beckham is not expected to play in the team's SuperLiga match against FC Dallas on Tuesday due to his nagging ankle injury. Beckham made his anticipated debut with th

<< Phillies acquire RHP Lohse from Cincinnati
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies acquired right-hander Kyle Lohse from the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, in exchange for minor league pitcher Matt Maloney. Lohse went 6-12 with a 4.58 ERA in 21 starts for the Reds th

<< Hall of Fame coach Bill Walsh dies
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Hall of Fame football coach Bill Walsh, the architect of the great San Francisco 49ers teams of the 1980s, has died after a long battle with leukemia. He was 75 years old. The 49ers issued a statem

Volandri, Almagro fall in Sopot >>
Sopot, Poland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Fourth-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri and sixth-seeded Spaniard Nicolas Almagro came up first-round losers Monday at the clay-court Orange Prokom Open. Polish wild card Michal Przysiezny knocked out Vol

Ballouchy, Garcia, Onalfo disciplined by MLS >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major League Soccer Disciplinary Committee fined Colorado Rapids midfielder Mehdi Ballouchy $1,000 and suspended him two games for violent conduct and Kansas City Wizards coach Curt Onalfo and defende

Oklahoma Cavalry (CBA) >>
Named Otis Birdsong president and general manager.

Stars F Miettinen awarded $885,000 contract >>
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars announced that right wing Antti Miettinen has been awarded a one-year, $885,000 contract by a Toronto arbitrator. In 74 games last year for the Stars, Miettinen recorded 11 goals

Patriots place CB Scott on IR >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots placed cornerback Chad Scott on the injured reserve list Monday with a left knee injury suffered on the opening day of training camp. While in coverage during a team drill on Frida

Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.