This Week in Golf -- February 16th through February 19th

Golf Betting Lines

02/13/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - NORTHERN TRUST OPEN - Riviera Country Club, Pacific Palisades, California - A week after crushing the field in the final round at Pebble Beach, Phil Mickelson heads to Hogan's Alley to see if he can keep the momentum going.

Mickelson fired an eight-under 64, while paired alongside Tiger Woods, to win the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am by two strokes.

The victory was his 40th on PGA Tour and two of those have come at the Northern Trust Open. Mickelson beat Jeff Quinney by two strokes in 2008 and fended off Steve Stricker by a shot the following year.

Stricker came back to win the title in 2010, but neither he nor Mickelson contended last year.

Aaron Baddeley was one of five players to break par in every round last year, but was the only one to card all four rounds in the 60s en route to a two- stroke win over Vijay Singh.

For Baddeley, it was his third PGA Tour victory, but by far his biggest. The win came four years after his previous tour title.

Baddeley is coming off a fourth place finish at Pebble Beach, and has three top-30 finishes in four starts this year. He'll have plenty of competition this week in his title defense.

World No. 1 Luke Donald will make his first PGA Tour start of the season, and just his second start worldwide.

Along with Mickelson and Donald, two-time winner Fred Couples will be making his 30th appearance at this event and is one of eight former champions playing this week.

Six of the last seven winners are competing this week, including a pair of Australians -- Rory Sabbatini and Adam Scott, who is making his season-debut at Riviera.

Also in the field this week are a pair of college standouts - Jordan Spieth of Texas and Patrick Cantlay of UCLA. Spieth is currently the second-ranked collegiate player, while Cantlay is the top-ranked amateur golfer in the world.

Golf Channel and CBS will split the broadcast this week.

There are a pair of PGA Tour events next week. Donald will be in Arizona to defend his title at the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, while the remainder of the tour will be in Mexico for the Mayakoba Golf Classic. Johnson Wagner won that title last year.

EUROPEAN TOUR

AVANTHA MASTERS - DLF Golf & Country Club, New Delhi, India - India native S.S.P. Chowrasia closed with back-to-back 67s last year to earn his second European Tour title.

Chowrasia, whose other tour win was at the 2008 Indian Masters, was in his third campaign on tour and the win was one of just four cuts he made last year. He missed the cut in 16 events and withdrew from two others.

The 33-year-old is off to a better start this season as he has made the cut in three of his four starts. However, his best finish was a share of 24th at the Volvo Golf Champions.

Robert Coles handed Chowrasia the title in regulation last year, as Coles bogeyed the final hole to fall one back.

Chowrasia's countryman Jeev Milkha Singh, who was the first Indian to qualify for the European Tour, will also be in the field.

There will be a trio of Americans in the field as well - former major winners Todd Hamilton and John Daly along with Peter Uihlein, who was the top-ranked amateur in the world before turning pro.

Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.

The European Tour will be in the United States for its next two events. First up is the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, where world No. 1 Luke Donald will defend his title. After a week off, Nick Watney will defend his crown at the WGC-Cadillac Championship.

LPGA TOUR

HONDA LPGA THAILAND - Siam Country Club (Pattaya Old Course), Chonburi, Thailand - Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng ran away with this crown last year as she kicked off a run of four top-five finishes in her first five events.

Tseng went on to win six more times, including two more major championships in 2011. She opened and closed the event with 66s en route to an easy five-stroke win over Michelle Wie. Tseng had four birdies on the back nine to pull away.

The 23-year-old from Taiwan entered the event as the new world No. 1 after a pair of wins on the Ladies European Tour.

Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.

The LPGA will wrap up its three-event Asian swing next week with the HSBC Women's Champions, Karrie Webb won by two strokes over Chie Arimura last year, while Tseng took third.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

ACE GROUP CLASSIC - TwinEagles Golf Club (Talon Course) Naples, Florida - Bernhard Langer cruised to victory at this event last year, but it was one of just three top-10 finishes on the season.

Langer injured his thumb a couple weeks after this win and missed significant time. He played the following week at the Toshiba Classic, then didn't return to the tour until the U.S. Senior Open, which was the last weekend in July.

The German opened with a 64, then carded consecutive 66s on the weekend to win by four strokes over Fred Funk. Langer has finished in the top four in all three of his starts at this tournament.

The field includes 10 of the last 14 champions, including two-time winners Loren Roberts and Hale Irwin.

Golf Channel has tape-delayed coverage all week.

After a three-week break, the Champions Tour will return to action in California for the Toshiba Classic. Nick Price held off Mark Wiebe to win by a single stroke last year.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

PACIFIC RUBIALES COLOMBIA - Country Club de Bogota, Bogota, Colombia - The Nationwide Tour opens its 2012 season in Colombia this week and the event has a big name helping the cause.

Former President Bill Clinton will be at the event on Tuesday and Wednesday and will play in the Pro-Am to boost the stature of the tournament. The Tuesday evening charity gala will support Clinton's foundation.

The weather was the real winner last year. With bad weather the first couple days, the first round was not completed until Saturday morning. Brendan Pappas took the lead after round two and the third round started Sunday afternoon.

More than two hours into the third round, more inclement weather moved in and the tournament was shortened to 36 holes.

Pappas was declared the winner. It was his second tour victory. He will be on hand to defend his title.

There is no television this week.

The tour heads to Panama next week for the Panama Claro Championship, where Mathew Goggin won by two shots last year.

Wwwezsweeps Golf Betting News

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Online Sportsbook Football Betting

The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.

New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).

The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.

Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. online football betting Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.

Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.

Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.

The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.

Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.

The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.

Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.

However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).

The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.

Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.

In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.

Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.

Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.

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