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07/19/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - CANADIAN OPEN, St. George's Golf & Country Club, Toronto, Ontario - From one national championship to another, the PGA Tour moves north of the border this week for the Canadian Open.
Despite its position following the British Open, Canada's national championship has still attracted some top-level talent.
Among those making the trip to Toronto are world No. 8 Paul Casey, No. 9 Luke Donald, No. 16 Retief Goosen and No. 19 Sean O'Hair. All four finished in the top 11 at the British Open and Casey played in the final pairing with winner Louis Oosthuizen.
This week's event also offers an opportunity for the top players from the Canadian Tour to play for a bigger purse than they're accustomed to. Six players were awarded spots in the field, including Aaron Goldberg, who captured the tour's Players Cup on Sunday to earn his berth.
Reno-Tahoe Open champion Matt Bettencourt is also scheduled to play at St. George's, as is his runner-up, Bob Heintz.
At last year's Canadian Open, Nathan Green defeated Goosen with a par on the second playoff hole to win his first PGA Tour title. The tournament was pushed to a Monday finish following four days of rain storms that dumped more than four inches of water on the Glen Abbey course.
Green and 2001 winner Scott Verplank are the only champions from the last 10 years of the event who will be in the field this week.
Golf Channel will have coverage from 3-6 p.m. (et) on the first two days, while CBS will broadcast in the same time slot on the weekend.
Next week is the Greenbrier Classic, a new event on the PGA Tour schedule.
CHAMPIONS TOUR
THE SENIOR BRITISH OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, Carnoustie Golf Links, Carnoustie, Scotland - This week marks the first of two consecutive majors for the Champions Tour.
At last year's Senior British Open, Loren Roberts hit the fairway and green on three consecutive playoff holes and made par at the third to knock off Mark McNulty to win his 10th Champions Tour title and fourth senior major.
Fred Funk, who set two scoring records during the week, also made the playoff but was eliminated on the first hole when he was the only one who didn't make a birdie.
Roberts captured his second Senior British title in four years. He will be joined in the field this week at Carnoustie by some other recent champions, including three-time winner Tom Watson, Bruce Vaughan and Pete Oakley.
ESPN will have coverage of all four rounds this week beginning at 12 p.m. (et) the first two days, at 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Next week is the third major of the season, the U.S. Senior Open, which was won by Funk last year.
Tom Lehman won the season's first major, the Senior PGA Championship, in a playoff over Fred Couples and David Frost.
LPGA TOUR
EVIAN MASTERS, Evian Masters Golf Club, Evian-les-Bains, France - Last year, Ai Miyazato captured the Evian Masters for her first victory in four full seasons on the LPGA Tour.
This week, she returns to the site of that win as the No. 1 player in the world.
What a difference a year makes.
Miyazato beat Sophie Gustafson in a playoff last year to finally break through for her long-awaited maiden title. The talented Japanese star has already won four times this season and is currently the top-ranked women's player by a very slim margin over Cristie Kerr.
Outside of the major championships, the Evian Masters might be the next-best draw on tour, so all of the top names in women's golf will be in the field this week.
Among them are all three of the 2010 major champions -- Yani Tseng (Kraft Nabisco Championship), Kerr (LPGA Championship) and Paula Creamer (U.S. Open) -- as well as top draw Michelle Wie and former winner Natalie Gulbis.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds, including three hours on Saturday and Sunday from 1-4 p.m. (et).
Next week is the final major of the season, the Women's British Open, which was won by Catriona Matthew last year.
EUROPEAN TOUR
SCANDINAVIAN MASTERS, Bro Hof Slott Golf Club (Stadium Course), Stockholm, Sweden - British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen begins his post-St. Andrews schedule at this week's Scandinavian Masters.
The South African is set to lead the field at Bro Hof Slott a week after cruising to a seven-shot victory for his first major championship.
Last year's Scandinavian Masters was won by Ricardo Gonzalez, who closed with a four-under 69 on Sunday to wrap up his fourth career European Tour victory and first since 2004.
Golf Channel will have three hours of coverage of all four rounds beginning at 8:30 a.m. (et) the first two days and at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Next week is the Irish Open. Last year, Ireland's Shane Lowry became the third amateur in tour history to win an event when he parred the third playoff hole to defeat Robert Rock. Lowry has since turned pro.
NATIONWIDE TOUR
NATIONWIDE CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL INVITATIONAL, The Ohio State University Golf Club (Scarlet Course), Columbus, Ohio - Coming off a victory at the Chiquita Classic, Tommy Gainey leads the field at this week's Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational.
Gainey became the first two-time winner in 2010 when he rolled to a three-shot victory Sunday at the TPC River's Bend. He headlines a field that includes 19 of the top 20 players on the tour money list.
At last year's event, Derek Lamely defeated then-amateur Rickie Fowler with a par on the second hole of a playoff to capture his first Nationwide Tour win. Both players are competing on the PGA Tour this season.
Golf Channel will have coverage of all four rounds.
Next week is the Cox Classic, which was won by Rich Barcelo last year.
UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION
U.S. JUNIOR AMATEUR, Egypt Valley Country Club (Ridge and Valley Courses), Ada, Michigan - Jordan Spieth is defending his title this week at the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Spieth won the stroke-play portion of last year's event at Trump National, then cruised through match play to become the sixth 15-year-old winner in championship history.
He is trying to become the first back-to-back Junior Amateur champion since Tiger Woods won three in a row from 1991-93.
U.S. GIRLS' JUNIOR, The Country Club of North Carolina, Village of Pinehurst, North Carolina - Last year, Amy Anderson was the first stroke-play medalist in five years to win the Girls' Junior.
Anderson rolled to a 6 & 5 victory over decorated USGA player Kimberly Kim in their 36-hole match play final. Neither player is in the field this year.
<< Florida, NCAA looking into possible violations
Gainesville, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The University of Florida has reportedly
informed the NCAA of a possible rules violation involving former football
player Maurkice Pouncey that could wind up costing the Gators their win in the
Sugar B
<< Atlanta's Venters, Cox suspended
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atlanta Braves pitcher Jonny Venters has
been suspended by Major League Baseball for four games and fined an
undisclosed amount for throwing two straight pitches at Milwaukee first
baseman
<< Mathieu upended on first day in Hamburg
Hamburg, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul-Henri Mathieu, who was defeated in
the final of last year's event, was upset by qualifier Pere Riba on the first
day of play at the 2010 Hamburg Open.
Mathieu won the first set handily, 6-1,
<< Report: Florida, NCAA probe violation allegations
GAINESVILLE, Fla. (AP) -ESPN is reporting that Florida and the NCAA are investigating allegations that former Gators offensive lineman Maurkice Pouncey received $100,000 from a representative of a sports agent before last season ended.Florida athlet
Report: Johnson, Titans come to contract agreement >>
Culver City, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The NFL Network is reporting that
running back Chris Johnson and the Tennessee Titans have agreed to a deal that
will pay him slightly more than $2 million during the 2010 season.
According to T
Edwards, Keselowski feud showing no signs of letting up >>
Madison, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - "Boom boom boom, now. Boom boom boom, now. Boom
boom pow."
I generally don't like using song lyrics to describe a frantic episode in a
NASCAR race or any other motorsports event, but after last Saturday's night
Dushevina moves on in Slovenia >>
Portoroz, Slovenia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Russian Vera Dushevina was
a first-round winner Monday at the Slovenia Open.
Dushevina dropped the first set but rallied for a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over
fellow countrywoman Anna Lapushch
Jazz sign Bell >>
Salt Lake City, UT (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Utah Jazz have signed guard Raja
Bell to a reported three-year contract worth $10 million.
This will be Bell's second stint with Utah after spending two seasons from
2003-05 with the club. He
Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"
A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."
Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.
In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.
"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."
Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.
But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"
Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.
This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.
Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.
In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.
No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.
And that's all any bettor can ask for.
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