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Golf Tidbits: So I was wrong about Phil & TigerGolf Betting Lines02/14/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Was it just two weeks ago that some writer asked whether Tiger or Phil was closer to winning? And didn't said writer come to the conclusion that Tiger was closer? Guilty as charged! I'm sure Phil Mickelson didn't use my column as motivation on Sunday at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. All he needed for that was to look at his playing partner, Tiger Woods. According to the PGA Tour, Sunday marked just the 10th time they were paired together in the final round at a tour event. Tiger had the early advantage in those 10, but Phil now owns that match-up. Sunday was the fifth consecutive time Mickelson shot lower than Woods when they were paired together. Wait, WHAT? Mickelson has out-Tigered Tiger! The par-three 12th was all you needed to see to know that Mickelson was going to best Woods on this day. Woods, who was five strokes back at the time, holed a bunker shot for birdie. Mickelson, who also missed the green, hit a poor chip to 30 feet. Everyone thought there would be a two-, maybe three-shot swing. WRONG! Mickelson buried the par putt and was four clear of Woods, and two strokes ahead over Charlie Wi. Mickelson followed with birdies on the next two holes. If the tournament wasn't over then, it was at the 16th. Lefty again looked to be in trouble as he could only hit a bunker shot to 38 feet. Ho-hum, he dropped that par putt right in the hole, too. So, for the first time in four starts in 2012, Mickelson put together a tournament with four sub-par rounds. It helped that he finished in the top 15 in greens in regulation, putts per round and putts per green in regulation. Mickelson clearly relished the chance to play with Woods in the final round. "I just seem more focused," he said. "I know that his level of play is so much greater when he's playing his best than anybody else's, that it just forces me to focus on my game more intently, and hit more precise shots." Mickelson was more focused than ever in the final round, and you could tell how comfortable he was on the greens. He seemed to take less time over his putts and it paid off. Mickelson needed just 26 putts in the final round, the fewest of the week. As Mickelson was putting together his finest final round in years, Woods looked like the Mickelson of old. Known for having a tremendous short game, Mickelson misses more short putts than any world-class player. That was Woods on Sunday. He missed at least three putts from three feet or closer. They might not have been straight-in putts, but, still, the Tiger of old never missed those putts. "I didn't hit the ball that bad. But I made nothing today. You saw that," Woods said. "I don't know how many three-putts I had, but I had a lot." So Mickelson is back to his winning ways, and Woods is still searching for that right formula. How soon he finds it will be determined by how often he plays, and we got that answer on Tuesday when he announced he will play three straight PGA Tour event starting with next week's Match Play Championship. One thing that I thought of while listening to Mickelson after Sunday's final round was the Ryder Cup. I know it was crazy when Hal Sutton paired the two together in 2004, but it is far less crazy now. Mickelson said this of Woods after his win, "I am inspired playing with him. I think most people are, but he seems to bring out the best in me and the last four or five years, I've played some of my best golf playing with him and I really enjoy it." I'll leave the pairings to captain Davis Love III, but why not give it a try in a fourball session? LPGA IS IN GOOD HANDS People have raved about the job Michael Whan has done in his 13 months as the LPGA Tour commissioner, and rightly so. Not only is the tour in good hands with him, but also with its young talent. Tennis and gymnastics are two sports in which teenagers tend to excel. It's time to add golf to that list. Whan made the correct move by allowing Lexi Thompson, 17, to play full time on tour a year earlier than the tour's 18-year-old minimum. While Thompson gets plenty of headlines, she isn't the only teenage star on the LPGA. Jessica Korda, 18, went to LPGA Q School in 2010 to gain her tour card. She finished second there to earn her card for last year. The 2011 season wasn't Korda's best as she had just one top-20 finish and missed the cut in two of the three majors she competed in. She has quickly turned her play around this year. Korda won a six-way playoff at the Women's Australian Open. The six were among only nine players who finished 72 holes under par in tough conditions at Royal Melbourne. If the conditions weren't tough enough, the five players Korda faced in the playoff were plenty tough. Among those five were three major champions and last year's U.S. Women's Open runner-up, Hee Kyung Seo. Korda took them all down with a birdie on the second extra hole. Thompson and Korda, just to name two, are among those who will carry the LPGA Tour for years to come. As good as that sounds, how about this? Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng just turned 23 three weeks ago. It'll be hard to mess things up with that kind of young talent. MINI-TIDBITS - To further my point above about the good hands the LPGA Tour is in, the top 10 in the women's world rankings average just under 26 years old and only two of the 10 are in their 30s. - Kyle Stanley made a remarkable comeback last week, winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open after blowing the Farmers Insurance Open the week before. He took the win from Spencer Levin in Phoenix, but Levin rebounded well himself. A week after a closing 75 dropped him into third place, Levin had four sub-par rounds en route to a share of ninth place at Pebble Beach.
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NFL Football BettingBILLS (+10) at Steelers SPORTSBOOK LINES It's impossible to gauge how a team will react after something like the Steve Everett situation, and it probably doesn't matter. That being said, the Bills are going to lose several games this year where they keep things close but fall short in the end to superior teams. Ben Roethlisberger and company could have a field day against Buffalo's decimated defense, but I like the Bills to cover. BENGALS (-7) at Browns SPORTSBOOK LINES All you can ask out of your NFL team is that it has a plan. You may not always agree with it as a fan, but as long as it appears the organization is going in some sort of direction, you have to go with it. Which brings us to the Cleveland Browns. You flip a coin to determine whether Chuck Frye or Derek Anderson should start the preseason opener. You start Frye in Week 1, but pull him in the first half. And then you deal him to the Seahawks for a sixth-round pick? Hmm... the Bengals could get six turnovers again this week. COLTS (-7) at Titans SPORTSBOOK LINES Tennessee signed ex-Colts cornerback Nick Harper in the offseason so that should help slow down Peyton Manning. Just ask Jason David and the Saints. Oh wait... One of these weeks, I'm going to learn to not pick against Tennessee, which has won seven of its last eight games. But it's not happening against Indy. TEXANS (+6.5) at Panthers SPORTSBOOK LINES Houston's Mario Williams, the first pick in the '06 draft, has more touchdowns than Reggie Bush after one week. Somehow I don't see that lasting. Meanwhile, Carolina bottled up what was expected to be a pretty high-octane offense in St. Louis in Week 1. Could this be the Panthers' defense everyone expected last year? Maybe. This feels like a 20-16 Carolina win. RAMS (-3) vs. 49ers SPORTSBOOKS LINES Absolutely love this game. Everyone's favorite pick for this year's surprise team -- the 49ers -- laid an egg on Monday night (not that anyone was watching with the game ending in the middle of the night for those of us on the East Coast). St. Louis wasn't much better, delivering a lackluster effort against the Panthers that included two Steven Jackson fumbles and panic from his fantasy owners. Jackson rebounds this week, and the Rams get their first win. PACKERS (+1.5) at Giants SPORTSBOOKS LINES Do you really trust this guy to win an NFL game if Eli Manning can't go? I say no. I'd feel alot better about this Packers team if it had any semblance of a running game, but I still think Green Bay's defense is good enough to give it a 2-0 start. JAGUARS (-10) vs. Falcons SPORTSBOOKS LINES Does it scare me to pick Jacksonville to cover a double-digit spread after it scored just 10 points last week against the Titans? Absolutely. But can I bring myself to pick Atlanta under any circumstances? No. Check out this poll on ajc.com. It asks what Atlanta's most urgent deficiency is: offense, defense, specials teams or all of the above. "All of the above" has 57 percent of the votes. Ouch. SAINTS (-3) at Buccaneers SPORTSBOOKS LINES I'm picking way too many road teams this week. Oh well. New Orleans has had some time to reflect on its lackluster showing in the opener, and the Buccanneers just aren't a very good football team. Anyone else surprised Tampa Bay hasn't made a move to sign Byron Leftwich? I thought that's what they do. VIKINGS (+3) at Lions SPORTS BETTING LINES Run the ball and stop the run. Minnesota can do both, and that will keep them in a lot of games this season. Even though it was only one week, Adrian Peterson looks like he was a steal at No. 7 in last year's draft. Not only will he produce, but Peterson delivers excitement to what otherwise would be one of the league's most boring teams. DOLPHINS (+3.5) vs. Cowboys SPORTS BETTING LINES Lost in the Tony Romo lovefest is just how bad the Cowboys' defense was last week. I know they're banged up, but Dallas' 'D' allowed 438 yards to the Giants' offense, and backup running back Derrick Ward averaged 6.8 yards per carry. Meanwhile, Cam Cameron's decision to split carries between Ronnie Brown and Jesse Chatman sounds about as can't-miss as Larry David's plan to show up to Marty Funkhouser's party a night late. Still, gotta go with Miami to cover at home. SEAHAWKS (-2.5) at Cardinals SPORTS BETTING LINES I'm probably missing something, but this game seems too easy. Arizona blew Monday night's game against the 49ers in typical Cardinals fashion, and the Seahawks beat Tampa Bay by two touchdowns. Love Seattle in this one. BRONCOS (-9.5) vs. Raiders SPORTS BETTING LINES Special teams was a major story line in Week 1. Take a look at the Broncos. They had to rush on to the field to get a Jason Elam field goal as time expired against the Bills. Denver drove into Buffalo territory on eight of 10 drives but came away with just a pair of field goals and a touchdown. Look for more scoring from the Broncos this week against an Oakland defense that gave up 36 points to Detroit in Week 1. BEARS (-12) vs. Chiefs SPORTS BETTING LINES Everyone talks about Rex Grossman when dissecting the Bears' offense, but Chicago's quarterback got no help in last week's loss to the Chargers. Meanwhile, Kansas City confirmed what we all thought while watching Hard Knocks: The Chiefs are going to stink this year. It could be a rough first month for Larry Johnson fantasy owners. Kansas City's RB was limited to 43 yards on 10 carries in Week 1, and the Chiefs face the Bears, Vikings and Chargers the next three weeks, all formidable run defenses. RAVENS (-10) vs. Jets SPORTS BETTING LINES A big dose of Willis McGahee and a usual sound defensive effort will give the Ravens their first win. According to Football Outsiders, no team in the NFL rushed only three defenders on pass plays last year more than the Jets. And according to my special Jets correspondent Ben Stauber, New York did the same in Week 1. Whoever starts at quarterback for the Ravens should have all day to throw. PATRIOTS (-3) vs. Chargers Friends and I were discussing how Bill Belichick goes about paying his $500,000 fine for cheating. Does he just write one check to the NFL? Do you need some sort of clearance to make such a monstrous financial transaction? I guess I shouldn't complain about the security deposit I have to put down on my new apartment. Anyway, two of the league's best teams square off in what should be a good one Sunday night. The Patriots always respond well just when you think they're in trouble. And their offensive attack was the story in Week 1. Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting. |
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