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06/07/2007 - Vienna, Austria (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Playing so poorly earlier in the week, Graeme Storm withdrew from a U.S. Open qualifier.
Obviously, he left his poor play at Walton Heath.
Storm tied the course record of eight-under-par 63 Thursday to take a one- stroke lead after the opening round of the BA-CA Golf Open at Fontana Golf Club.
Sweden's Martin Erlandsson is one stroke out of the lead. He ran off five straight birdies en route to a seven-under-par 64.
Patrik Sjoland shares third place with Shaun P. Webster and Tom Whitehouse at minus-six.
Storm explained his decision to pull out of the qualifier.
"I'd missed three cuts and I was playing so badly, I thought trying to qualify on Monday would be a waste of time," said Storm, who has missed the cut in three straight starts and four of the last five overall. "And even if I'd qualified it would have been a lot of money and a long way to go and maybe not break 80."
Playing the back nine first at Fontana, Storm caught fire early with three birdies over the first four holes. A birdie at the par-five 15th moved Storm to minus-four.
At the par-five 18th, Storm drained a 25-footer for eagle to take the lead at six-under. Around the turn, he parred seven straight.
Storm sank a seven-footer for birdie at eight and came right back with an up- and-down birdie at the ninth to match the course record.
"I wasn't even going to play here," admitted the 29-year-old Storm. "But I worked on my game over the weekend and decided I had to try to play through my bad spell. I arrived for the pro-am on Wednesday in the same car as Ian Garbutt and he watched me for a while and spotted something in my takeaway. His tip helped me today."
Erlandsson tripped out of the gate with a bogey at the first. He rebounded to birdie No. 2, but then parred the next six holes.
The Swede birdied the ninth to make the turn at minus-one. He ran off five consecutive birdies from the 11th before a two-putt birdie at the last moved him into second place.
Five-time European Ryder Cupper Lee Westwood posted a five-under-par 66 Thursday. He was joined in sixth place by Daniel Denison, Richard Green, Richard McEvoy, Gary Lockerbie and Francois Calmels.
Further down the leaderboard, Miguel Angel Jimenez is tied for 18th at minus- three and defending champion Markus Brier shares 44th at one-under-par 70.
Two other European Ryder Cup stalwarts struggled Thursday as Darren Clarke and Colin Montgomerie are among a group tied in 101st at plus-two.
<< 13 teams remain two games out of final playoff spot
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Mitsubishi Motors Drive to ArenaBowl XXI
New Orleans continues to gain momentum for the final stretch as 13 of the
Leagues 15 playoff eligible teams stand within two games of the final playoff
position in eac
<< Barnes signs one-year deal with Stars
Frisco, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Dallas Stars announced Thursday that they
have re-signed veteran center Stu Barnes to a one-year deal for the 2007-08
season.
The 36-year-old will earn $900,000 for his 16th season in the NHL. Bar
<< Henin will meet Ivanovic in French Open final
Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two-time defending champion Justine Henin and
seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic were easy semifinal winners Thursday at the French
Open. The two women will now square off in the lucrative finale here on
Saturday.
<< Raiders' Walter to miss 4-to-6 weeks
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Oakland Raiders quarterback Andrew Walter will
miss the rest of the team's offseason work with a knee injury.
The Oakland Tribune is reporting that Walter underwent arthroscopic knee
surgery on Tuesday a
Rockies' Fogg returns >>
Denver, CO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Colorado Rockies activated pitcher
Josh Fogg from the 15-day disabled list, and plan to start the 30-year-old
right-hander in their matchup with the Houston Astros Thursday.
Fogg has not pitch
Arena Football Previews - Week 15 >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Here are this week's Arena Football League
match-ups for Week 15.
FRIDAY, JUNE 8
KANSAS CITY BRIGADE (8-5) AT COLUMBUS DESTROYERS (6-7), 7 p.m. (et)
BRIGADE: Kansas City can clinch playoff spot with win,
A's release Witasick >>
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics released relief
pitcher Jay Witasick on Thursday.
The veteran reliever was designated for assignment on Sunday.
Witasick went 1-0 with a 3.60 earned run average in 16 appearanc
Wild ink Backstrom to multi-year deal >>
St. Paul, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Minnesota Wild re-signed goaltender
Niklas Backstrom to a multi-year contract on Thursday. Per club policy, terms
of the contract were not disclosed.
The 29-year-old Backstrom posted a 23-8-6 recor
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.
MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect
LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.
Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.
Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
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