Woods Adds Golf At Confidence

Golf Betting Lines

Bandon, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cheyenne Woods, the stroke-play medalist, picked up a 4 & 3 win Wednesday at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship. Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, took down Ashley Edwards in the first round and will face Bethany Wu in the second round on Thursday. Wu needed 19 holes to beat Ashlan Ramsey.

 

Woods and Edwards traded wins on seven and eight, then Edwards won the ninth with a par and was 3-down. It remained that way until she struggled to a bogey on the 14th and the match was over when they halved 15th.

 

Stephanie Kono and Tiffany Lua, who were teammates on the 2010 U.S. Curtis Cup team, both advanced on Wednesday. Lua will battle Christine Wolf, who qualified for the 2011 U.S. Women's Open.

 

The championship continues Thursday on the Bandon Trails course at Bandon Dunes with the second and third rounds. The Old Macdonald course will have the quarters and semis on Friday, as well as the 36-hole final on Saturday.

 

Traditionally a five-round tournament where pros tee it up with amateurs, the Humana Challenge trimmed the championship back to four rounds. Professionals will team with different amateur partners over the first three rounds. The top 70 professionals make the 54-hole cut and the winner will get the newly- created Bob Hope Trophy.

 

The number of courses in the rotation was trimmed as well. LaQuinta Country Club, PGA West Nicklaus Private Course and PGA West Palmer Private will remain part of the tournament, but SilverRock Resort was dropped.

 

Paris, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australian Richard Green and Englishman Graeme Storm both posted rounds of six-under 65 on Thursday to share the first-round lead of the Open de France. George Coetzee got to seven-under par, but bogeyed 15 and 17 to shoot a five- under 66. He is tied for third place with Thorbjorn Olesen and James Morrison at Le Golf National.

 

Bubba Watson is making a rare appearance on the European Tour and he struggled in the first round. He shot a three-over 74 and is tied for 90th place.

 

They're all chasing the co-leaders, who both played in the morning wave.

 

The Aussie birdied nine and 10 to reach four-under par. Green parred No. 11, but recorded three consecutive birdies from the 12th to get into the lead at seven-under par.

 

Confidence is something Green might lack. He hasn't had a top 10 this season, but last week he shared 12th at the BMW International in Germany to bolster his prospects.

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.