11/01/2008 - Palm Coast, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Letzig birdied his final hole on Saturday en route to a two-under 70 and the third-round lead of the Ginn sur Mer Classic.
Letzig finished 54 holes at seven-under 209 and leads by one at The Conservatory.
Ryan Palmer reached nine-under par for the championship, but bogeys at 15 and 16 dropped him into a tie with Letzig at minus-seven. Palmer, in the last group, elected to hit driver off the deck at the par-five 18th and pulled his shot into the water. He walked off with a bogey and dipped into a tie for second.
"I had confidence in hitting the golf shot," said Palmer, who is on the outside looking in at a PGA Tour card next year, sitting 143rd on the money list. "It's one of those times you don't pull it off."
Palmer finished with an even-par 72 and is tied for second with Englishman Kenneth Ferrie (67) and John Huston (70). The trio is knotted at six-under 210.
Mark Wilson (67) and Ken Duke (72) share fifth at five-under 211.
The second round was completed Saturday morning after darkness stopped action on Friday. The conditions were windy and tough, but Letzig braved it better than anyone through three rounds.
He began the round with a 14-foot birdie putt at the par-five opening hole. Letzig found trouble with back-to-back bogeys at three and four, but got one back thanks to a birdie at five.
Letzig birdied the par-five ninth to get within one at six-under par, but missed an 18-foot par save at the 10th. He bogeyed 12 as well, but a birdie at the par-five 13th returned him to minus-five.
At the par-four 15th, Letzig played a sensational approach to four feet. He converted the birdie putt and thanks to several miscues from Palmer, found himself one off the lead.
Letzig laid up in the right rough with his second at the unreachable, par-five 18th. His third stopped eight feet from the stick and he rolled in the birdie putt to match Palmer at minus-seven.
After Palmer's mistake at 18, Letzig grabbed his first 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour.
"It's been a tough week," said Letzig. "We played the British Open this year and we've had the same swing thought over a lot of shots. It sure feels the same."
Letzig is in a bit better position than most of his closest competitors. His tie for 29th and the accompanying $32,500 check last week at the Frys.com Open vaulted him to 109th on the tour's money list.
The top 125 after next week earn tour cards, but now Letzig is eyeing up a two-year exemption that would come with his first trip to the winner's circle on the PGA Tour.
"I put a lot of pressure on myself anyway, but you have to go one shot at a time," said Letzig. "Since it is so hard out there, you can't get ahead of yourself."
Vaughn Taylor (69), J.J. Henry (69) and Robert Allenby (73) share seventh place at four-under 212.
Last week's winner in Arizona, Cameron Beckman, managed an even-par 72 and is tied for 10th with Chad Collins (70), George McNeill (71) and Nicholas Thompson (72). That group came in at minus-three.
David Duval was tied for sixth at the start of the third round, but a two-over 74 on Saturday dropped him down to a tie for 14th at two-under 214. He is still not completely out of it in his bid for his first win since his major breakthrough at the 2001 British Open.
"I just didn't hit the ball quite as well today," admitted Duval. "I'm not out by any means."
<< Pesonen called up to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins recalled
Finnish forward Janne Pesonen from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of
the American Hockey League, it was announced on Saturday.
Pesonen, 26, has played
<< Petrova, Mattek to play for Quebec crown
Quebec City, QC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nadia Petrova of Russia and American
Bethanie Mattek will play for the title of the Bell Challenge after both won
semifinal matches on Saturday.
The top-seeded Petrova ended American Angela Hayne
<< Crosby to play, Dupuis on IR
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Pittsburgh Penguins announced several
moves prior to the start of Saturday's road contest against the St. Louis
Blues.
Team captain Sidney Crosby will play despite suffering an unknown injury
<< Swenson's late field goal lifts Michigan State over Wisconsin
East Lansing, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brett Swenson nailed a 44-yard field goal
with seven seconds left in the contest to give No. 22 Michigan State a hard-
fought 25-24 victory over Wisconsin.
Swenson kicked four field goals for Michig
Michigan's bowl streak ends after loss to Purdue >>
West Lafayette, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Justin Siller's 28-yard touchdown pass
to Desmond Tardy with 26 seconds remaining proved to be the game winner as the
Purdue Boilermakers defeated the Michigan Wolverines, 48-42, in a Big Ten
Confere
Cordoba leaves it late for Inter >>
Reggio Calabria, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ivan Cordoba scored in stoppage time
to give Inter Milan a 3-2 win over Reggina at Stadio Oreste Granillo on
Saturday.
Inter built a two-goal lead inside of 25 minutes on goals from Maico
Glenn leads Blue Bombers past Tiger-Cats >>
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Glenn threw for 166 yards and two
touchdowns to lead Winnipeg to a 44-30 win over Hamilton.
Glenn was 11-of-14 for Winnipeg (8-10), while Romby Bryant finished with four
catches for 101 yards an
Report: Culpepper, Lions agree to contract >>
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Lions and free-agent quarterback
Daunte Culpepper have reportedly agreed to a two-year deal, which will be
officially signed Monday.
According to the Detroit Free Press, the former Oakland
Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."
When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules.
The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.
The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.
“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”
The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.
“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”
The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.
“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”
Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.
“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."
So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?
“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.
Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.
Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.
Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.
“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.
Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.
The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.
“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.
Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.
Sports Betting News: NFL Team History | Football Betting | Baseball Betting | Basketball Betting | Hockey Betting | Golf Betting | Tennis Betting | Auto Racing Betting | Horse Racing Betting | Soccer Betting