Els and Schwartzel share first at Doral

Golf Betting Lines

03/13/2010 - Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ernie Els was joined atop the leaderboard by fellow South African Charl Schwartzel after Saturday's third round of the WGC- CA Championship.

Els, the second-round leader, managed a two-under 70 at the TPC Blue Monster at Doral, while Schwartzel, the first-round leader, fired a five-under 67 on Saturday. The pair is knotted at 12-under 204.

Padraig Harrington, like Els, a three-time major winner, bogeyed the Blue Monster 18th on Saturday. That hiccup cost him a share of the lead, but his five-under 67 has him alone in third at minus-11.

Robert Allenby carded a one-under 71 and is fourth at 10-under 206.

The field is chasing a pair of South African co-leaders, who did most of their damage on the front nine Saturday.

Schwartzel birdied the first and third holes, then rattled off back-to-back birdies at five and six. The last birdie at six tied him with Els, who was one-under after birdies at one and five and a bogey at two.

Els rolled in a nine-foot birdie putt at the sixth to move ahead by one, but Schwartzel, playing in the group ahead of Els, hit a fat shot out of a bunker to lose a stroke at seven.

Els unfortunately couldn't take advantage. His approach came up short of the green and he could no better than seven feet with his third. The Big Easy missed the par putt, but was still one clear of his younger friend.

Both players birdied the par-five eighth to keep Els a stroke in front. Two holes later, Els knocked his third to seven feet and converted the birdie effort to move two clear.

At the next par five, the 12th, Els missed a makeable birdie putt and at the next hole, the par-three 13th, had a four-footer for par go all the way around the hole and stay out.

"I was really starting to look good," acknowledged Els. "The ball horse-shoed out of the hole. That put some doubt in my mind down the stretch, which wasn't nice."

Schwartzel himself made a pair of amazing pars at 13 and 14 to keep his momentum going. At the short, par-four 16th, Schwartzel drove into a greenside bunker and converted an eight-foot birdie putt to match Els in the first.

Els hit into a bunker at the 16th and his sand shot stopped three feet from the hole. His swipe at it badly pushed the ball to the right and it stayed above ground.

The pair was knotted in the lead with Harrington, who three-putted from 40 feet at the last to fall one behind.

Schwartzel made a routine par from the right rough at the Blue Monster, then Els two-putted from 25 feet to set up the final-round pairing of the veteran and the kid.

"Obviously going to be a fun day playing with Ernie," said Schwartzel. "I've played quite a few rounds with him. I always enjoy playing with him. It actually helps my rhythm looking at him."

The two have a long history despite the 15-year age difference.

Els used to golf with Schwartzel's father and when Schwartzel didn't get into the field at last week's Honda Classic, he stayed with Els.

On Sunday, the two are adversaries. One is a certain Hall of Famer with three major titles. The other won twice this year on the European Tour and is primed for a breakthrough in a significant championship.

"You know you can win," said Schwartzel. "You still have to play the same golf down the stretch."

Bill Haas shot a two-under 70 and is fifth at nine-under 207, which is one better than Martin Kaymer, who fired a 66 on Saturday to get into sixth place.

Matt Kuchar (67), Paul Casey (68), Vijay Singh (70) and Soren Hansen (71) are knotted in seventh place at minus-seven.

NOTES: Defending champion Phil Mickelson managed an even-par 72 on Saturday, but grimaced and clutched his elbow at the end of his round. He released a statement saying basically it was a stinger and he should be fine...Els has one WGC title and that came at the 2004 American Express Championship.

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Sportsbook Betting Lines

Who Makes the Sportsbook Betting Lines?

Las Vegas Sports Consultants (LVSC) is the world’s premier oddsmaking company and the most respected authority on making the lines. Mike Seba is a Senior Oddsmaker at LVSC and has been making lines for the last six years. In our extended interview, Seba explained that there are 4-5 oddsmakers assigned to make lines for each of the major sports (pro & college football and basketball; MLB, NHL, boxing, golf). Each of these oddsmakers bring unique opinions, strengths and weaknesses to the process. Oddsmakers at LVSC are professional sports junkies who love what they do and would probably do it for nothing if you asked them, but they do get paid for it. By necessity their approach is very research-oriented and concise, since with millions of dollars at risk there is little margin for error.

“You either have a passion for it or you don’t,” Seba said.

“The #1 thing for us is to make a line for each game that creates good two-way action. We do this by drawing from past experiences and applying them to current situations. People think it’s much more complicated, but it’s not. “

What are the Football Betting Lines Trying to Accomplish?

There is a common misconception that point spreads represent the oddsmakers’ prediction of how many points the favorite will win by. That is not the case at all – their intent is NOT to evenly split the ATS result between the teams; rather, their goal is to attract equal betting action on both sides. Stated another way, they want to create a line that half the people find appealing to bet one way while the other half find it appealing to bet the other way (known as ‘dividing the action’).

Divided action means the sportsbook is guaranteed a profit on the game because of the fee charged to the bettor (called juice or vig – typically $11 bet to win $10).

How the Opening Line Is Made

The opening line is the first line created by the oddsmakers, which is then sent out to sportsbooks. Of course there is an entire method to the madness on how the opening line is created. Seba explained that it all starts with each oddsmaker creating a line on each game based upon their own personal approach. This usually includes having up-to-date power ratings on each team.

Power ratings are the oddsmaker’s value of each team and are used as a guide to calculate a "preliminary" pointspread on an upcoming game. The power ratings are adjusted after each game a team plays. Examples of non-game factors that would require an adjustment to a team's power rating are key player injuries and player trades.

Once a game’s power rating based pointspread is determined, the oddsmaker will make adjustments to that line after considering each team's most recent games played and previous games played against that opponent. Also, adjustments are made after reading each team’s local newspapers to get a sense of what the coaches & players are thinking going into the game.

Since the oddsmaker’s ultimate goal is equally dividing the sports betting action, public perception and sportsbook betting patterns must be taken into account. For example, the public might have heavy betting interest week after week on a popular college football betting team such as USC. If an oddsmaker comes up with a preliminary line of USC -7, then an adjustment up to -7.5 or -8 would be made in response to the public’s expected USC bias.

The last step in the line-making process for each oddsmaker is taking one final look to determine whether or not the line "feels right." This is where common sense and past experience with how games are bet enters into the picture.

A round-table discussion among the 4-5 oddsmakers involved in making the line for each sport is then conducted and a consensus line is decided upon by the Odds Director before it is released to the sportsbooks. Of the 4-5 oddsmakers, generally the 2 most respected opinions are weighed more heavily by the Odds Director before he decides on the final line.

Why Sports Betting Lines Change

Once the opening line is released by LVSC, the individual sportsbooks decide if they want to make any adjustments before offering it to the public. Reasons for such adjustments include:

Experts working for the individual books having a strong opinion on the game

Individual books having players who consistently bet with certain tendencies (such as an extreme bias toward favorites or toward a certain popular team like USC)

The purpose of these adjustments, like all line adjustments, is to more equally divide the betting action.

Once betting begins, sportsbooks can adjust the line at any time. In doing so they attempt to make more attractive the team that is getting less action. By moving the line, sportsbooks can influence how the public bets on a particular game.

For example, if the pointspread on a game is 7 and most of the money is coming in on the underdog (taking the +7), sportsbooks will then move the number down to 6 ½ to try and attract money on the favorite.

Moving the line is the oddsmaker's effort to balance betting action, and often times such moves can have a major impact on a bettor’s decision. Oddsmakers can also change the line depending on various event-related factors such as player injuries or weather. Obviously, if the line comes out a week ahead of the event (which is the case in football), there is much that could happen during the week leading up to the event that could affect the line. Oddsmakers have to determine if any changes are necessary and send out an "adjusted line."

“The main objective is that our clients get equal action on both sides,” Seba said. “We’re not trying to pick the team that covers the spread, we’re trying to make it a coin flip, a tough decision (for the bettor). If we’ve done that, we’ve done our job.”

To visit this internet sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your sports betting needs and World Series odds.

Sportsbook betting odds favor Europe in Ryder Cup

September 19, – Despite holding a decided edge in the all-time series, with 24 wins, 2 ties and 10 losses, Team USA is the underdog again heading into the Ryder Cup in Kidare, Ireland this weekend, according to MySportsbook.com.  The Europeans have captured four of the past five editions, including their largest victory ever, an 18 ½ to 9 ½ thumping in Michigan in 2004. Current Ryder Cup betting odds favor the Europeans to continue their winning ways; they are a 4-5 bet to take the title, compared to 6-5 for the Americans. 

Despite being knocked out in the first round of World Match play by Shaun Micheel, Tiger Woods is predicted to lead the US charge and be their highest point scorer for the week, with odds listed at 9-4 that he outpoints all other American players, including Jim Furyk, Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco to  name a  few.  Team USA has four relatively unknown players on the roster but all four are 2007 tournament winners and have posted some of season’s best performances, each earning over $1.5 million on the PGA TOUR.  They include Zach Johnson, Vaughan Taylor, JJ Henry and Brett Wetterich.

The experienced European squad includes the likes of Luke Donald, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington, Jose Maria Olazabal and Darren Clarke, who’s emotions will be tested after the passing of his wife to a battle with cancer.  Donald and Garcia are in particularly good form and each is a 5-1 bet to lead the European squad in the points race. Donald has proven he can go head to head with Woods at a major event after a run for the $1.2 million purse at the PGA Championship. Garcia’s Ryder Cup credentials prove he’s ready for battle too.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your golf sportsbook needs.

Ryder Cup Odds

Europe
Tie
USA
4-5
10-1
6-5


Ryder Cup Top US point scorer
Tiger Woods
Jim Furyk
Phil Mickelson
Chris DiMarco
David Toms
Stewart Cink
Chad Campbell
Scott Verplank
Zach Johnson
Vaughan Taylor
JJ Henry
Brett Wetterich
9-4
4-1
5-1
7-1
8-1
12-1
15-1
15-1
25-1
30-1
30-1
50-1


Ryder Cup Top European scorer
Sergio Garcia
Luke Donald
Padraig Harrington
Colin Montgomerie
Darren Clarke
David Howell
Lee Westwood
Paul Casey
Henrik Stenson
Jose Maria Olazabal
Paul McGinley
Robert Karlsson
5-1
5-1
6-1
13-2
8-1
9-1
9-1
11-1
12-1
12-1
20-1
25-1

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com