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Lawrie leads by one in windy QatarGolf Betting Lines02/04/2012 - Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Lawrie fired a five-under 67 in breezy conditions Saturday to grab a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the Qatar Masters. Lawrie, who won both this event and the British Open in 1999, completed 36 holes at eight-under-par 136. He broke a nine-year winless drought last year with a victory at the Open de Andalucia and will go for his seventh tour title on Sunday. The event was cut to 54 holes after heavy wind on Friday forced officials to pull players off the course at Doha Golf Club. The wind never diminished Friday so the play was called for the day and completed on Saturday. Lawrie has five players within three strokes of his lead, but there are 10 players tied for seventh, four shots back. Nicolas Colsaerts, last year's China Open winner, posted a four-under 68 to end 36 holes at seven-under-par 137. Ricardo Gonzalez (67) and Peter Hanson (69) share third place at minus-six, while James Kingston (69) and Simon Khan (68) are tied for fifth at five-under 139. The group four strokes off the lead includes Jason Day, Sergio Garcia and John Daly, who had the lead when play was called on Friday despite not hitting a single shot. First-round leader Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano had two bogeys in the seven holes he played on Friday. In his final 11 holes on Saturday, he managed 10 pars and another bogey to post a three-over 75, which dropped him into a share of 16th at minus-three. Lawrie, who played his entire second round on Saturday, started with a birdie on the first. However, he gave that stroke back as he tripped to a bogey on the par-three third. After three pars in a row, Lawrie converted a birdie effort on the seventh. Another birdie at the ninth gave the Scotsman a share of the lead at minus- five. Lawrie could have birdied the 10th, but for the second straight week he dropped his ball on his ball marker and was forced to take a one-shot penalty. "I'd never done it in my life, 20 years on Tour, but last week in Abu Dhabi I was lucky because my caddie saw it and said the marker never moved," Lawrie explained. "This time I wasn't sure and (referee) Andy McFee said I had to be 100 percent sure. I wasn't watching and [they] didn't have it on the telecast, so you've got to take the penalty and kick on." Lawrie bounced back with his second birdie in two rounds on the 11th. With that, he regained a piece of the lead after Colsaerts and Kingston had moved ahead. Lawrie again fell behind as he parred four in a row from the 12th. The 43-year-old Lawrie converted a birdie try on No. 16 to join Colsaerts at minus-seven. Lawrie got up and down from the right rough at the last to head into the final round with a one-stroke lead. Colsaerts, who was in the group ahead of Lawrie, had six birdies on Saturday, four of which came on holes he also birdied in round one. He birdied the first for the second straight round, then birdied the fourth to get to minus-five. Colsaerts dropped a shot on the seventh before making pars on eight and nine. Colsaerts, 29, birdied the 10th and 12th, both for the second round in a row to move atop the leaderboard. He climbed to seven-under with a birdie on 16. However, Colsaerts stumbled to a bogey on the par-three 17th. He atoned for that error with his second birdie in two rounds at the last. NOTES: Defending champion Thomas Bjorn rallied with a seven-under 65 to finish two rounds at even-par 144...The cut line fell at one-over-par 145 with 76 players moving on to the final round...Among those that missed the cut were Matteo Manassero, K.J. Choi, Henrik Stenson, Hunter Mahan, Colin Montgomerie and Peter Uihlein.
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Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance. Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it? If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.) Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa). In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech. Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.
As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down. (Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28) If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you. Atlantic Coast Conference Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech
Work left to do: Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's. Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win). Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT. For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.
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