Trio on top at Toshiba Classic

Golf Betting Lines

03/05/2010 - Newport Beach, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former PGA Champion Bob Tway, Mark Wiebe and Chien-Soon Lu each fired six-under 65s on Friday to share the first-round lead of the Toshiba Classic.

Fred Couples, already a winner after two Champions Tour starts and the leading money earner this year, Olin Browne, Lonnie Nielsen and Mike Goodes are knotted in fourth place at five-under 66.

Tway first broke into red figures with a short birdie putt at the par-five third. At the fifth, Tway hit a good seven-iron to 20 feet and poured in the birdie effort. He tapped in two more short birdie putts at six and seven to make three in a row.

Tway made another little birdie at the 10th, but dropped a shot at No. 11 when he missed a very short putt. Two holes later, Tway rolled in a 12-footer for birdie to get back to five-under par.

At the par-five 15th, Tway reached the green in two and two-putted for birdie. He had a good look at birdie at the 17th, but his nine-footer stayed above ground.

Tway missed the green at the par-five closing hole and "fluffed" his chip. He pitched his fourth to six feet and converted the par putt to stay atop the leaderboard.

"I played pretty well today," said Tway, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour. "I hit my irons exceptionally well. I hit a few wayward drives. I was able to kind of recover from those and get them on the green and take advantage of the good iron shots I had."

Wiebe, a Champions Tour winner in 2007 and 2008, started on the 10th tee Friday and promptly birdied his first two holes, both from around 15 feet. He rattled off back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15 and the one at the par-five 15th was amazing.

He drove into a fairway bunker and had to choke down to the metal on a five- iron. Wiebe's ball was at waist-level and he punched it down the fairway. He hit an eight-iron to 10 feet and cashed in on the birdie putt.

"It was not looking very well," admitted Wiebe of the 15th hole.

Wiebe made a short birdie putt at the 18th and his lone birdie of the front side came from 25 feet at the third. He parred his last six for his share of the lead.

"I'm extremely happy," said Wiebe, who played sick with a sore throat on Friday. "I'm real, real happy to be bogey-free on this golf course. I kind of kept my game plan and kept it in the fairway and get it on the green."

Lu, a Champions Tour rookie who tied for ninth at the Allianz Championship, tallied five birdies and a bogey through his first 10 holes. He birdied the par-three 13th and par-five 18th for his piece of first.

Defending champion Eduardo Romero, Wayne Levi, Ronnie Black, Loren Roberts, Tom Lehman, D.A. Weibring, Bobby Wadkins and Gary Hallberg are knotted in eighth place at four-under 67.

NOTES: Bernhard Langer, who holed out for eagle to defeat John Cook in a playoff at the Allianz Championship, shot a one-under 70 and is tied for 26th place...Tom Watson, who won the season-opener in Hawaii, posted a two-under 69 and shares 20th.

Yahopps Golf Betting News

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Barry Bonds Watch: Giants Slugger Says He'll Be Back

With only 21 home runs standing between him and Hank Aaron, Barry Bonds is indeed planning on coming back for more in 2007. At least, that's what his agent told the Los Angeles Times.

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Contract negotiations could get started as early as next week. Let's see which team has the deeper pockets. Will MLB baseball betting lines despite allegations of steroid use? Bet On It at www.MySportsbook.com .

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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