11/19/2008 - West Palm Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The 2009 LPGA Tour schedule was released by tour commissioner Carolyn F. Bivens on Wednesday and there is plenty of change coming next year.
The tour released the dates of 31 official events, down from 34 in 2008, and the Solheim Cup. Several unofficial events will have their dates released at a later time. Players will compete for nearly $55 million in official money in '09.
The season again begins in Hawaii with the SBS Open at Turtle Bay, which starts February 12. The first change on the schedule is that the second Hawaii event to open the season, the Fields Open, is off the docket.
In all, there are three events that won't return in 2009 and the Ginn company will only sponsor one event as opposed to two in '08. Also off the schedule are the SemGroup Championship and the ADT Championship.
Two weeks after the SBS Open, the tour heads to Asia for two events. First up is the Honda LPGA Thailand. That event was on the 2007 schedule, but was not played in 2008.
The following week is the HSBC Champions, which again will take place in Singapore. The tour returns to North America, but stops in Mexico for the MasterCard Classic before returning to the Unites States with the Phoenix LPGA International.
That event was sponsored for the last several years by Safeway, but they will only run the event in Portland in 2009.
The season's first major, the Kraft Nabisco Championship, will take place April 2-5. Women's world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa will defend her title at Mission Hills.
The next two events, the Ginn Open and the Corona Championship, exchanged slots on the calendar and there is a week off between the Kraft Nabisco and the Ginn in '09.
The first East Coast swing starts May 7 with the Michelob ULTRA Open at Kingsmill. After heading to Clifton, New Jersey and Corning, New York, the tour shifts to Illinois for the LPGA State Farm Classic, which will be played six weeks earlier than in 2007.
That will be followed by the McDonald's LPGA Championship, the season's second major. Yani Tseng won that crown in 2008.
After a week off, the tour returns to New York for the Wegmans LPGA, which will be contested three weeks earlier than this year. The Jamie Farr Owens Corning Classic follows and will be played a week earlier than 2008.
The U.S. Women's Open is slated for July 9-12, two weeks later than this year. Inbee Park will defend her title on The Old Course at Saucon Valley in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.
Following a two-week break, the tour heads to Europe for the Evian Masters and the Women's British Open. Ji-Yai Shin will defend her Women's British Open crown at Royal Lytham & St. Annes.
Two weeks later, 12 of the top American golfers will face 12 of Europe's best in the Solheim Cup at Rich Harvest Farms in Illinois.
The following seven events are all in different places on the schedule. The week after the Solheim Cup is the Safeway Classic, which is a week later than this year.
The Canadian Women's Open follows the Safeway and is being contested three weeks later than in '08. The tour heads to Arkansas for the P&G Beauty NW Arkansas Championship, which was pushed back two months from '08.
The Samsung World Championship and Longs Drugs Challenge were both pushed up two weeks from this year, while the Navistar LPGA Classic will be played a week later than this year in Alabama.
The tour remains in Alabama for a second straight week with the Bell Micro LPGA Classic, which will be contested a month later than in '08.
A week later, the tour moves back to Hawaii for the Kapalua Classic before heading to Asia for three more events.
The final two events will be the Lorena Ochoa Invitational and the Stanford Financial Tour Championship.
Stanford Financial, which sponsored the Stanford International Pro-Am the last few years, takes over as sponsor of the Tour Championship. That event shifts from Florida to Houston, Texas.
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tonight against the Southwest Division-rival Houston Rockets.
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Bulls continue a torturous seven-game road
swing Wednesday when they face the Portland Trail Blazers at the Rose Garden.
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Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NCAA Division I men's basketball
committee has announced five selections as hosts for the Final Four starting
in 2012 and running through 2016.
New Orleans, Atlanta, Dallas-Arlington-Fort Wo
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New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco 49ers quarterback Shaun Hill,
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season.
The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.
While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.
For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.
1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.
2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.
How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.
Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.
Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.
How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).
Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.
Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.
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