08/21/2008 - Zandvoort, Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rolf Muntz fired a six-under 64 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the KLM Open.
Muntz, whose best finish here is a tie for eighth, is one shot clear of Soren Hansen and John Bickerton. Hansen tied for second here in 2003, while Bickerton tied for seventh back in 2005.
Hansen is one of many players battling for a spot on the European Ryder Cup team. He currently holds the 10th spot on the team, but is just ahead of Martin Kaymer.
"I actually started thinking about it around the British Open Championship, but then I wasn't playing great and it's not good to think about that when you are not playing well," Hansen said of the Ryder Cup. "I really want to make the team, especially after how the last year and a half has gone. This is what we play for."
Alexander Noren is alone in fourth at minus-four, while eight players, including Justin Rose, are tied at three-under-par 67.
"I'm really pleased," said Rose, who is eighth on the Ryder Cup points list. "I knew coming here that there would be a lot of attention on the Ryder Cup, but I just had to try to get into the mindset of playing tournament golf."
Muntz, the 2000 Qatar Masters winner, opened his round with a birdie on the par-five second. He parred the next three holes before sinking his second birdie on No. 6 at Kennemer Golf & Country Club.
The 39-year-old from Holland ran off three straight birdies from the 10th to jump to five-under. Muntz drained an eight-foot birdie putt at the 16th to secure the first-round lead.
"It's awesome playing in front of your home crowd and it was a gorgeous round - the kind you plan on paper and it actually works out," Muntz stated.
Hansen dropped in back-to-back birdies from the second and moved to three- under when his birdie try at the par-three eighth found the bottom of the cup.
However, the Dane stumbled to a double-bogey on the par-four ninth. He rebounded with four birdies on the inward nine to share second place.
"I made a double-bogey on the ninth, which is one of the toughest holes we play all year," Hansen explained. "But I followed that with birdies on 10 and 12 and that was the key to getting it back quickly and allowed me to try and shoot a really good score. I played well today."
Bickerton posted a bogey-free 65 with three birdies on the front nine and two more around the turn.
Rose was joined in a share of fifth place by Phillip Price, Raphael Jacquelin, Anthony Wall, Simon Khan, Damien McGrane, Rafael Echenique and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet.
Darren Clarke, Henrik Stenson and former U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell are among 14 players tied for 13th at minus-two.
Oliver Wilson, who is ninth on the European Ryder Cup points list, is part of a large group tied for 27th at one-under-par 69.
Defending champion Ross Fisher is tied for 43rd at even-par 70.
<< Rams RB Jackson signs six-year extension
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Steven Jackson to a six-year contract on Thursday.
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as his agent and the club ironed
<< Wigan's Edman hopes to return in mid-October
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Edman is hopeful of making his comeback in mid-October.
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<< Davis seals Rangers switch
Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rangers has completed the signing of
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Davis, 23, spent the second half of last season on loan at Ibrox after
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Portsmouth, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Portsmouth has revealed it has signed
on-loan winger Jerome Thomas on a permanent basis from Charlton Athletic.
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Patriots sign OL Flynn; release CB Jimoh >>
Foxboro, MA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New England Patriots signed offensive
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Finch gets OK to play at Indiana >>
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana safety Jerimy Finch received a
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Blue Jays trade for Pirates INF Bautista >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Toronto Blue Jays acquired infielder Jose
Bautista from the Pittsburgh Pirates on Thursday for a player to be named
later.
The Pirates demoted the third baseman Bautista to Triple-A Indianapolis la
Yankees' Pavano to pitch Saturday >>
Newark, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The oft-injured Carl Pavano is scheduled to
start for the New York Yankees on Saturday in Baltimore, according to the
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"He worked extremely hard to put himself in this position,
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In any football or basketball game (the main sports that use point spreads) there are two teams playing against each other.
Those teams, though, are rarely exactly evenly matched – meaning that typically one team has a better chance than the other to win the game. If bettors were allowed to bet on who was simply going to win the game, smart ones would obviously bet on the better team (likely winning more than 50% of the time in the process).
If winning were that easy the Las Vegas and online sportsbooks would stop taking any bets! This is where the point spread comes in: the basic function of the point spread is to balance the likelihood of each team “winning” by adjusting the final score by the point spread. After this adjustment is made you get the Against The Spread result (ATS result for short).
Let’s look at Super Bowl XXXIX, New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles. Most people believed the defending champ Patriots to be the better team – so if betting were simply based upon which team would win the game, an uneven majority of people would have wagered on New England. But, by using the point spread, the bookmakers adjusted the terms of the bet, evening the proposition so about half the people believed the Pats to be the smart bet, while the other half considered Philly to be the smart bet.
New England Patriots -7 vs. Philadelphia Eagles
The better team, called the Favorite, is expected to win the game and must “give” or “lay” points to the weaker team. The favorite is listed with a minus sign and the number of points they are favored by (e.g., New England -7)
In the case of our example, New England must not only win the game, but they must win by more than 7 points for Pats bettors to have a winning ATS result. An Eagles bettor wins his bet either if:
There was also the possibility that the final score could land exactly on the spread number (for example, the Pats winning 28-21 when -7), which is called a “push” or “no action” and a refund is then issued to bettors of both teams.
The same game with the same point spread can be considered from the weaker team’s perspective: The Underdog (Philly in the case of our example) is not expected to win the game and thus receives or “gets” points given by the stronger team. When a game is stated from the underdog’s perspective the team is listed with a plus sign and the number of points they are underdogs by:
Philadelphia Eagles +7 vs. New England Patriots
Keep in mind that Philadelphia +7 and New England -7 is the same point spread on the same game, simply stated differently. The first is from the underdog’s perspective; the later is from the favorite’s.
Not a must, but for some a mathematical approach is insightful. You can determine the ATS winner by either:
Let’s look at the actual result of Super Bowl XXXIX: New England 24 Philadelphia 21
The favorite, New England, won the game but not by more than the point spread they were favored by (7), so the ATS result was a LOSS for Pats bettors.
Looking at it from the underdog’s perspective, Philly did not win the game, but they lost by less than the point spread (7), so the ATS result was a WIN for Eagle bettors.
Mathematically considered, 24 for the favorite Pats minus 7 equals 17, which is less than the 20 the Eagles scored, so the underdog Eagles win the ATS result (or you could figure 20 plus 7 equals 27 for the Eagles, which is more than 24 for the Pats).
Emily’s boyfriend understood the point spread and wagered $100 on the Eagles at +7. The Eagles may not have gotten a Super Bowl ring, but since they won the ATS result Emily’s boyfriend cashed his bet – giving him money to take her out to a nice dinner.
And now hopefully you understand how to read point spreads, putting you one step closer to joining the fun of sports betting.
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