Crane leads Players; Woods six back

Golf Betting Lines

05/07/2009 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ben Crane fired a seven-under 65 on Thursday to take the lead after the first round of The Players Championship at the famous Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass.

John Mallinger, Alex Cejka and Richard S. Johnson share second place at six- under 66.

Tiger Woods had an up-and-down round of one-under 71 on Thursday that left him in a tie for 38th place.

"I hit the ball well today, I really did. It's just unfortunate I didn't capitalize on my opportunities today," acknowledged Woods, who only won this title in 2001 and has not finished in the top 10 since. "I had quite a few of them."

Woods began on the 10th tee and out of the gate struggled with the flat stick. He missed birdie putts of 10 feet at 10 and 11, but found serious danger thanks to an errant drive at 14. Woods made bogey there to fall to plus-one, but got on the right side of par two holes later.

At the par-five 16th, Woods hit a three-wood around the corner and had only a seven-iron for his second shot. Woods stuffed it three feet from the hole and kicked in the eagle putt to jump to one-under par for the championship.

He two-putted for a birdie from a long way away at the par-five second. Woods missed the green at both six and eight and walked off with bogeys at both. Those bogeys dropped him to even-par, but he knocked a wedge to a foot to set up a closing birdie at nine.

Woods was joined at minus-one by several players including Vijay Singh, Adam Scott and defending champion Sergio Garcia.

Phil Mickelson, a winner two years ago, birdied three of his first four holes Thursday, but fell apart. He recorded six bogeys and two birdies after the fourth for a one-over 73.

"I hit some squirrely shots," admitted Mickelson. "I didn't score well."

Crane certainly did.

He teed off on the back nine first Thursday and birdied his first two holes. Crane parred the next two, then dropped a shot thanks to a bogey at the 14th.

From there, Crane played brilliantly.

At the par-five 16th, Crane hit his second into a greenside bunker, but blasted out to tap-in range to set up the birdie. One hole later, Crane rolled in a 20-footer for birdie and made the turn at three-under par.

He parred No. 1, but chipped to six feet for a birdie at the par-five second. Crane birdied the par-three third, converted a four-footer for birdie at four and made it four in a row thanks to a long birdie putt at the fifth.

Crane was seven-under and in the lead of the tournament after the birdie run. He parred six then sank a 12-foot birdie putt at No. 7 to get to eight-under par.

At the par-three eighth, Crane knocked his tee ball into a bunker. The best he could do was 12 feet with his second and Crane missed the par save to fall to minus-seven.

Crane laid up with his second at the par-five ninth and he hit his third to 12 feet. Crane failed to make that last birdie effort, but still got in with a great round, especially a great one with the putter.

Crane needed only 22 putts on Thursday and acknowledged how special the performance was, considering the difficulty of the greens at Sawgrass.

"This is definitely one of the better putting rounds of my career, and you know, those greens out there are immaculate," said Crane, a two-time PGA Tour winner. "You get some of those downgrain putts and it just rolls like it's on the hood of your car, just so smooth going out there. It's beautiful to watch that.

"Today I was able to put the ball in the right spots, give myself some opportunities and then all of a sudden some putts start going in and give you a little confidence, and it was one of those special days playing golf."

Retief Goosen, Camilo Villegas, Jason Dufner, Jonathan Byrd, Scott Verplank, David Toms, Ian Poulter, Brad Adamonis and Bubba Watson are knotted in fifth place at five-under 67.

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MySportsbook.com: New College Football Clock Rules Examined

Coaches and bettors alike are desperate to make sense of the new time-keeping rules on the NCAA gridiron. One of the big stories to come out of the Ohio State-Texas clash last weekend was Texas coach Mack Brown's criticism of the NCAA's new clock rules that are intended to shorten the duration of college football games, therefore affecting college football betting.

"They scored with six minutes left and the game was over before we had a chance to do anything," Brown told ESPN.com. "I really hope whoever made these changes will go back and look them over."

Sure, it might be sour grapes; the Buckeyes thoroughly trounced the defending national champion Longhorns 24-7. However, Brown isn't alone in giving the changes their due thought. Bettors are also wondering about them, albeit for a completely different reason. Most experts agree that the changes will result in games being shortened by anywhere from 10 to 20 plays. The obvious consequence is lower scores, with more time rolling off the clock during changes of possession. (The Ohio State-Texas game flew well under the total of 52.)

According to research at the online sportsbook MySportsbook.com, more than 18 plays a game disappeared last weekend into thin air. That's a 10-percent reduction. In 2005, a typical game had 168.58 plays. For 2007 already, it's down to 150.26.

As a result, teams combined to gain an average of about 100 fewer yards a game last weekend versus the 2005 openers. Scoring was also down by about 4.5 points (attention Las Vegas sports lines).

Of course, oddsmakers were able to adjust to the changes before the season started. Proof of that came as the over went a balanced 8-9 at My Sportsbook on Saturday.

Other angles to consider:A shorter game should theoretically result in shorter lines. Whereas Team A might have been a 14-point favorite in a 168-play game (last year), if there are 10 percent less snaps in 2007, the line should also be reduced by 10 percent (to 13 or 12.5). Of course, this is an over-simplification of the matter, but something to keep in mind.
Less possessions means a better chance the game will be decided by three or seven points. For example, what might have been a 20-10 final score in 2005 may end at

17-10 in 2007. Granted, a 24-17 game last year might end at 21-17 these days, but the former - a three- or seven-point advantage being preserved as opposed to created - is the most likely scenario.

*UPDATE* - Sept. 25, 2007

New Clock Rules Boon for online bookmakers

By adjusting the time-keeping rules to shorten the duration of college football games, the NCAA hoped to make its product more enjoyable for the fans. While the NCAA's success in this regard is still up for debate, bookmakers couldn't be happier with the results.

"We are seeing a massive jump in college football betting," noted the MySportsbook.com management team. "With all the early Saturday games (12 a.m. ET) ending before the second wave begins (3:30 p.m. ET) - something that didn't always happen before the changes - bettors are now able to re-invest their winnings from the morning session in the afternoon games."

While not all bettors will choose to roll over their winnings, it doesn't take much for an impact to be seen on the bottom line. "Not all of the millions of dollars in morning payouts get re-bet. In fact, it's probably only 10 to 20 percent," noted the sportsbook management team. "Still, the increased football betting lines window will create a ton of growth for us over the course of the season."

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