Bowditch, Thompson share lead in Nebraska

Golf Betting Lines

07/29/2010 - Omaha, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Steven Bowditch and Kyle Thompson fired rounds of eight-under 63 Thursday to share the lead after one round of the Cox Classic.

Bowditch claimed his lone tour win in his homeland of Australia at the 2005 Jacob's Creek Open, while Thompson won twice during the 2007 season.

Scott Gardiner, Kevin Chappell and Matt Marshall share third place at minus- seven.

Chris Kirk, who stands third on the Nationwide Tour money list, opened with a six-under 65 and is tied for sixth at Champions Run.

Bowditch parred his first five holes, then birdied the sixth. He gave that stroke right back with a bogey on the seventh. Bowditch caught fire from there.

The Australian birdied the eighth and ninth to turn in two-under. After a birdie on the 11th, Bowditch reeled off back-to-back birdies from the 13th to move to five-under.

Bowditch birdied the 16th and followed with birdies on 17 and 18 to be the first in the clubhouse at minus-eight and to match his career-low round on the Nationwide Tour.

"To be honest, I played the best I've played in the last four or five years last week, I just couldn't get the putts in," said Bowditch, who tied for 17th last week at the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational. "It wasn't so much about making the putts, but I was missing the momentum putts as well."

Thompson started on the back nine Friday and opened with a birdie on the par- five 10th. He parred his next five holes before posting birdies on the 16th and 17th.

After four consecutive pars around the turn, Thompson poured in four straight birdie efforts from the fourth to move within one of Bowditch's lead. Thompson grabbed a share of the lead with a birdie on the par-four ninth, his last.

"I never thought this course was that easy and every year guys are shooting 59s and 60s and here I am shooting two- or three-under and feeling like I played okay," stated Bowditch, who missed the cut in five of his first six starts this year.

"It's just fun again. I've struggled on this course in the past, so to play like this today was a lot of fun."

Kirk was joined in sixth at minus-six by Brandt Jobe, Hunter Haas, Ewan Porter, Aaron Watkins, Berry Henson, Ray Beaufils and amateur Morgan Hoffmann, who tied for ninth last week.

NOTES: Bowditch last fired a 63 in the final round of the 2005 New Zealand PGA Championship...Last week's winner, D.J. Brigman, struggled to a one-over 72 that left him tied for 121st...Also at plus-one is leading money winner Jamie Lovemark.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.