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07/17/2010 - St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Louis Oosthuizen has never been in this position, but he sure seems comfortable atop the leaderboard in a major.
The South African, who held the second-round lead, carded a three-under 69 Saturday to complete three rounds of the British Open Championship in the lead at 15-under-par 201.
Oosthuizen claimed his first European Tour title earlier this year, but has never been near the top of the leaderboard in a major championship. The one time he had made the cut in a major before this, the 2008 PGA Championship, Oosthuizen finished in last place.
Paul Casey posted a five-under 67 on the Old Course at St. Andrews Saturday. He finished 54 holes in second at 11-under-par 205.
Martin Kaymer is three strokes further back at minus-eight after shooting a four-under 68 in round three.
Henrik Stenson (67), Alejandro Canizares (71) and Lee Westwood (71) share fourth place at seven-under-par 209.
Tiger Woods, a two-time British Open winner at St. Andrews, shot a one-over 73 and is tied for 18th at minus-three.
World No. 2 Phil Mickelson managed a two-under 70 to move into a share of 26th at two-under-par 214.
Defending champion Stewart Cink carded an even-par 71 and is tied for 38th at minus-one.
They are all chasing Oosthuizen, who was the 54-hole leader twice this year on the European Tour.
Back in March, he led after 54 holes in back-to-back tournaments. In the first event, the Hassan II Golf Trophy, Rhys Davies flew past him for the victory.
However, Oosthuizen came back the next week with a final-round 67 at the Open de Andalucia to earn his first European Tour title.
Oosthuizen tripped to a three-putt bogey on the first and his five-stroke lead to start the round was suddenly three, as Stenson was making a charge.
The 27-year-old Oosthuizen settled in with five straight pars from the second. For the third time in three days, Oosthuizen birdied the par-four seventh. That moved his lead back to two after Casey birdied the seventh ahead of him to get within one.
Casey got to 11-under with a two-putt birdie on No. 9, then Oosthuizen followed with a two-putt birdie of his own to move to minus-13.
No one got any closer on the back nine than Casey did on the seventh and ninth. Oosthuizen parred the first six holes of the back nine to maintain his two-stroke lead.
Finally, on the 16th, Oosthuizen ran home a long birdie effort to push his lead to three.
Meanwhile, Casey failed to make a single birdie on the back nine. He closed with nine straight pars to get in at 11-under.
Oosthuizen drove the green at the last and two-putted for a closing birdie to extend his lead to four strokes.
The South African has won five times on his home tour, the Sunshine Tour, and was victorious for the first time earlier this year on the European Tour.
However, this is uncharted territory in the major championships for Oosthuizen.
NOTES: No one in the top-seven on the leaderboard has won a major and among the top 17, only two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen has won a major championship...Goosen is tied for eighth at minus-five.
<< Polanco contributes big hit in return for Phils
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Placido Polanco made a huge impact Saturday
in his return to the lineup with the Philadelphia Phillies.
The veteran infielder, who was activated off the 15-day disabled list prior
to the game, singled
<< D.C. fails to pick up option on Emilio
Washington, D.C. (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.C. United and striker Luciano Emilio
have parted ways after a brief three-month reunion as United opted not to pick
up its option on the former Major League Soccer MVP.
Emilio returned to the team i
<< Tigers call up Porcello to start back end of DH
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers have recalled right-
hander Rick Porcello from Triple-A Toledo to start the second game of a
doubleheader with the Indians Saturday.
Porcello was demoted on June 20 after pi
<< Indians beat Tigers to begin doubleheader
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Trevor Crowe's two-out RBI single in the
seventh inning gave Cleveland a 4-3 win over Detroit in the first game of a
doubleheader from Progressive Field.
Fausto Carmona (9-7) went seven-plus inning
Gainey makes Nationwide Tour history >>
Maineville, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Gainey fired a 10-under 62 on Saturday
and extended his lead after three rounds of the inaugural Chiquita Classic.
Gainey finished 54 holes at 24-under 192 and is four strokes clear at TPC
River's
Yankees put Marte on DL with inflamed shoulder >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Yankees placed left-hander
Damaso Marte on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with an inflamed left
shoulder.
Fellow southpaw Boone Logan was recalled from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-
Yankees' Burnett leaves with undisclosed injury >>
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees pitcher A.J. Burnett left
Saturday's game against Tampa Bay with an undisclosed injury.
Burnett allowed an RBI single to Carlos Pena in the third inning and was
immediately visited
Le Toux sinks Toronto with late PK >>
Chester, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sebastien Le Toux's penalty kick in the 94th
minute helped the Philadelphia Union claim a dramatic 2-1 win over Toronto FC
at PPL Park on Saturday.
Toronto equalized nine minutes from time through Chad Bar
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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 online football betting 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.
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