Woodland leads by two in Tennessee

Golf Betting Lines

08/27/2010 - Farragut, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gary Woodland fired a seven-under 65 Friday to grab a two-stroke lead after two rounds of the Knoxville Sentinel Open.

Woodland, who split time between the Nationwide and PGA Tours this year, completed 36 holes at 11-under-par 133.

Brady Schnell also carded a 65 to move into second place at minus-nine. He was joined there by PGA Tour veteran Kirk Triplett (68), William McGirt (68) and Brian Stuard (67).

John Daly, who entered round two tied for second, struggled to a one-over 73 to slide into a share of 32nd at minus-four.

Woodland did little on the front nine after opening with a birdie. He parred seven consecutive holes from the second before stumbling to a bogey on the ninth at Fox Den Country Club.

"I hit it close all day, but didn't make anything on the front side," said Woodland, who Monday-qualified to earn a spot in the field. "I kept telling myself that if you knock on the door long enough, it will open."

And he was right.

After making the turn in even-par for his round, Woodland poured in three straight birdie efforts from the 10th to jump to minus-seven. He parred the 13th, then dropped in back-to-back birdie tries from the 14th.

Woodland moved to the top of the leaderboard with birdies on 17 and 18.

"It's been frustrating because I feel like I've been playing pretty good this year, but I haven't scored very well," Woodland admitted. "We looked at my stats from this year to last year and all of the numbers were better, but the scores weren't there. Finally, we got a score to go low Monday and now everything is going the right way."

First-round leader Zack Miller posted a two-under 70 and dropped into a tie for sixth at eight-under-par 136. He stands alongside Ken Duke (66), Andrew Svoboda (69), Jim Herman (67) and Skip Kendall (69).

NOTES: This is the first time Woodland has led after any round on either the PGA or Nationwide Tour. In fact, he had never been in the top-10 after any round before this week...The cut line fell at three-under-par 141 with 66 players moving on to the weekend...Among those that missed the cut were 2002 PGA Champion Rich Beem, last week's winner Hunter Haas, Martin Piller, Bobby Gates, Tag Ridings and D.J. Brigman.

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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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