11/15/2008 - Singapore (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chapchai Nirat eagled the 11th hole Saturday and moved atop the leaderboard during the suspended third round of the Singapore Open.
Nirat is five-under on his round through 12 holes. He sits at nine-under par and is two in front at Sentosa Golf Club.
Thomas Bjorn, Simon Dyson and Chih Bing Lam are tied for second at minus- seven.
The leader in the clubhouse is a double-major winner from this year. Padraig Harrington fired a five-under 66 and is tied for fifth with, among others, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els.
"I played well," said Mickelson. "I'm very much in contention but I need to make a few birdies tomorrow to make an impact. There are a lot of good players up there."
Nirat is definitely one of those good players. He finished second on the Asian Order of Merit last year, but is not considered in the league of those pursuing him on the leaderboard.
"I'm not going to think about the players behind me," acknowledged Nirat. "I'm feeling really confident as I'm hitting my driver and three-wood well. It's important to lead this event going into Sunday, but it'll certainly be a very long day with so much golf to play."
Nirat holed out his approach from 118 yards out on the 11th hole to grab sole possession of the lead. He's won twice on the Asian Tour, but knows this is one of the biggest tournaments on his circuit.
"I'm going to take it easy tonight by watching Thai movies and get ready for tomorrow," said Nirat. "I was always aiming to play well here as I like this golf course."
Jeev Milkha Singh and Rory McIlroy joined the major-winning trio at minus- five.
The third round will resume Sunday morning and the fourth round will follow.
<< Around the CFL: Improvements up front a big reason for Als success
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - There's a big reason for the Montreal
Alouettes' turnaround this season.
The Alouettes posted an 11-7 record this year to finish atop the East Division
standings and earn the right to host the co
<< Cavs' Wallace questionable versus Jazz with left knee contusion
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cleveland Cavaliers forward/center Ben
Wallace underwent an MRI exam on Friday and the results came back negative,
but he is still listed as questionable for Saturday's game against Utah
because
<< Sens, Isles complete home-and-home on Long Island
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Ottawa Senators will try to break out of their scoring
slump tonight, as they visit the New York Islanders and Nassau Coliseum to
complete a home-and-home set with the club.
Ottawa has lost its last three games includi
<< Kings host Preds, shoot for fifth straight win
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The suddenly hot Los Angeles Kings will shoot for their
fifth straight victory tonight, when they welcome the Nashville Predators to
Staples Center.
The Kings have notched four wins in a row for the first time since Octobe
Logano grabs pole for Nationwide race at Homestead >>
Homestead, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joey Logano won the pole for Saturday's
Nationwide Series season-ending Ford 300 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. The
No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver rounded the 1.5-mile oval in 31.962
seconds
Arsenal suffers another setback >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal fell nine points off the league
lead on Saturday as the Gunners suffered a 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa at the
Emirates Stadium.
Ashley Young missed a penalty kick in the 20th minute as V
American Bradley helps Monchengladbach tie Bayern >>
Monchengladbach, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American midfielder Michael Bradley
scored his first goal in the Bundesliga on Saturday, helping Monchengladbach to
a stunning 2-2 draw against defending champions Bayern Munich.
Bradley, who score
Lions rebound in rout of Indiana >>
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Derrick Williams ran for 61 yards with
a touchdown and added 62 yards receiving with another score, as No. 7 Penn
State pulled away for a 34-7 victory over Indiana on a dreary afternoon at
Beaver
“You play to win the game!”
Those are the words of notoriously intense head coach Herman Edwards. Unfortunately, from a bettors’ perspective, most coaches don’t feel that way about the NFL preseason. August is a time to evaluate young players, finalize the depth chart and pray your star players stay healthy.
The trick to making money during the exhibition schedule is identifying coaches – like Edwards – who can’t stand losing even when there's nothing on the line.
The New York Jets betting won 15 of 21 preseason games and went 14-7 against the spread (ATS) during Edwards’s five-year tenure with the club. In his first season as the Kansas City Chiefs field boss, the team improved from 0-4 to 2-2.
Identifying win-a-holics like Edwards is a good start if you plan betting the preseason – even though most say you shouldn’t ... but what the hell do they know anyway?
Here’s a brief rundown of two teams that have a habit of winning during the second-stringers’ season, and another club that has a good chance of exceeding this year.
Playing in the media hub of North America can be stressful but the press can’t write anything negative about the way Tom Coughlin’s boys play in the preseason. The Giants won and covered all four games last summer, improving their record to 7-1 both straight up (SU) and against the spread over the last two years.
Coughlin has shown he’s not afraid to give his starters more time in the second preseason game than most of his colleagues, no doubt one of the reasons his team has been so dominant.
Bettors can count on America’s team early on. The Cowboys are 14-6 both SU and ATS since 2002 in warm-up contests. Former coach Bill Parcells, the coach of the team the last four years, has an intimidating, in-your-face presence – surely a reason Dallas has had so much early success.
The Big Tuna won’t be strolling the sidelines with looks of disgust, but new coach Wade Phillips will be anxious to make a good first impression for owner Jerry Jones.
Dallas plays the Indianapolis Colts and the Denver Broncos before things get serious. They then face the Houston Texans in their third contest (the game starters see most game time) and finish off with the Minnesota Vikings.
Expect a Dallas team able to walk away with another 3-1 preseason record.
This team scored a league-worst 12 offensive touchdowns last season, so the rookies and veterans each have something to prove. There’s a bounty of first-unit jobs up for grabs and plenty of bodies competing for those slots.
First-time head coach Lane Kiffin will be eager to impress an owner who employs the philosophy, “Just win, baby!”
The 32-year-old Kiffin has to command respect from a locker room full of players older than him. All of these factors should lead to purpose in preseason.
Don’t forget: before playing like a team that belonged in NFL Europe, Oakland went 4-1 (both SU and ATS) in exhibition games.
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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 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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