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06/09/2007 - Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Thompson only shot a two-under 69 on Saturday, but extended his lead to four after three rounds of The Rex Hospital Open.
He missed Jimmy Green's 54-hole tournament record by one shot after he came in at 15-under-par 198 at the TPC Wakefield Plantation.
"To increase my lead after shooting two-under, I'm pretty fortunate," acknowledged Thompson, who has held at least a piece of the lead after all three rounds. "I'm really surprised nobody made a push from behind."
Bob Burns stayed in second place on Saturday after a one-under 70. He completed three rounds at 11-under-par 202, which is two strokes better than David McKenzie, who fired a seven-under 64 to get to third place at nine- under-par 204.
Thompson was up and down through the front nine with two birdies and a bogey. He bogeyed the 10th, but luckily, no player made a significant move toward his lead.
On the second nine, Thompson closed strong with a birdie at the par-three 14th, and a birdie at the par-five closing hole.
"I shot a different score, but I hit the ball as well today as I did the last two days," said Thompson, who only missed four greens in regulation on Saturday. "I hit it great. The only difference was the putts didn't go in."
This marked the sixth time Thompson has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead. He has yet to visit the winner's circle, but seems to have a strong game plan for Sunday.
"I've had so many close calls that it's been frustrating," said Thompson. "It just feels good to be playing good golf again. I'm looking forward to the final round. I'm going to attack the pins and make birdies. My game plan will not change at all. It is like playing chess, just make one move at a time and not get ahead of yourself."
Aron Price (67), Tom Carter (71), Rick Price (72) and Tommy Biershenk (71) are knotted in fourth place at minus-eight.
Keith Nolan (68), Scott Dunlap (68), Keoke Cotner (70), Garth Mulroy (70), Mario Tiziani (70) and Tee McCabe are tied for eighth place at seven-under-par 206.
<< Giants' Lewis, Alfonzo placed on DL
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - San Francisco Giants catcher Eliezer
Alfonzo and right fielder Fred Lewis have been placed on the 15-day disabled
list. Both were hurt in Friday's 5-3, 10-inning loss to the Oakland Athletics.
Alfo
<< Clemens earns win in return to the Yankees
Bronx, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rogers Clemens made his much anticipated 2007
debut and pitched six innings as the New York Yankees downed the Pittsburgh
Pirates, 9-3, in the second of a three-game set at Yankee Stadium.
Clemens (1-0) s
<< Haas extends lead in Des Moines
West Des Moines, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Haas, the reigning Champions Tour
Player of the Year, overcame a double-bogey on Saturday with six birdies in a
seven-hole span to increase his lead at The Principal Charity Classic.
Haas shot a
<< Clemens K's seven in six innings
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens made
his 2007 debut against the Pittsburgh Pirates on Saturday and lasted six full
innings.
The righty struck out seven and walked two while giving up three runs on
Mesa signs with Phillies; Garcia lands on DL >>
Kansas City, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Philadelphia Phillies placed right-
hander Freddy Garcia on the 15-day disabled list Saturday with a right
shoulder strain, and signed veteran reliever and former closer Jose Mesa to a
major l
Wilson on pole at PIR >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Robert Doornbos won Saturday's second Champ
Car qualifying session, but Justin Wilson's time on Friday was faster and he
will start on the pole for Sunday's Grand Prix of Portland.
Qualifying in the middl
Scott leads by three shots at St. Jude >>
Memphis, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Scott shot a two-under 68 Saturday to take
a three-shot lead heading into the final round of the Stanford St. Jude
Championship.
Scott was at nine-under 201 and looking for his second win of the season aft
Girl Power: Rags to Riches wins Belmont >>
Elmont, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rags to Riches became the first filly to win the
Belmont Stakes in 102 years, edging Preakness winner Curlin by a head.
Riden by John Velazquez, Rags to Riches finished in an unofficial time of two
minutes, 28.7
Mayweather picked to beat De La Hoya
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA -- Golden Boy Oscar De La Hoya and his rival Floyd Mayweather Jr. arrived at the MGM Grand here Wednesday amid the pomp and pandemonium befitting two of the biggest stars in the sport who are about to duke it out for the WBC super welterweight crown this Saturday (Sunday in Manila).
As of Wednesday, MySportsbook.com closed its book with Mayweather a favorite to defeat De La Hoya at -170 (a $100 bet wins $70), while De La Hoya is a +140 underdog (a $100 bet wins $140).
Mayweather arrived at about 11:30 a.m. on a big truck with his face and a big "World's Best Pound-for-Pound" sign scribbled across the vehicle. He was accompanied by his entourage made up of rappers and his training team.
A crowd of close to 3,000 eager fans packed the MGM Grand lobby, with their cameras in tow, all trying to vie for position to get a good angle at Mayweather, who is acknowledged as the world's best fighter pound-for-pound.
Eric Gomez, Golden Boy Promotions vice-president, described the fan turnout as "amazing" and swore he had never seen anything quite like this event.
"The crowd was fantastic. Everybody was just too eager to see the two fighters," said ALA manager Michael Aldeguer, who was among those who waited at the lobby together with his ward Rey "Boom Boom" Bautista and AJ Banal.
De La Hoya made his own grand entrance at the hotel lobby at around 12:30 p.m. accompanied by GBP chief executive officer Richard Schaefer and trainer Freddie Roach.
The same group of fans who trooped to see Mayweather also lingered around to get a close look at De La Hoya, who has been secretly working out at a Las Vegas gym for days after arriving from his main training camp in Puerto Rico.
The golden boy then took part in a closed-door afternoon workout with Bautista and Banal. The two, along with Aldeguer and wife Christine, as well as an HBO crew were the only ones allowed inside the gym.
De La Hoya and Mayweather take part in today's final press conference before the official weigh-in this Friday.
Ring Magazine, the acknowledged bible of boxing, reported in its June 2007 issue that 12 out of 20 boxing experts it interviewed have favored Mayweather to defeat De la Hoya, with only 8 favoring the latter.
But Filipino ring icon Manny Pacquiao said in a recent interview with The Freeman's Emmanuel Villaruel that De La Hoya will win by unanimous decision over Mayweather.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on boxing needs.
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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