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05/07/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When it comes to playing in their hometown or even home state, golfers revel in the pressure of showing off in front of their closest fans.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are the perfect examples of this. The two have combined for nine wins -- six for Tiger, three for Phil -- at the Buick Invitational in La Jolla, which is within driving distance of where the two grew up.
Mickelson also won the FBR Open in Scottsdale two times. That event is near Arizona State University, where Mickelson played collegiately.
Other players that come to mind who always seem to play well in their local area include -- New Jersey-born, long-time Rhode Island resident Brad Faxon, who won four of his eight PGA Tour titles in New England; Kentucky's Kenny Perry, who parlayed the hometown crowd to a 2-1-1 record at the Ryder Cup last year; and you can't overlook Davis Love III.
Born in North Carolina, Love played golf at UNC and has collected eight titles in the Carolinas. He won twice in Greensboro and has six wins at the Heritage in South Carolina.
The subject applies because this week, PGA Tour rookie Jeff Klauk has a leg up on the entire field, and that includes Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk, who call the TPC Sawgrass their home course.
Klauk is playing The Players Championship for the first time as a professional, but he will be not be playing the TPC Sawgrass for the first time. That happened when he was 10!
Klauk's father, Fred, retired from his job as the course superintendent at TPC Sawgrass after last year's Player's Championship. Dating to his days as a teenager, Jeff has done just about every job you can think of around this venue.
The 31-year-old recalled Wednesday that the first time he started doing work around the course was in high school, after a speeding ticket incurred while returning from a junior golf event put him in a financial pinch.
Within two weeks, the younger Klauk was pressed into service cutting the grass on the greens, filling divots and doing anything to earn the money he needed to pay the ticket. That grunt work turned into a regular job for Klauk. Thanks to that experience, Klauk knows nearly every nook and cranny of the TPC Sawgrass. He realizes that isn't totally to his advantage though.
"Familiarity-wise, I think I definitely have an advantage, but I've never played it under these fast conditions which they're going to be," Klauk stated. "I mean, my lines off the tee, I feel very familiar with where I'm going to hit it. But you know, this golf course changes so much, even from last week to this week, and it's going to change a lot from yesterday to tomorrow. An advantage? Maybe a little bit, but experience-wise, no, some of the regular guys have got it."
So how does he plan on attacking the golf course this week?
"I've played the golf course with all the stands and stuff up, but definitely not with all the people around during a practice round," said Klauk, who estimates he's played over 1,000 rounds at the TPC Sawgrass. "So it kind of feels the same as when I'm out there playing with my friends and stuff like that, which is the way I'm going to try to approach the week, just like I'm out there playing with my buddies. Obviously I'll be nervous, but it'll be good, a good type of nervous."
Regardless of how he plays this week, Klauk owes a special thanks to Lee Westwood and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Once those two confirmed they were skipping the Players Championship, Klauk was officially in the field, and could not get bumped out if a non-qualifier for the tournament won last week and gained entry into the field this week.
LIKE PERRY LAST YEAR, KELLY TO SKIP BRITISH OPEN
Last year, Kenny Perry decided to skip the British Open so he could play in the opposite event, the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. He did this so that he could have a better chance at earning a solid finish, and then gain a spot on the United States Ryder Cup team. Perry accomplished that mission, thanks in part to his tie for sixth in Milwaukee.
Jerry Kelly, a Madison, Wisconsin native, is going to follow Perry's lead and skip the British Open to play the U.S. Bank Championship. Kelly's reason for skipping the season's third major championship is completely different though.
In recent months, Kelly has been doing nearly everything he can to save the event, because U.S. Bank announced that it will not renew its contract as the tournament's sponsor after this season. Kelly, who had already committed to the British Open, realized that his efforts to salvage the tournament would be tougher if he wasn't going to play it himself.
So, he contacted British Open officials and withdrew his name from the field. And boy, is that a major turn of events. In recent years, Kelly had called out players like Perry and Fred Funk for skipping the British Open to play in Milwaukee. Now that his hometown event is in danger of disappearing, Kelly is doing whatever it takes to keep the event in Milwaukee and on the PGA Tour schedule.
"I had my British Open entry, and I got a sick feeling in my stomach that I'd miss Milwaukee and it would be the last one," Kelly admitted. "And it better not be the last one. How can I call out all these people without backing it up myself?"
MINI-TIDBITS
- Spanish great Seve Ballesteros made his first public appearance recently after undergoing four surgeries and chemotherapy to remove a cancerous brain tumor. By his own estimation, Ballesteros is 90-percent recovered from his surgery. "I suffered like a dog, but the fact that I was a professional sportsman and used to competing and fighting helped me," Ballesteros said.
- Among the record 9,086 golfers that put in an application to play the U.S. Open were several professional athletes from other sports. That group includes Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, former NFL quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver, three former pro hockey players -- Grant Fuhr, Dan Quinn and Mike Dunham -- as well as Erik Hanson and Chris Sabo, who both played major league baseball.
<< Report: Manny Ramirez to be suspended for positive drug test
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez
has reportedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and will be
suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Ramirez
<< Astros to conclude series with surging Cubs
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Chicago Cubs are off to a hot start this month and will
shoot for a two-game sweep of the Houston Astros tonight at Minute Maid Park.
The Cubs improved to 5-1 in May after recording a 6-3 victory over the Astros
in the
<< Mets shoot for fourth straight win in finale with Phils
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Mets will try to extend their season-high
winning streak to four games when they wrap up a brief two-game series versus
the National League East-rival Philadelphia Phillies tonight at Citi Field.
New York open
<< Marquis to take mound in Rockies' rematch with Giants
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jason Marquis seems to be enjoying his time with the
Colorado Rockies and will take the ball this afternoon against the San
Francisco Giants in the finale of a two-game series at Coors Field.
Marquis, who spent the last tw
Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games for positive drug test >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez has
been suspended 50 games for testing positive under Major League Baseball's
drug policy.
Details of the positive test were not revealed, but Ramirez said it
Chelsea-Barca ref smuggled out of England >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former referee Graham Poll has revealed Tom
Henning Ovrebo has had to be smuggled out of the country after the Norwegian's
controversial handling of Chelsea's Champions League semifinal second leg clash
with
Canada holds off Latvia in quarterfinals at Worlds >>
Bern, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steve Stamkos and Dan Hamhuis both
registered a goal and an assist, as Canada overcame a challenge from the pesky
Latvians to post a 4-2 win in the quarterfinals at the 2009 World Hockey
Champio
Roma ends Spalletti rumors >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Roma sporting director Bruno Conti has quashed
speculation suggesting Luciano Spalletti is on the verge of leaving the club.
Roma have endured a topsy-turvy season and are currently sixth in the Serie A
tab
In terms of sports wagering, the NFL is "the most popular game in town." The explanation behind that is easy.
It is called the "pointspread."
Many years ago, NFL games, as well as the more popular college games, used straight odds as a vehicle for betting. For example, if the Bears were playing the Giants, and it shaped up as a competitive contest, the Bears might be, say, a 7/5 favorite. If they were playing an also-ran, it might be 10/1. Well, there is a point where a line becomes prohibitive, as far as betting the favorite. And who would waste money betting an underdog that has virtually no chance? Such a setup did not contribute to promoting betting action.
But in modern sports betting, a "pointspread" is used.
A NFL pointspreads are exactly that, a pre-established point difference between the two sides that will, for all intents and purposes, create a handicap that evens things out, and in doing so, produces comparable wagering activity on both sides of that proposition. So in lieu of a odds figure in which to bet the team to win outright, the Bears might be a three-point favorite over the New York Giants, and a 17-point favorite over the also-ran. Now that the team that is the underdog can "get" points, there can be equal action on both sides.
In sportsbooks, this is usually done with efficiency by charging the losing bettors 10% extra - in effect, bettors are laying 11/10 on those games. So they are actually betting $110 to win $100. If they lose, they pay the "vig." If they win, they simply collect.
The establishment of the pointspread as the corner stone around which team sports like football can be wagered upon was truly what brought gridiron betting into the stratosphere for online football betting .
Don't believe it? Just take a look at what happens around the Super Bowl.
Stay with us here as we take you through the best in NFL action on a consistent basis, with advice columns as well as handicapping selections. If you're looking for college football betting, that's in our NCAA section, which you can reach by clicking here. And if you're looking for a different kind of football, such as the Canadian Football League, which we'll deal with occasionally, or the Arena Football League, which we really like, you can find it in our Miscellaneous section by clicking
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