Johnson leads Woods, two others, by two at Quail Hollow

Golf Betting Lines

05/02/2009 - Charlotte, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Zach Johnson carded four-under 68 Saturday to grab a two-stroke lead after three rounds of the Quail Hollow Championship.

Johnson, the 2007 Masters champion, completed 54 holes at 11-under-par 205.

World No. 1 Tiger Woods had taken the lead with a birdie on the 15th, but bogeyed the final two holes to finish two back at minus-nine. Woods posted a two-under 70 and he was joined in second place by Lucas Glover (68) and George McNeill (70).

Second-round leaders Bubba Watson and Retief Goosen both managed even-par 72s Saturday to slide into a tie for fifth place at eight-under-par 208.

Johnson did not look like he was going to be a factor early on Saturday as he bogeyed two and four to slide back to five-under.

The third round was completed despite a weather delay of nearly 75 minutes.

The five-time winner on the PGA Tour started his rally with a birdie on the sixth. Johnson followed that with an eagle on seven and a birdie on eight to get within one of the lead at the Quail Hollow Club.

Johnson parred three straight around the turn, then birdied the 12th to grab a share of the lead. He missed the fairway on the short par-four 14th, then his pitch took a big bounce on the green and rolled all the way through the green and into the water behind the putting surface.

From there, Johnson was able to save bogey, but he trailed McNeill and Woods by one at that point. Johnson played his third within two feet at the par-five 15th and kicked that in for birdie, but he still trailed by one.

Johnson drained a 14-foot birdie effort from the fringe on the par-three 17th to take the outright lead after the leaders fell backwards. He two-putted for par at the last to secure the fourth third-round lead of his PGA Tour career.

"I felt good about today, and I didn't get off to the start I necessarily wanted, but I remained patient. I think that was the key for me the whole week, and certainly today," said Johnson, who won two of the previous three times he owned at least a piece of the 54-hole lead.

"I put myself in nice places in the fairway some of the time, and as a result I could be aggressive at certain points of the course, and I took advantage of it."

Woods, the 2007 champion, grabbed a piece of the lead with an 18-foot birdie putt on one. He gave that shot back as he bogeyed the third, but recovered with birdies on five and seven to get to nine-under.

At the ninth, Woods found a fairway bunker off the tee, then pulled his second into the trees left of the green. He scrambled for a bogey, but again bounced back with a two-foot birdie putt on 10.

Woods sank a six-footer for birdie on 12 to tie for the lead, then took the lead by himself with a two-putt birdie on the par-five 15th. He three-putted for bogey on 17, then missed the green right at the last and that led to a closing bogey that left Woods two back.

"I hit the ball better today, there's no doubt," said Woods, who hit nine fairways Saturday after hitting nine in the first two rounds combined. "Obviously, the last two holes were not very good there. I had two seven-irons the last two holes and made two bogeys, that's not the way you want to finish, but I've got a shot going into tomorrow.

Glover birdied the fourth and fifth, then jumped into the lead with a 12-foot eagle putt on the seventh. He stood at minus-nine after the eagle, but remained there as he parred the next eight holes.

The 2005 FUNAI Classic winner regained a piece of the lead with a six-foot birdie putt on 16, but he gave that shot back at the last, where he found a bunker with his second before two-putting for bogey.

"I played well, very pleased. Just one mistake on the last," said Glover. "I started missing some greens, but got up-and-down and then birdied 16 and had a pretty good opportunity to make four on the last and didn't do it."

McNeill ran off three straight birdies from the fifth to grab the lead at 10- under. He cruised to seven straight pars from the eighth though.

At the 15th, McNeill sank a six-foot putt for birdie and a piece of the lead. Like Woods though, he tripped to back-to-back bogeys to close his round.

Goosen and Watson were joined in a share of fifth place at minus-eight by Brendon de Jonge (67) and Sean O'Hair (67). Davis Love III, David Toms, Jason Dufner, Y.E. Yang and Ross Fisher are tied for ninth at seven-under-par 209.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.


MySportsbook.com : Fortune Favors Favorites in March Madness betting?

Just like Day 1 of the “Sweet 16”, Friday’s games are chock full of some of the nation’s elite.  Unlike Thursday’s games, there is a little bit more of a “Cinderella” feel as #7 seed UNLV and #6 seed Vanderbilt will attempt to move on to the Elite Eight.  With powerhouses Florida, UNC and Georgetown looking to continue their momentum against lesser known teams, it isn’t surprising that once again the “betting public” is backing most of the favorites.  As the early coin rolls in, 56% of Sportsbook.com bettors prefer Georgetown (-7.5) as they take on Vanderbilt; 84% of the early money is backing Oregon (-3) as they square off against UNLV; and a slight majority (52%) of the early cash is on Florida (-10.5) against Butler as the Gators continue their quest for another National Title. The only favorite the public don’t seem confident in is UNC, as 59% of the cash is backing the underdog Trojans (+8).

Midwest

#1 Florida vs. #5 Butler

The defending National Champs have been on a mission since last April.  Joakim Noah and Al Horford turned down millions of dollars for one reason, to REPEAT.  After a late season hiccup which saw them lose three out of four, the Gators have won six straight by an average of 20.3 points. More importantly, they covered in five of those six games.  Behind their stymie defense that yields only 56.9 PPG, Butler has been a very pleasant surprise this season.  As their 20-11 ATS record will indicate, “surprise teams” like Butler are often good bets for gamblers.  Playing in an average conference, Butler wasn’t and underdog too often but when they were, they covered (6-0 ATS).  Butler’s defense will have its hands full against a Gators offense which averages 80.1 PPG on an amazing 52.9% shooting from the field.  With Florida’s tournament experience over the last few years, it isn’t surprising that they are 5-1 ATS this season, 20-4 ATS over the last three seasons and 38-20 since 1997 in tournament action.

#3 Oregon vs. #7 UNLV

As a #7 seed, UNLV is the closest thing to a “Cinderella” we have this year.  If you bet on UNLV this season with any regularity, you most likely cashed in. Behind their guard oriented attack, the Rebels are an impressive 20-11 ATS this season.  As an underdog they covered in 8 out of their ten games which isn’t surprising since they are 52-30 ATS as a ‘dog since 1997. The Rebels have been a consistent cover during the month of March as well.  This March they are 6-0 ATS, 11-3 ATS over the last three seasons and 24-11 since 1997. Their impressive ATS trends don’t end there; versus teams with a winning record they are 15-6 ATS this season and 41-21 over the last three seasons.  Although Oregon hasn’t been as generous to gamblers as UNLV this season, they have been covering consistently as of late.  There is no question that they are playing their best ball of the season having won their last 8 straight up (SU) by an average of 14.5 points. Not surprising they covered in 7 of those games.  It is interesting to note how similar these teams are in regards to scoring and scoring defense. UNLV averages 75 PPG while giving up 66.5 PPG and Oregon scores 75.8 PPG while yielding 65.5 PPG.

East

#6 Vanderbilt vs. #2 Georgetown

“Hoya Paranoia” is officially back! After a decent start, Georgetown has rolled through the second half of the season.  Over their last 18 games, they are 17-1 SU.  They have definitely improved ATS as the season has progressed as well. After opening the season 1-4-1 ATS, the Hoyas have covered 78.3% of their games.  With their great interior play of Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert, the Hoyas as a team shoot 50.5% from the field.  Like the Georgetown teams from years ago, they also excel on defense.  Hoya opponents averaged only 56.8 PPG on 38.2% shooting from the field and an extremely low 30.4% from beyond the arc.  The last stat could be of some concern to Vanderbilt considering they shoot 37.7% from long-range.  Ranking second to last in the SEC in rebounding margin, Vanderbilt will have its work cut out for them against the Hoya trees. As far as covering is concerned, Vanderbilt has been almost a “sure thing” (7-1 ATS) versus good defensive teams that allow less than 64 PPG.

#1 UNC vs. # 5 USC

The Tar Heels are as talented and as deep as any team in the country.  Going ten deep and chock full of HS All-Americans, UNC averages 86.1 PPG and scored 100+ seven times.  Led by All-American forward, Tyler Hansbrough (18.6 PPG 7.9 RPG) UNC has a very balanced attack which can kill you on the inside as well as on the perimeter.  UNC only real concern is their youth as eight of their rotation players are either sophomores or freshmen.  UNC was a reliable cover this season going 20-13 ATS.  An intriguing covering trend for the Tar Heels in recent years has been how they fared after non-conference games.  This season they are 11-3 ATS after non-conference games and over the last three seasons they are 31-13 ATS.  USC is also a pretty deep team which is loaded with swingman types.  An match-up to keep an eye on will be freshman forward Taj Gibson (12.1 PPG, 8.6 RPG) as he squares off against the AA Hansbrough.  USC has been a covering machine this season achieving a 21-10 record ATS.  They have thrived in the underdog role, having covered 10 out of 12.  When playing a team with a winning record, the Trojans are an incredible 20-6 ATS. Keep in mind, USC dedicated their season to former star to Ryan Francis who passed away before the season so as they get closer to the ultimate goal, emotion could definitely be on their side.

With Friday -105 juice on Basketball betting, MySportsbook.com is the place to bet on all of the “March Madness” action.  Don’t forget to monitor who the public is backing at this sportsbook “Betting Trends”.  By doing so, you have the best chance of predicting a possible line change, thus getting the best value for your wager.

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