Overton keeps lead at Greenbrier Classic
Golf Betting Lines
07/31/2010 - White Sulphur Springs, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Overton shot a four-under 66 on Saturday to remain in the lead after three rounds of The Greenbrier Classic.
Chasing his first PGA Tour win, Overton finished 54 holes on The Old White Course with an 18-under 192 to lead D.A. Points by three shots and Boo Weekley by five.
While Overton did enough to remain atop the leaderboard, the real drama Saturday came from a couple of players chasing history in front of him on the course.
Points went 10-under par through his first 16 holes and needed just one more birdie to shoot a 59. But he three-putted for bogey at the 17th and made a routine par at the 18th to fall two strokes short.
Points' 61 moved him to 15-under 195, good for second place behind Overton. He wasn't the only player who flirted with shooting a 59 on Saturday.
Several hours earlier, J.B. Holmes birdied his last hole to shoot a 60 and take the early clubhouse lead at 12-under 198.
Incredibly, it was the fourth round of 60 or better on the PGA Tour in the last four weeks.
Paul Goydos, of course, shot the fourth 59 in PGA Tour history on July 8 during the first round of the John Deere Classic. Steve Stricker had a 60 the same day, nearly holing out for a 59.
Last week, Carl Pettersson shot a 60 during the third round of the Canadian Open, just missing a long birdie putt at the 18th hole that would have given him a 59.
Holmes' bid for 59 was done in by a few holes. He bogeyed the par-three third when he couldn't get up-and-down from behind the green. He missed a four-foot birdie putt at No. 11 and a 10-footer for eagle at No. 17.
In all, he made just the one bogey and 11 birdies, including a 10-foot birdie putt at the 18th to finish off the 60.
"If I had shot 60 maybe this time last year, probably get a little more attention than it's probably gonna get," said Holmes. "But there's been a lot of great scores lately."
Points had a better chance to shoot a 59 because he reached 10-under for the round with an 11-foot birdie putt at the 16th, giving him two more holes to turn the trick.
But he hit into a bunker at the par-five 17th and then three-putted for his only bogey to all but end the chase. He knocked his tee shot at the par-three 18th to just 29 feet, setting up his closing par.
Most of his scoring was done earlier in the round, as Points made a 3 on nine of his first 10 holes, playing them at seven-under par. He two-putted from 38 feet for birdie at No. 12 and rolled in a 26-footer for birdie at No. 13.
Overton had six birdies, all in his last 11 holes. He played the previous seven holes at two-over par.
Weekley made a 10-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to shoot a 67 and move into third place by himself at 13-under 197.
Holmes shared fourth with Jonathan Byrd (64), Brendon de Jonge (65) and Jimmy Walker (67).
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Horse Betting
(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).
The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.
"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."
Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.
"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."
When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:
CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.
DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.
PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.
You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.
"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."
Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.
(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)
Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."
But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."
Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."
Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."
All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.
In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.
"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."
To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.