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06/14/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sitting down for his post-championship interview in 2000, Tiger Woods opened with a simple comment that summed up his historic victory at the U.S. Open.
"Well, I guess I won."
More than that, Woods dominated from start to finish in a record-setting rout at the year's second major.
Among the U.S. Open records Woods set that week were most strokes under par (12), largest margin of victory (15 shots), largest 36-hole lead (six shots) and largest 54-hole lead (10 shots).
In short, Woods may have reached the peak of his dominance during those four rounds at Pebble Beach, finishing the championship with a 12-under 272 that left his fellow competitors wondering what course he was playing.
Woods was the only player who finished under par.
"When you have a guy playing like that, you have no chance," said Ernie Els, who was paired with Woods for the final round.
Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez finished as distant runners-up that Sunday, and Els was left wondering how someone who was only 24 years old could be so much better than anyone else.
"It seems like we're not playing in the same ballpark right now," Els said afterward.
This week, the U.S. Open returns to Pebble Beach for the first time since that historic Sunday, but Woods doesn't look anything like the dominant player he was 10 years ago.
Following a sex scandal that dynamited his personal life and public image, and a neck injury that forced him to withdraw from The Players Championship, Woods' once-solid position as the No. 1 player in golf is suddenly open for attack.
He hasn't won a major since picking up No. 14 in dramatic fashion at the 2008 U.S. Open, where he beat Rocco Mediate in a Monday playoff at Torrey Pines while playing on a severely injured leg.
In the interim, six players have captured majors: Padraig Harrington, Angel Cabrera, Lucas Glover, Stewart Cink, Y.E. Yang and Phil Mickelson. Harrington has won two.
Woods' showed cracks in his armor at last year's PGA Championship, where Yang pulled off the previously impossible feat of defeating Woods at a major when Woods held the 54-hole lead.
Suddenly, Woods looked beatable. And with only one top-10 finish in four starts this season -- a fourth-place tie at the Masters, his 2010 debut -- he still does.
With Woods no longer a bullet-proof lock as the overwhelming favorite, this week's U.S. Open is setting up to be a wide-open championship with many contenders.
Mickelson won the year's first major when he captured his third Masters title and he has looked like the best player in golf many times this season. His history at U.S. Opens is a dubious one, of course, with a record-setting five runner-up finishes.
Lefty's latest runner-up came last year at Bethpage Black, where he was playing for the final time before his wife, Amy, began treatment for breast cancer. Mickelson was the favorite as always in front of the New York galleries, especially as he made a charge during the Monday finish, but the result was a familiar one: another runner-up, his fourth at a U.S. Open in New York.
Lee Westwood has never won a major, but the talented Englishman is the reigning European No. 1 and third-ranked player in the world behind Woods and Mickelson.
Westwood has too many good finishes at major championships to mention in detail -- the latest was a runner-up to Mickelson at this year's Masters -- but one in particular is often overlooked. We forget that he missed a birdie putt on the 72nd hole with a chance to join Woods and Mediate in the U.S. Open playoff in 2008.
And then there's this: Westwood is coming off a win at the St. Jude Classic, his first on the PGA Tour in 12 years. That's good momentum, but a bad historical omen. No player has ever won a PGA Tour event and then captured the U.S. Open the following week.
There are the usual top contenders in this week's field -- proven talent like Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Els -- as well as young stars like Rory McIlroy and Ryo Ishikawa, who will draw attention.
There has also been an English revival this season, led by Westwood, Ian Poulter, Justin Rose and Luke Donald, who have all captured significant wins this season. Three of them -- Rose isn't in the field -- will be looking to snap an English drought at majors that goes back to Nick Faldo's win at the 1996 Masters.
This week's darkhorse pick isn't really a darkhorse at all: 29th-ranked Dustin Johnson, who has captured the regular PGA Tour stop at Pebble Beach in each of the last two seasons.
The sentimental favorite is 60-year-old Tom Watson, who was given a special exemption by the USGA to play in his first U.S. Open since 2003. The offer came on the heels of his tie for 18th place at this year's Masters, where he opened with a turn-back-the-clock 67 and remained in contention until tying for 18th place.
Of course, it might also have something to do with his playoff loss to Stewart Cink at last year's British Open, where Watson nearly gave us the greatest golf story of all time.
Watson captured his only U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in 1982, knocking off Jack Nicklaus with a chip-in birdie at the 17th hole on Sunday. Watson has played in all four U.S. Opens at Pebble Beach, making the cut in three of them.
While it is unlikely that Watson will win this week, the recent history of U.S. Opens has showed us that anything is possible at the year's second major.
The last four championships have given us Mickelson's 72nd-hole blunder at Winged Foot in 2006, when Geoff Ogilvy capitalized for the win; Angel Cabrera's chain-smoking victory at Oakmont in 2007; Woods' dramatic playoff triumph on one leg in 2008; and last year's rain-soaked, five-day marathon at Bethpage Black, where Lucas Glover scratched out his first major win.
With those finishes in mind, we like Watson in a Tuesday playoff over Westwood and 18-year-old Ishikawa, with Woods missing a three-footer for a spot in the playoff and Mickelson coming in dead last.
What? It could happen.
<< World Cup neophytes New Zealand, Slovakia set to square off
Rustenburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of relative newcomers to
the world stage meet up at Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Tuesday as New Zealand
and Slovakia square off in the Group F opener for both sides.
Slovakia will be app
<< De Bakker exits Unicef draw
's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sixth-seeded Dutch
crowd favorite Thiemo De Bakker was a first-round upset victim Monday at the
Unicef Open, a final grass-court Wimbledon tuneup.
De Bakker gave way to wild car
<< Orioles reinstate RHP Simon from DL
San Francisco, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Baltimore Orioles have reinstated
right-hander Alfredo Simon from the 15-day disabled list.
Simon is 1-1 with a 2.92 earned-run average and six saves in 12 appearances
for the Orioles this se
<< Japan tames Indomitable Lions
Bloemfontein, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Japan earned a 1-0 victory in
its Group E match vs. Cameroon at Free State Stadium on Monday in what could
be considered the biggest upset to this point of the FIFA World Cup.
Cameroon, whi
This Week in Golf - June 17th through June 20th >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION - UNITED
STATES OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California -
The major championship season continues this week as the best players in the
world h
Titans LB McRath suspended four games >>
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tennessee Titans linebacker Gerald McRath
has been suspended for the first four games of the regular season for
violating the league's policy on performance enhancing drugs.
The Tennessean conf
Indiana State hoops coach McKenna resigns >>
Terre Haute, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Indiana State men's basketball coach
Kevin McKenna has resigned from his position Monday to take an assistant
coaching position at Oregon.
McKenna spent three seasons guiding the Sycamores,
Cards G Lutui signs qualifying offer >>
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arizona Cardinals guard Deuce Lutui signed his
one-year qualifying offer on Monday.
A four-year pro, he started all 16 games for Arizona last season.
Since coming into the league as Arizona's second-rou
The San Francisco 49ers (5-11 SU, 5-10-1 ATS in 2007; 1-1 SU & ATS in pre-season) found some offensive life last week, and they will try to build some momentum on Thursday night as they travel to the Windy City to take on the Chicago Bears (7-9 SU & ATS in 2007; 0-2 SU, 0-1-1 ATS in pre-season) in an NFL matchup that is set to get underway at 8 PM ET at Soldier Field (natural turf) in Chicago.
Thursday, August 21
NFL betting odds: CHICAGO -3 (-120), Total 37
NOTABLE STAT: San Francisco was last in points, last in total offense in 2007
KEY NFL BETTING TREND: SF has lost its last seven SU on pre-season road
In the BetUS NFL pre-season football betting odds, the Bears are listed as a three-point favorite (laying -120), with the total posted at 37 points.
Here are some NFL football betting trends as they relate to this matchup (reflecting numbers going into the 2008 season):
* SF has lost 11 of its last 14 games SU
* SF has covered three of its last 11 games
* SF has lost six of its last seven road games SU
* SF has covered one of its last seven road games
* CHI has covered five of its last eight games
* CHI has played five of its last seven games OVER the total
* CHI has covered four of its last 13 home games
* SF has lost its last seven pre-season road games SU
* CHI has covered two of its last seven home pre-season games
Well, I guess we should congratulate the Bears on making their quarterback choice for the season's opening game, as they have designated Kyle Orton the starter against Indianapolis. The Bears obviously have lost patience with Rex Grossman, and what they do with him at this point is anybody's guess. But suffice it to say that there isn't a quarterback competition anymore, at least in training camp.
Meanwhile, the quarterback competition may also be settled in San Francisco, where the Niners bounced back from a lackluster 18-6 loss to the Raiders, in which they turned the ball over four times, to execute a 34-6 rout of the Packers last Saturday. However, coach Mike Nolan has stopped short of saying that, insisting that the job is still open. But J.T. O'Sullivan, the longshot of the trio of Niner signal-callers who opened camp, will start his third straight pre-season game here. Against Green Bay, O'Sullivan was only 8-for-17, and was intercepted, but he also threw for 9.1 yards an attempt, which included a 59-yard TD pass to Josh Morgan. The others struggled.
Some offensive cohesion is badly needed, in light of the Niners' dismal 2007 campaign, in which they were dead last in the NFL in scoring, with just 13.7 points a game. And O'Sullivan is the guy who is most familiar with offensive coordinator Mike Martz's exacting system, because he learned it last year in Detroit. O'Sullivan will go at least the entire first half and may even last longer. He'll be relieved by Alex Smith, with Shawn Hill doing the mop-up work. Three receivers who were out last week - Bryant Johnson, Ashley Lelie and Arnaz Battle - will miss this game too.
That may hurt a little here, especially since the Bears will be using a lot of their defensive starters. And it's the defense that has been keeping the Bears in games thus far. In fact, the defense and special teams were responsible for the first 19 points Chicago scored against Seattle last time out, as the offense really struggled with Grossman at the controls. But maybe the first-team offense has a chance to settle a little bit as it works more with Orton at the helm.
Certainly we have concerns about the Bears' offensive line, but we like the scenario for them here, especially if O'Sullivan doesn't make some bis plays. The Niners may have nowhere else to turn right now, and they have lost seven straight road games in the pre-season. Let's take Chicago, the three-point favorite in the NFL football betting odds.
CHICAGO -3 (-120) **
(Graded on a scale of 1-4 stars)
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