Langer among the leaders at Senior British

Golf Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - Carnoustie, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bernhard Langer posted a four-under 67 on Thursday to share the first-round lead with Jay Don Blake and Carl Mason at the Senior Open Championship.

Bruce Vaughan, the 2008 winner, Mark Wiebe and Dan Forsman are knotted in fourth place at three-under 68 at a wind-swept Carnoustie.

Tom Watson, who won his first of five claret jugs at Carnoustie back in 1975, struggled on Thursday with a three-over 74, but is still in the hunt for a fourth Senior Open title.

While Watson has been one of the most prolific winners in both British Open and Senior Open history, Langer was never able to hoist the claret jug in his younger days.

Langer, a two-time Masters champion, has never even earned a major title on the Champions Tour, despite being the two-time reigning Player of the Year and leading money winner.

"To put four good rounds together here, in the red numbers, you need to play some extremely good golf," said Langer, a 10-time winner on the Champions Tour, including two this year.

Langer started well with a birdie at the first, then parred his next five holes. The German finished off his opening nine with three consecutive birdies to make the turn at four-under par.

Langer parred his first four of the back nine, then played classic links golf en route to a birdie at the par-five 14th. He putted from well off the green, but lagged up close and tapped in for the birdie to reach five-under par for the championship.

The Hall of Famer immediately lost that stroke thanks to a bogey at the 15th. Langer parred out and certainly didn't mind the tough close to his opening round.

"I'm very happy with it," acknowledged Langer. "I played very well. I kept the ball in play, I drove it pretty good and hit a number of fairways. When I didn't hit the fairway, I was either fortunate enough to get a reasonable lie or miss some trouble and hit those shots out of the rough pretty good. Made a few putts and hit my irons fairly close."

Blake had an up and down front side with two birdies and a bogey. He did most of his damage at the start of the second nine with three birdies in a four- hole span from No. 10.

Like Langer, Blake reached five-under par with a birdie at the par-four 17th. Blake fell victim to the demanding closing hole and walked off with a bogey to fall into a tie for first.

"I just tried to execute myself around the golf course and be patient," said Blake. "It's a golf course that you can't be aggressive because everything runs up to the pin so much that you can't fly it to the flags like we are used to over in the courses we play in America."

Mason, an Englishman, played in the afternoon on Thursday and had a spectacular front nine with five birdies and no bogeys. Trouble loomed right away on the back with a double-bogey at the 10th, but he got those strokes back with birdies at 12 and 14.

Following in the footsteps of his fellow co-leaders, Mason was five-under, but Carnoustie got him late. He bogeyed the par-four 15th to fall back into the tie for the lead.

Mason may not be a household name in the U.S., but he has been downright dominant on the European Senior Tour. He won the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open in early July and that tied him with Tommy Horton for most wins on that circuit with 23.

"If this was the 24th, that would be something special, wouldn't it?" noted Mason. "I was thrilled to bits the way I played, I played great. Best I've played for a good few weeks, so that was good. I felt good, and I started rolling in the putts and hit some great shots."

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, Sam Torrance, John Cook, Mike Donald, Jeff Sluman and Larry Mize, who won the last Champions Tour event, the Montreal Championship, are tied for seventh place at two-under 69.

NOTES: Defending champion Loren Roberts shot an even-par 71 and is tied for 19th place...Boonchu Ruangkit leads the European Senior Tour Order of Merit, but shot a four-over 75 on Thursday and is tied for 61st.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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