Jimenez keeps three-shot lead in Switzerland

Golf Betting Lines

09/04/2010 - Crans Montana, Switzerland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Miguel Angel Jimenez protected his three-shot lead at the European Masters Saturday with a three-under 68 in the third round.

Jimenez appeared to have shot a 67 after rolling in a long birdie putt at the 18th hole, only to call a one-shot penalty on himself after the round.

The infraction occurred eight holes earlier at No. 10 when Jimenez picked up his ball in the fairway, mistakenly believing he could lift and place it. The ball was near a sprinkler head.

Instead of signing for a par on the hole, Jimenez, who is chasing his third win of the season, gave himself a bogey. He new immediately that he had made a mistake.

"I thought 'What are you doing?'" Jimenez said. "But I'm still feeling good."

The 46-year-old Spaniard took a three-shot lead into the round after firing a 61 on Friday, and he remained ahead by the same count Saturday at 17-under 196.

Trailing him again was Edoardo Molinari, who also shot a 68 to stay three back at 14-under 199. Fellow Italian Matteo Manassero, 17, carded a 69 to share third place with Steve Webster (64) at 13-under 200.

No one else was within six shots of Jimenez's lead heading into the final round at the Crans-sur-Sierre course.

The final threesome of Jimenez, Molinari and Manassero was bothered all day by noise in the gallery. Jimenez's caddie repeatedly scolded spectators to keep quiet and put their cameras and cell phones away.

Molinari screamed at one shutterbug on the No. 7 tee, pleading for him to wait until after he hit the ball to take a picture. Molinari still knocked his tee shot onto the green at the 331-yard par four, but he missed the eagle putt.

He tapped in for a birdie instead, the first of three in a row for the talented Italian, who was named to his first Ryder Cup team last Sunday after winning the Johnnie Walker Championship for his second victory of the season.

Despite the birdie run by Molinari, Jimenez was still able to protect the three-shot edge he carried into the round as both players made four birdies on the front nine.

Jimenez's lead was cut to two strokes by a bogey at the par-four 12th, where he knocked his first two shots into the rough and then chipped through the green with his third.

Molinari bogeyed the 13th to again fall three behind, but Jimenez followed with a bogey at the 14th.

While Molinari parred his final five holes, Jimenez picked up birdies at the 15th and 18th to seemingly build a four-stroke lead.

That was, until the score for the 17-time European Tour winner changed moments after the round. He said he was still happy with a three-shot lead.

"We'll see what happens tomorrow," Jimenez said.

NOTES: Ten of Jimenez's 17 tour wins have come after the age of 40...Jimenez and Molinari are the only players from Colin Montgomerie's European Ryder Cup team in the field this week...Manassero was the 2009 British Amateur champion.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

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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MySportsbook.com favors Bears, Bengals, Chargers and Colts to remain perfect

LAS VEGAS , Sept. 28 - Two big match-ups of undefeated teams have fans salivating at the Week Four schedule in the NFL. The Chicago Bears stifling defense looks to provide a less than hospitable welcome to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday night in a battle of two 3-0 teams in the NFC conference. In the AFC, the San Diego Chargers (2-0) head to Maryland to face the surprising Baltimore Ravens (3-0) as both try to keep pace atop the conference standings. Betting Lines makers at MySportsbook.com, online sportsbook and casino, have set the Bears as 3.5 point favorites while the Chargers are a 2.5 point bet.

Of the three remaining undefeated teams, only one, New Orleans, enters this week's game as an underdog. Despite an emotional and resounding win over Atlanta on Monday night, the Saints are a 7.5 point underdog against the struggling Carolina Panthers. Indianapolis looks to stay perfect when they face the New York Jets as a 9 point road favorite while the Cincinnati Bengals are a 6 point favorite at home to the New England Patriots.

Six teams enter the week still looking for their first win, with a seventh, Tampa Bay, on a bye week. The prospect of dropping another game would not bode well for a potential playoff run. Since 1990, just three teams -- the 1992 Chargers, 1995 Detroit Lions and 1998 Buffalo Bills -- have overcome losing their first three games of the season to earn a postseason berth. And only the Chargers managed to accomplish the feat after starting 0-4.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.