11/17/2008 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LPGA TOUR - ADT CHAMPIONSHIP, Trump International Golf Club, West Palm Beach, Florida - This week's ADT Championship marks the end of a season -- and, more importantly perhaps, the possible end of an era.
Although she has left the door open for a comeback, Annika Sorenstam is still set to retire at the end of the year and this week's event could mark her last appearance on the LPGA Tour.
Sorenstam has won 72 titles on the LPGA Tour, including three this season. The Hall of Fame Swede, who turned 38 last month, has won this tournament four times (1997, 2002, '04, '05).
The LPGA Tour will spend the week looking back at her 15-year career on the circuit while following her final rounds. The dream scenario, of course, would end with Sorenstam challenging for one final win on Sunday.
But she must run a gauntlet of cuts to get there.
The tournament whittles the field of 32 down to just eight players by the final round based on a progressive cut, with those eight players beginning Sunday with a fresh scorecard. The player among the eight finalists who posts the best score on Sunday will win the $1 million first-place prize.
Lorena Ochoa, the world No. 1 and two-time defending Player of the Year, fired a final-round 68 last year to beat Natalie Gulbis by a shot for her first ADT Championship victory.
Sorenstam and Ochoa lead a field of players who qualified based on the LPGA Tour's playoff system, which splits the season into two parts. Fifteen players qualify from each half, and two wild cards are added before the tournament.
The Golf Channel will have coverage of the first three rounds beginning at 2 p.m. (et) each day. NBC will broadcast three hours of coverage for the final round Sunday.
EUROPEAN TOUR
HONG KONG OPEN, Hong Kong Golf Club, Fanling, Hong Kong - This week marks the 50th anniversary of the oldest sporting event in Hong Kong and the second event on the new European Tour season.
The 51st playing of the tournament will take place next November, one week before the 2009 season-ending $10 million Dubai World Championship.
Although the event was first played in 1959, it didn't become part of the European Tour schedule until 2002, the year Jose Maria Olazabal won. Olazabal will be joined in the field this week by fellow major champions Nick Faldo, Bernhard Langer, John Daly, Michael Campbell and Paul Lawrie. Langer won the tournament in 1991, before it was an official European Tour event.
Miguel Angel Jimenez beat K.J. Choi, Robert Karlsson and Thongchai Jaidee by a shot last year to win the title -- his second at the event since 2005. Jose Manuel Lara and Colin Montgomerie, the 2005 and '06 champions will also be on hand this week.
The Golf Channel will have very early morning coverage (et) for all four rounds, and also a re-broadcast later in the morning. Next week is the Australian Masters, where Aaron Baddeley won last year.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
NATIONAL QUALIFYING TOURNAMENT FINALS, TPC Eagle Trace, Coral Springs, Florida - Champions Tour Q-School ends this week with 78 players vying for playing privileges next season.
Last year, former major league pitcher Rick Rhoden shared medalist honors with Thomas E. Jones, with both players earning about $25,000.
The 2007 co-medalists had different levels of success in 2008: Jones finished 19th on the money list with more than $1 million, while Rhoden played in only one event while battling a neck injury.
This year, the qualifying tournament finals return to the TPC at Eagle Trace for the third year in a row. It is the 18th time the event has been played in Florida.
The top 30 players and ties will have a chance to Monday qualify for nine spots in full-field Champions Tour events next season. The top 30 and ties will also receive a portion of the $200,000 prize money.
The tournament begins on Tuesday and ends with the fourth and final round on Friday.
<< FCS weekly honors go to Gowins, Barnes, Parent and Warner
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Edwin Gowins, Ryan Barnes, Matt Parent and
Larry Warner have been named The Sportsbook Betting Lines's FCS national players of the
week.
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Edwin Gowins, Stony Brook, 5-10, 220, Freshman
<< Falcons' Dubnyk named AHL Player of the Week
Springfield, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Springfield Falcons goaltender Devan
Dubnyk has been named the American Hockey League Player of the Week for the
period ending on Sunday, it was announced on Monday.
In three starts this week, Du
<< Pair of Capitals lead list of NHL's Three Stars
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Washington Capitals forwards Nicklas Backstrom
and Alexander Ovechkin, along with Nashville Predators goaltender Dan Ellis,
were selected as the NHL's 'Three Stars' for the week ending November 16.
Backstrom
<< Pujols named NL MVP
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert
Pujols has been named the National League's Most Valuable Player, as voted on
by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Pujols, who won this award in 2005
Bucs RB Graham likely done for season >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Earnest
Graham is likely done for the season with a right ankle injury suffered in
Sunday's 19-13 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
Bucs head coach Jon Gruden addressed
Huskies are unanimous No. 1; LSU unranked >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Connecticut remained the top team in the
latest Associated Press women's college basketball poll, but LSU's lengthy
streak in the rankings came to an end.
The Huskies (1-0) are a unanimous pick this
Runners-up Harrington and Els get bump in rankings >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Padraig Harrington and Ernie Els got bumps
in the world rankings this week after they tied for second place behind Jeev
Milkha Singh at the Singapore Masters on Sunday.
Tiger Woods remained No. 1, of c
Pro Bowl safety John Lynch retires >>
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pro Bowl safety John Lynch announced his
retirement at a news conference Monday afternoon.
Lynch was selected to nine Pro Bowls at the safety position during his 15-year
career with Tampa Bay and Denver.
In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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