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07/24/2010 - Ada, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jim Liu earned a 4 & 2 victory over Justin Thomas on Saturday to become the youngest winner in the history of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship.
Liu rallied from an early deficit and never trailed after the seventh hole of their scheduled 36-hole match play final.
The 14-year-old from Smithtown, N.Y., beat Tiger Woods' record to become the youngest winner in championship history.
Woods, who won three straight U.S. Juniors from 1991-93, set the previous mark at 15 years, six months and 28 days when he captured his first championship. Liu doesn't turn 15 until the middle of August.
Liu wrapped up the victory on No. 16 at Egypt Valley Country Club when Thomas, 17, conceded his competitor's three-foot par putt after missing a five-footer of his own.
Despite the match ending on the 34th hole, it was actually the smallest winning margin for a U.S. Junior final since 2006.
Things got started 30 minutes late because of a steady morning rain. Once the players got going Thomas took an early 2-up lead with a winning par at No. 1 and a winning birdie at No. 3.
Liu battled back, however, and built a 3-up lead after the first 18 holes.
Fighting to square the match by the eighth hole, Liu took his first lead with a birdie at the 10th, then extended the advantage to 3-up with back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th.
Thomas won the 14th with a birdie, but Liu restored his 3-up advantage with a birdie at the 16th and carried it into the midway break.
Thomas climbed all they way back to 1-down by making birdies at Nos. 2 and 4 after the match resumed. But he fell 2-down after losing No. 6 with a bogey.
Liu moved 3-up with a par at the 11th, but Thomas cut that lead to one with back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th holes.
The momentum didn't last, however, as Liu came back with a winning par at the 14th. He was conceded a 15-foot birdie putt at the 15th when Thomas could only manage a bogey, then closed the match out at the next hole.
<< Chelsea's Drogba out three weeks after surgery
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea striker Didier Drogba had surgery
on Friday and will miss three weeks, putting his status for the start of the
English Premier League season in doubt.
Drogba had an groin operation to fix a pro
<< Royals spoil Mitre's return to rotation in win over Yankees
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Podsednik went 3-for-4, scored once and
drove a run in, leading the Kansas City Royals to a 7-4 win over the New York
Yankees in the third installment of a four-game set.
Jose Guillen added his 16th
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Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tyler Colvin and Starlin Castro homered to
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Louis, 6-5, in the middle meeting of a three-game set.
Castro finished with three h
<< Manchester City signs Serbia defender Kolarov
Manchester, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Manchester City added its fourth new
player of the offseason Saturday, signing Serbia defender Aleksandar Kolarov
from Lazio for $25 million.
Kolarov, 24, played two games for Serbia at the recent
Atletico Madrid adds Brazilian fullback Filipe >>
Madrid, Spain (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Atletico Madrid acquired Brazilian fullback
Filipe from fellow Spanish club Deportivo on Saturday in a deal reported to be
worth nearly $15 million.
Filipe debuted for Brazil during 2010 FIFA World Cup qua
Report: Mets' Maine to miss rest of season >>
Los Angeles, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Mets pitcher John Maine has
undergone surgery on his right shoulder that will sideline him for the rest of
the 2010 season.
According to the Newark Star-Ledger, the procedure was performed F
Rangers disable catcher Treanor >>
Arlington, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Texas Rangers placed catcher Matt Treanor
on the 15-day disabled list after suffering a knee sprain in Friday's game
against the Angels.
In the bottom of the seventh, Treanor hit a bouncer off pitche
Flanagan moves in front in Ohio >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Australian Nick Flanagan carded a two-under 69
Saturday to grab a one-stroke lead after three rounds of the Nationwide
Children's Hospital Invitational.
Flanagan, who won three times in the 2007, completed 54
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 online football betting 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.
To visit this internet sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting and World Series odds.
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