Overton keeps lead at Greenbrier Classic

Golf Betting Lines

07/31/2010 - White Sulphur Springs, WV (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jeff Overton shot a four-under 66 on Saturday to remain in the lead after three rounds of The Greenbrier Classic.

Chasing his first PGA Tour win, Overton finished 54 holes on The Old White Course with an 18-under 192 to lead D.A. Points by three shots and Boo Weekley by five.

While Overton did enough to remain atop the leaderboard, the real drama Saturday came from a couple of players chasing history in front of him on the course.

Points went 10-under par through his first 16 holes and needed just one more birdie to shoot a 59. But he three-putted for bogey at the 17th and made a routine par at the 18th to fall two strokes short.

Points' 61 moved him to 15-under 195, good for second place behind Overton. He wasn't the only player who flirted with shooting a 59 on Saturday.

Several hours earlier, J.B. Holmes birdied his last hole to shoot a 60 and take the early clubhouse lead at 12-under 198.

Incredibly, it was the fourth round of 60 or better on the PGA Tour in the last four weeks.

Paul Goydos, of course, shot the fourth 59 in PGA Tour history on July 8 during the first round of the John Deere Classic. Steve Stricker had a 60 the same day, nearly holing out for a 59.

Last week, Carl Pettersson shot a 60 during the third round of the Canadian Open, just missing a long birdie putt at the 18th hole that would have given him a 59.

Holmes' bid for 59 was done in by a few holes. He bogeyed the par-three third when he couldn't get up-and-down from behind the green. He missed a four-foot birdie putt at No. 11 and a 10-footer for eagle at No. 17.

In all, he made just the one bogey and 11 birdies, including a 10-foot birdie putt at the 18th to finish off the 60.

"If I had shot 60 maybe this time last year, probably get a little more attention than it's probably gonna get," said Holmes. "But there's been a lot of great scores lately."

Points had a better chance to shoot a 59 because he reached 10-under for the round with an 11-foot birdie putt at the 16th, giving him two more holes to turn the trick.

But he hit into a bunker at the par-five 17th and then three-putted for his only bogey to all but end the chase. He knocked his tee shot at the par-three 18th to just 29 feet, setting up his closing par.

Most of his scoring was done earlier in the round, as Points made a 3 on nine of his first 10 holes, playing them at seven-under par. He two-putted from 38 feet for birdie at No. 12 and rolled in a 26-footer for birdie at No. 13.

Overton had six birdies, all in his last 11 holes. He played the previous seven holes at two-over par.

Weekley made a 10-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole to shoot a 67 and move into third place by himself at 13-under 197.

Holmes shared fourth with Jonathan Byrd (64), Brendon de Jonge (65) and Jimmy Walker (67).

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.