Woods to play with Rose in first two rounds of British Open

Golf Betting Lines

07/12/2010 - St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods and Justin Rose, the world's top-ranked player and one of the hottest players in golf, respectively, will be paired together for the first two rounds of the 2010 British Open.

The 150th Anniversary Open will tee off from historic St. Andrews on Thursday.

Woods has won the last two Open Championships staged at St. Andrews, but has struggled for most of the 2010 season on the heels of his off-the-course issues that first surfaced last November. His two best finishes in just six starts this year came in the first two major championships -- tying for fourth at both the Masters and U.S. Open.

Rose, meanwhile, won Woods' tournament two weeks ago, the AT&T National in suburban Philadelphia, and also captured the Memorial Tournament last month with a tie for ninth in between at the Travelers Championship.

Joining Woods and Rose for the first two rounds will be Camilo Villegas. The trio will tee off at 9:09 a.m. local time (4:09 a.m. et) on Thursday and 2:20 p.m. local time (9:20 a.m. et) on Friday.

The first group of the tournament, starting at 6:30 a.m. local time (1:30 a.m. et) on Thursday, features 1999 Open champion Paul Lawrie, who came back from 10 shots on the final day to win at Carnoustie, as well as Thomas Levet and Steve Marino.

Defending Open champion Stewart Cink, who beat Tom Watson in a playoff last year at Turnberry, is paired with 2002 Open winner Ernie Els and Ian Poulter. They are scheduled to start at 8:42 a.m. local time (3:42 a.m. et) on Thursday and will play at 1:53 p.m. local time (8:53 a.m. et) Friday.

Watson, the five-time winner of the Claret Jug, is back again and will play the first two rounds with 2007 and 2008 Open winner Padraig Harrington and Japanese teenager Ryo Ishikawa. The group will tee off Thursday directly after Woods' group at 9:20 a.m. local time (4:20 a.m. et).

Reigning Masters champion Phil Mickelson will try for his first British Open title and will play his opening two rounds with two-time U.S. Open winner Retief Goosen and European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie. They have a 2:20 p.m. local time (9:20 a.m. et) start on Thursday.

Graeme McDowell, who captured the U.S. Open title last month, will play with fellow U.S. Open champs Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy, starting at 1:53 p.m. local time (8:53 a.m. et).

Steve Stricker, coming off his win at the John Deere Classic this past weekend, is paired with Sergio Garcia and Hiroyuki Fujita. They'll start at 2:09 p.m. local time (9:09 a.m. et) on Thursday.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

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