Perry's 61 good for Travelers lead
Golf Betting Lines
06/25/2009 - Cromwell, CT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kenny Perry had chance at the magical 59 on Thursday, but settled for a nine-under 61 and the first-round lead of the Travelers Championship.
Perry needed to go two-under over his last three holes to become the fourth player in PGA Tour history to shoot 59, but missed birdie efforts from eight, 25 and 24 feet on the last three.
"I had it the back of my head," Perry said of his chances at joining golf immortality with a sub-60 round. "Today was a good day to do it. I just didn't get it done."
His 61 matched the course record at the TPC River Highlands. Kirk Triplett set the original mark in 2000, then it was matched by Phil Mickelson and Scott Verplank in the 2001 championship and Brad Faxon four years ago.
Paul Goydos and Charles Warren are tied for second place at seven-under 63.
Lucas Glover, three days removed from his U.S. Open Championship, birdied three holes in a row from the 13th en route to a five-under-par 65 and a share of eighth place.
"I played well. I'm very pleased," said Glover, who earned his first major title Monday at Bethpage.
As well as Glover played on Thursday, Perry was four strokes better in round one.
Perry broke into red figures with back-to-back birdies at the third and fourth holes. He flew up the leaderboard thanks to a spectacular run, which began with a birdie at the par-five sixth.
After that birdie, Perry caught fire. He birdied his next four holes for five in a row and that spurt moved him into a share of first place at seven-under par.
Perry had a decent chance at birdie at 11, but missed. He parred the 12th as well, then reached the green in two at the par-five 13th and two-putted for another birdie.
Perry drove the green at the par-four 15th and had 20 feet for an eagle. That putt missed the hole, but he tapped in from three feet for a birdie and now 59 was a very realistic possibility.
At the par-three 16th, Perry hit his tee ball to eight feet. His putt grazed the right side of the cup and his 25-foot chance at 17 never threatened the hole.
Perry needed to hole his second shot at 18 to join the sub-60 club, but he couldn't manage it. He played his approach to 24 feet and the No. 7 player in the world could not convert for one final birdie and a round of 60.
Perry lost a playoff at the Masters and hasn't finished inside the top 20 since.
Greg Chalmers, Tag Ridings, Spencer Levin and Boo Weekley are tied for fourth place at six-under 64.
Glover was joined in eighth place by Ricky Barnes, one of the runners-up at Bethpage.
"Today I wanted to come back and rebound, obviously, from what happened last week," said Barnes, the third-round leader at the U.S. Open. "But today reminded me of the first round of last week. Just really solid, hit a lot of greens, had a lot of good looks."
Glover and Barnes are tied at minus-five with David Toms, John Merrick, D.A. Points, Mathew Goggin, Jerry Kelly, Y.E. Yang and Aaron Watkins.
Defending champion Stewart Cink struggled on Thursday. He shot a one-over 71 and was of 36 players out of 156 in round one who failed to shoot even-par or better.
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What Is the Point Spread?
What are Sports Betting Point Spreads?
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.
How to Read Point Spreads
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:
- Philly wins the actual game by any amount of points
OR
- Philly loses the game by less than 7 points.
-
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.
For Those Who Like to Consider Things Mathematically
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
- Subtracting the point spread from the favorite’s score (thus the minus sign before the number) and then compare to the underdog’s score
OR
- Adding the point spread to the underdog’s score (thus the plus sign before the number) and then compare to the favorite’s score
Who Really “Won” the Super Bowl odds ?
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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.