139th British Open Championship Preview

Golf Betting Lines

07/12/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Golf's most historic championship heads to its most historic venue for the 139th playing of the British Open Championship.

The championship is celebrating its 150th anniversary -- it was not held 11 times due to World Wars I and II -- at the course where it has been played the most times.

The Old Course at St. Andrews, known as the "Home of Golf," will host the Open for the 27th time. The list of winners on the Old Course includes golf legends such as Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Peter Thompson, Tony Lema, Jack Nicklaus, Seve Ballesteros, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods.

Woods, who has won the last two Opens at St. Andrews, is one of four people who have won twice at the Old Course.

Over the last eight Open Championships on the Old Course, John Daly was the least accomplished winner and that is saying something since it was Daly's fourth win overall and second major championship title.

In the last two Opens at St. Andrews, Woods put on a show. He cruised to a five-stroke win over Colin Montgomerie in 2005 and fired four rounds in the 60s to beat Ernie Els and Thomas Bjorn by eight shots in 2000.

In his 2000 victory, Woods did not hit a single bunker and was just the third winner to post all four rounds in the 60s.

In 2005, the British Open said goodbye to three-time champion Jack Nicklaus. Like Woods, Nicklaus earned two of his three Open Championship titles on the Old Course.

Last year, Tom Watson made a serious charge while trying to win a record-tying sixth Open Championship title. The 59-year-old fell just short of becoming the oldest major champion in golf history.

Watson led by a stroke heading to the final hole after making birdie on the 17th at Turnberry. After he knocked his second shot over the 18th green, Watson pitched his third to eight feet. He started walking just after hitting the putt and the ball slid by the hole on the right.

He tapped in for bogey, then headed to a playoff with Stewart Cink. In the four-hole playoff, Cink easily bested Watson for his first major championship victory.

Cink needed just 14 strokes, while Watson struggled with 20 shots. Cink went par-par-birdie-birdie to deny Watson from being the third player to win the Open Championship in three different decades.

The 36-year-old Cink did not own a share of the lead at any point during the tournament until his birdie on the 72nd hole of regulation found the bottom of the cup. Watson, playing three groups behind Cink, would have won the title if not for his bogey at the last.

Watson's incredible run was the second straight year someone over 50 years of age was in contention.

In 2008, 53-year-old Greg Norman held the third-round lead and was still atop the leaderboard standing on the 10th tee in the final round. The Australian stumbled to four bogeys on the back nine en route to a seven-over 77. He slid into a share of third at plus-nine.

Norman's crash enabled Padraig Harrington to win the Open Championship for the second straight year. His first win in 2007 came in a playoff over Sergio Garcia. Harrington defeated the Spaniard by a single stroke (15-16) for the first of his three major championship titles.

Phil Mickelson enters the week at St. Andrews coming off two top-five finishes. Earlier in the season, Mickelson closed with back-to-back 67s to beat Lee Westwood by three strokes at the Masters. The victory was Mickelson's third at Augusta and fourth in a major championship.

Mickelson missed last year's Open to be with his wife, Amy, and his mother, who were both in the early stages of cancer treatment.

He has struggled at the British Open in the past with his best finish coming in 2004. Mickelson missed the playoff that year by a single stroke. His next best finish was at St. Andrews in 2000, when he tied for 11th.

Heading into the 139th Open Championship, two of the favorites are Steve Stricker and Justin Rose.

Stricker is coming off a repeat victory at the John Deere Classic, where several records fell throughout the week. Stricker opened with a 60, but trailed Paul Goydos, who fired a 59 on Thursday.

The 43-year-old Stricker set the 54-hole record with his total of 188 and ended up beating Goydos by two. Goydos did earn the final spot in the field at St. Andrews thanks to his second-place finish.

Rose is coming off two wins in his last three starts. He won the Memorial the first weekend in June for his first PGA Tour title, but still failed to qualify for the U.S. Open.

The Englishman said he considered the AT&T National his U.S. Open and held on for a one-stroke win over a hard-charging Ryan Moore.

Rose and Moore both earned spots in the British Open field thanks to those finishes.

The 29-year-old Rose burst onto the golf scene as a teenager at the 1998 British Open, where he holed out for eagle on the final hole to jump into a share of fourth place. Rose will be competing in his ninth Open championship, and first at St. Andrews.

He will look to avoid the fate of Westwood at the U.S. Open. Westwood entered the U.S. Open having finished second at the Masters and earned his second PGA Tour title the week before Pebble Beach at the St. Jude Classic.

Westwood never got anything going at the U.S. Open and finished tied for 16th at plus-eight. Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell closed with a three-over 74, but it was enough for a one-stroke win at the U.S. Open.

McDowell, a six-time winner on the European Tour, claimed his first major championship title as well as his first win on the PGA Tour at Pebble. He is coming off a tie for 21st at the Scottish Open, which was his first start since the U.S. Open.

Heading into St. Andrews, it would be tough to call Woods one of the favorites because of his underwhelming play so far this season. However, he has dominated this course in the past.

Will this be the week Westwood or Ian Poulter breaks through for his first major? Can Els win his fourth major championship title? Or will Miguel Angel Jimenez turn his solid play into his third victory of the season and first major title?

There are plenty of questions entering the Open Championship. It remains to be seen who has the right answers on the Old Course at St. Andrews.

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Will Ohio State continue to run the table in College Football betting odds?
MySportsbook.com favors Buckeyes, Fighting Irish and Golden Bears in this weekend's big games.

NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 21 - My Sportsbook NCAA football fans: things are beginning to get really interesting on college football's national stage. Following last weekend's "Separation Saturday", which included five teams ranked in the top 15 dropping games, the BCS Championship picture is beginning to take shape - with Ohio State leading the charge. And, according to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, the number-one-ranked Buckeyes will continue their winning ways this weekend.

Revenge will be the name of the game in Columbus this Saturday, as Ohio State looks to even the score following last season's loss to Joe Paterno's Nittany Lions. Although Penn State are listed as 16.5 point underdogs, they are 11-10 all-time versus the Buckeyes. Paterno and the Lions, however, will have to shut down Heisman Trophy favorite Troy Smith who has thrown for 769 yards and seven touchdowns this season.

Speaking of revenge, Notre Dame will be out for some against Michigan State, following last year's 44 - 41 overtime loss to the Spartans in South Bend. The thirteenth-ranked Irish, listed as a 3-point favorite, will also be looking to avenge last Saturday's thrashing from the Michigan Wolverines. The Spartans, meanwhile, have won seven of the last nine match-ups against Notre Dame and are coming off an impressive 38-23 victory over Pittsburgh.

Out west, 22nd-ranked Arizona State will be battling for their first victory over 21st-ranked California since 2000. Although the Golden Bears are listed as 7.5-point favorites, the Sun Devils are 3-0, lead the nation in sacks with 18 and possess the Pac-10's leading passer in sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter.

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NCAA Football betting lines (home team in CAPS)
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Date Favorite Opponent Point Spread
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Sept 21 GEORGIA TECH Virginia 17
Sept 22 NEVADA Northwestern 6.5
Sept 23 MICHIGAN Wisconsin 14
Sept 23 Minnesota PURDUE 3
Sept 23 SYRACUSE Miami (Ohio) 6.5
Sept 23 MISSOURI Ohio 21.5
Sept 23 Louisville KANSAS STATE 14
Sept 23 TENNESSEE Marshall 22
Sept 23 CLEMSON North Carolina 16.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA Kentucky 24
Sept 23 Iowa ILLINOIS 20.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA STATE Rice 30.5
Sept 23 AUBURN Buffalo 41.5
Sept 23 BOWLING GREEN Kent 7
Sept 23 NAVY Tulsa 4.5
Sept 23 VIRGINIA TECH Cincinnati 27
Sept 23 BYU Utah State 29
Sept 23 OHIO STATE Penn State 16.5
Sept 23 TEXAS Iowa State 25
Sept 23 Washington State STANFORD 10
Sept 23 CALIFORNIA Arizona State 7.5
Sept 23 UCLA WASHINGTON 3
Sept 23 INDIANA Connecticut 1.5
Sept 23 Central Michigan EASTERN MICHIGAN 4
Sept 23 WYOMING Air Force 1
Sept 23 UTEP NEW MEXICO 9.5
Sept 23 West Virginia EAST CAROLINA 21
Sept 23 Boston College NORTH CAROLINA STATE 7
Sept 23 GEORGIA Colorado 27
Sept 23 ARKANSAS Alabama 1.5
Sept 23 BAYLOR Army 11
Sept 23 WESTERN MICHIGAN Temple 28
Sept 23 MISSISSIPPI Wake Forest 2.5
Sept 23 KANSAS South Florida 5.5
Sept 23 TEXAS A&amp;M Louisiana Tech 23.5
Sept 23 UAB Mississippi State 9.5
Sept 23 LSU Tulane 36
Sept 23 Utah SAN DIEGO STATE 6.5
Sept 23 BOISE STATE Hawaii 15
Sept 23 Notre Dame MICHIGAN STATE 3
Sept 23 USC ARIZONA U 22
Sept 23 Oklahoma State HOUSTON 1
Sept 23 OREGON STATE Idaho 23
Sept 23 OKLAHOMA Middle Tennessee State 29
Sept 23 MARYLAND Florida International 18.5
Sept 23 AKRON North Texas 17.5
Sept 23 SOUTH CAROLINA Florida Atlantic 29.5
Sept 23 NEBRASKA Troy 23
Sept 23 SMU Arkansas State 6

For complete NCAA football odds and World Series odds please visit MySportsbook.com

Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

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