Weibring birdies final three for 3M Championship

Golf Betting Lines

08/05/2007 - Blaine, MN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - D.A. Weibring birdied his final three holes on Sunday to overtake Champions Tour money leader Jay Haas and win the 3M Championship.

Weibring finished with a five-under 67 and finished at 18-under-par 198, one stroke off the tournament record.

Haas fired a nine-under 63 to take second at minus-17.

Haas was in the clubhouse and Weibring had the final three holes to make up two shots.

The comeback started at 16 when Weibring rolled in a seven-footer for birdie. He hit his tee ball at the par-three 17th to three feet and canned that to match Haas at 17-under par.

Weibring found the fairway off the tee at the par-five 18th, but had a tough sloping lie. He elected to lay up left of trouble, then pitched his third to 10 feet.

Weibring holed the birdie putt to clinch his fourth win on the Champions Tour and first since 2005.

Mitch Adams also carded a 63 on Sunday to tie for third place with John Harris, who shot a six-under 66 in the final round. The pair came in at 16- under 200.

Scores moved all over the place throughout Sunday's final round. Weibring began the round with a one-shot lead, but recorded two birdies and two bogeys over his first nine holes.

He reached 14-under par with a birdie at the par-four 10th, but by that point Haas was ahead on the leaderboard.

Haas, the reigning Champions Tour Player of the Year, started Sunday's play five behind Weibring. He nearly erased that deficit a third of the way through the round, but it was four birdies through seven that brought him into the mix.

He also birdied the 12th, but playing a few groups ahead of Weibring, Haas birdied 14 to tie for the lead at 14-under par. Haas found the fairway off the tee at 15 and hit a beautiful five-iron that landed 20 feet short and rolled into the cup for an eagle.

"It was low and I was trying to hit a cut shot," said Haas, referring to the eagle at 15. "I'll be the first to admit, it was not my best shot of the day. It was going right at it. Obviously a great break for me."

Haas was two ahead, but Weibring answered at 12. Weibring could not get home in two at the par-five hole, but still made birdie to cut the margin in half.

Haas got on in two at the closing hole at the TPC of the Twin Cities. He two- putted from almost 70 feet to make birdie at post 17-under par.

Weibring was once again two behind, but closed with a flurry to pocket the $262,500 first-place check and move to sixth on the Champions Tour money list.

Jim Thorpe, who began the final round in second place, only managed a three- under 69 on Sunday. He tied for fifth place with Tom Jenkins, who posted a final-round 67, at minus-15.

John Jacobs shot a four-under 68 and took seventh at 13-under par.

Chip Beck (66), Bobby Wadkins (68) and Craig Stadler (69) shared eighth place at minus-12.

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Sportsbooks to bet on football

Recently I had an email debate with an angry reader who said I did not understand "the science of oddsmaking", as he called it.

He said I was wrong for suggesting oddsmakers care about who wins or loses games.

"Oddsmakers only care about splitting the betting public 50/50 on both sides of the line and keeping the commission (a.k.a. juice)," he wrote.

He might have been right about not understanding "the science of oddsmaking". After all, I'm not an oddsmaker. That said, I stick to my assertion that oddsmakers (a.k.a. sportbooks) often do care about who wins games.

Granted, as a general rule, sportsbooks try to balance their action so that they're not exposed to big losses. However, there are times when this is difficult to pull off, regardless of how much a line has moved. There are also times when that general rule is ignored and a book pursues risk.

Generally speaking, it's safe to say the books in Vegas are risk-adverse. Unlike in the past when the wise guys ruled the town, Vegas is now corporate and the goal of most casinos is to make as much money as possible with as little risk as possible.

Thus, Vegas sportsbooks try everything in their power to balance the action. They're satisfied simply collecting the juice. But these profits are small, especially compared to the take from other casino games, namely slot machines.

Because the profits at Vegas sportsbooks are so small, you could argue that many casinos operate sportsbooks simply as a novelty to keep the tourists happy.

With a growing aversion to risk, it should come as no surprise that Vegas bookmakers have been panicking this NFL season.

Despite huge pointspreads, a disproportionate percentage of bettors are still laying their money on favorites like the Eagles, Colts, Pats and Vikings rather than the dogs (a common trend for the largely recreational bettors that visit Vegas).

And much to the dismay of the books, those favorites are finding ways to cover the thick chalk. In fact, prior to Week 7, the four teams listed above are a combined 16-2-2 (88 percent) against the spread. (The tables turned dramatically in Week 7, but more on that later.)

The result has been an early-season beating for the books, and a bonanza for bettors.

While Vegas increasingly hates risk, it's no longer a major player in the sports betting world. Most of the betting action now takes place offshore where sportsbooks are not as obsessed about balance. In fact, some books encourage exposure to risk because the rewards can be so much bigger.

Consider MySportsbook.com. On its website, the book has odds pages which actually display the amount of action it's getting on games. In other words, you can see how much action the book is taking on both sides of a pointspread, moneyline or over/under.

One look at these numbers and it's obvious MySportsbook.com does not balance every game. In fact, far from it.

Take last weekend's matchup between St. Louis and Miami. By game time on Sunday, 83 percent of the betting action at MySportsbook.com was on the Rams; only 17 percent was on Miami.

What's interesting is that MySportsbook.com opened the pointspread with Miami at +6 1/2. By game time, the spread had lowered to +5.

That goes contrary to the balancing theory. If MySportsbook.com had wanted to balance the action, it would have given Miami more points; instead, it took away 1 1/2. World Series odds are now up as well.

MySportsbook.com exposed itself to even more to risk, and rolled the dice on the underdog Dolphins. Why? I contacted a representative with the book to find out. His answer was simple.

"The line moved early based on 'smart money' from sharp players," said Jeff Gilroy, a spokesperson for the book. "We also knew from early in the week that we would need Miami, therefore (we dropped) the spread to encourage Rams money.

"At the end of the day, we liked the home team."

So the conclusion is this: MySportsbook.com respected the sharp action, and gambled that the sharp bettors had a better take on the game than the recreational bettors, who were hammering the visiting Rams.

In the end, the gamble paid off. Miami, desperate for a win in front of its home fans, pounded the overrated Rams, who are terrible on the road and even worse on grass. Final score: 31-14 Fish.

MySportsbook.com was also heavily exposed on numerous favorites in Week 7, including Philadelphia, Seattle and Denver. All three failed to cover.

The fact that sportsbooks are exposed to risk on certain games is really nothing new. The fact, that Sportsbook.com is willing to show the public where it's exposed is intriguing.

Armed with this type of information, bettors can make more educated wagers. They can get an idea where the sharp money is going and conversely where the public money is headed.

MySportsbook.com is opening up its cashbox, letting bettors look inside and challenging them to take their best shot at grabbing the cash.

To visit this online football betting got to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting odds needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.