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01/05/2012 - East London, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Africa's Thomas Aiken fired a nine-under 64 on Thursday to take the opening-round lead of the Africa Open, the first event on the 2012 European Tour schedule.
Aiken, last year's Open de Espana winner, is one shot clear at the par-73 East London Golf Club.
Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who had the honor of hitting the first tee shot in the 2012 Race to Dubai, and fellow South African Jaco Ahlers are tied for second at eight-under 65.
In fact, players from the home country are doing quite well.
Michael Du Toit and Dean O'Riley, both South Africans, share fourth with Welshman Phillip Price at seven-under 66.
Aiken played in the same group with Goosen on Thursday off No. 9 (due to course logistics, the second wave of players went off nine, instead of 10). Aiken broke into red figures in spectacular fashion. He hit a good two-iron to the par-five 11th green for his second shot and holed the eagle putt.
Aiken birdied 16, 17 and 18 to head to the first tee at five-under par. He went lower thanks again to the two-iron. Aiken got to a par-five third green in two with that trusty club, and once again, made eagle.
"I have had that two-iron for seven years and it is the only club from my old bag that conforms with groove regulations," said Aiken. "I find it very versatile and it is one of my favorite clubs. I had 230 yards to the hole on the third, and a similar yardage on 11. Managed to get the yardage right and I hit two perfect shots."
Aiken parred the fourth after his second eagle of the round, but got to nine- under par thanks to back-to-back birdies at five and six. He parred his last two holes for a somewhat surprising first-round lead.
"I wasn't really expecting that after two weeks without touching a club," admitted Aiken. "It was a great morning this morning -- early start, and the scoring conditions were good. It was out there for the taking and luckily I hit some really good shots and made putts.
"I really enjoyed the round today. This is not the longest course, but it bites if you go askew. Anything off the line on this course is pretty much a reload off the tee, which makes it a thinking man's course. There are a lot of risk-and-reward holes -- a couple of drivable par fours and tricky par threes -- and I think that a lot of new courses lack that challenge."
Maarten Lafeber, Charles-Edouard Russo, Richard Bland, JJ Senekal, Danny Willett and Shaun Norris share seventh place at six-under 67.
NOTES: Defending champion and former British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen is in the mix after a four-under 69 on Thursday...Aiken has won several times on the South African Tour, which is co-sponsoring this championship...Aiken, Goosen and Peter Hedblom, the third member of the group, combined to go 18- under par in round one...Last year's Race to Dubai winner and world No. 1 Luke Donald, is not on hand this week.
<< Short-handed Bucks visit weary Kings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kings will resume a torturous stretch of three games in
three nights when they return to Sacramento for a date with the short-handed
Milwaukee Bucks.
The Kings have been routed during the first two games of the span, l
<< Blackhawks make return to Philly to battle Flyers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blackhawks ended a 49-year championship drought the
last time they played in Philadelphia. Chicago will return to the City of
Brotherly Love for the first time since that memorable night in 2010, as it
battles the Flyers
<< Aztecs get another breather in clash with visiting Hawks
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the midst of a six-game homestand at
Viejas Arena, the 24th-ranked San Diego State Aztecs kick off the new calendar
year against the Hawks of San Diego Christian College tonight.
San Diego State, which sti
<< Wolverines and Hoosiers meet in clash of ranked Big Ten foes
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Top-25 teams collide in
Bloomington this evening, as the 16th-ranked Michigan Wolverines take on the
12th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers in Big Ten action at Assembly Hall.
John Beilein's Wolverines are
Federer reaches final four in Doha >>
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The great Roger Federer secured a spot
in Friday's semifinals at the season-opening $1.024 million Qatar Open.
The three-time overall and reigning champion Federer was tested by eighth-
seeded Italian An
Timbers sign Richards as homegrown player >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Timbers have signed forward Brent
Richards as the club's first homegrown player.
Richards, 21, joins the Timbers' first team after three years with the club's
development team, the Portland Tim
Bombers name Buchko new president and CEO >>
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have named Garth
Buchko as the team's new president and chief executive officer.
Buchko becomes the 39th president in team history and has an extensive
background as a s
Line of Scrimmage: Ravens ready to rule AFC roost >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After years of being blocked by a
treacherous course, the Baltimore Ravens finally have a clear path to a
championship, though it's a window of opportunity that may not be wide open for
very long.
The fir
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.
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:
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.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
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.
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