This Week in Golf - May 7th through May 10th

Golf Betting Lines

05/04/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida - Last year, Sergio Garcia broke a three- year winless drought with a playoff victory over Paul Goydos at The Players Championship.

Garcia, who won for the seventh time on the PGA Tour, hopes to rekindle that magic this week. After a solid start to his season on the European Tour, Garcia has struggled mightily since coming to the United States.

The Spaniard has collected just one finish inside the top 30 in six starts on the PGA Tour. He tied for 13th at the Honda Classic for his best finish.

Goydos, who earned the biggest paycheck of his career ($1.026 million) despite last year's loss, has also had a tough year. His ex-wife passed away in mid- January and he took time off after that.

With that weighing on him, Goydos missed the cut in five of his first six starts. His best finish was a tie for 17th in his first event -- the Buick Invitational -- after the death of his former wife.

Two years ago, Phil Mickelson walked away with the win, but the late story was Sean O'Hair. Trailing by two shots with two holes to go, O'Hair dumped two balls into the water surrounding the island green at the par-three 17th.

O'Hair enters this week as one of the players to beat as he is coming off his third PGA Tour win at the Quail Hollow Championship and has three top 10 finishes in his last three starts. Other than a single missed cut, O'Hair has finished no worse than tied for 25th in his other nine events in '09.

This will be one of the stronger fields of the year with 45 of the top 50 players in the world rankings playing. The field also features 21 major champions who have combined for 44 major titles; 10 former winners of this event; and every PGA Tour winner -- 53 in all -- dating back to the '07 AT&T National.

The Golf Channel has six hours of coverage on Thursday and Friday, while NBC will carry five hours of action on both of the final two days.

The PGA Tour starts a three-event swing in Texas next week with the Valero Texas Open. Last year, when the event was part of the Fall Series, Zach Johnson closed with rounds of 62-64 to win by two strokes over Mark Wilson, Charlie Wi and Tim Wilkinson.

EUROPEAN TOUR

BMW ITALIAN OPEN, Royal Park I Roveri, Turin, Italy - The Italian Open was a birdie-fest last year and Hennie Otto collected enough of them to post a one- shot win over Oliver Wilson.

Otto closed with his worst round of the week, a three-under 69, but still walked off with his first European Tour title. Wilson nearly stole the title from Otto as he fired an eight-under 64 in the final round to finish one stroke back.

There isn't a lack of big names in Turin this week. Eight-time Order of Merit winner and European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie will be joined by former major champions John Daly and Paul Lawrie.

There are seven other players in the field who have won BMW-sponsored events -- Soren Hansen, David Howell, Thomas Bjorn, Niclas Fasth, Jarmo Sandelin, Raphael Jacquelin and Marcus Fraser.

The Golf Channel has coverage starting at 9:30 a.m. (et) all four days. The European Tour heads to the Emerald Isle next week for The Irish Open, where Richard Finch was a two-stroke winner last year.

LPGA TOUR

MICHELOB ULTRA OPEN AT KINGSMILL, Kingsmill Resort & Spa (River Course) Williamsburg, Virginia - Last year's Michelob Ultra Open at Kingsmill was an historic event in that it was Annika Sorenstam's last LPGA Tour win.

Sorenstam announced three days after this event ended last year that she would be stepping away from the game at the end of the 2008 season. She had been off to a great start with three wins in eight starts, but went winless after her announcement.

The Swede cruised to a seven-stroke win over four players as she opened with a seven-under 64, then closed with rounds of 66-69-66 to collect her 72nd LPGA Tour title.

This week, 17 of the top 20 players in the world rankings will tee it up at Kingsmill. Four of the six former winners are slated to play this week. The other former winner not playing -- in addition to Sorenstam -- is Grace Park, who had hip surgery last week and is out of action for four months.

ESPN2 will have two hours of coverage Friday through Sunday. The LPGA Tour heads to New Jersey next week for the Sybase Classic, where Lorena Ochoa is the three-time defending champion.

Rivsls Golf Betting News

<< Benesova moves on in Estoril
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic highlighted Monday's first-round winners at the $220,000 Estoril Open. The 2008 Estoril runner-up Benesova snuck past Portuguese wild card Neuz

<< Sloppy Track, Sloppy Results
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mine That Bird defied long odds and romped by 6 3/4-lengths over a sloppy, sealed track at Churchill Downs. The gelding overpowered his 18 rivals in one of the most convincing triumphs in Kentucky Derby his

<< Rays' Longoria earns AL weekly honor
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tampa Bay Rays third baseman Evan Longoria has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending May 3. It is Longoria's second weekly honor this season, as he also won for the we

<< Cantu named NL Player of the Week
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins first baseman Jorge Cantu has been named the National League Player of the Week for the period ending May 3. Cantu led the NL and tied for the major league lead with 14 RB

<< O'Hair moves to No. 12 in world rankings
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - With his win Sunday at the Quail Hollow championship, Sean O'Hair jumped 10 places to a career-best ranking of No. 12 in the latest world golf rankings. With three top-10s in his last three starts, O'

Rain wipes out Day 1 in Belgrade >>
Belgrade, Serbia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rain washed away three first-round matches Monday at the inaugural clay-court Serbia Open. Eighth-seeded Belgian Christophe Rochus was tied with Frenchman Nicolas Devilder 6-3, 6-7 (7-9), 5-5 when p

Nets G Dooling has surgery >>
East Rutherford, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New Jersey Nets guard Keyon Dooling had successful surgery on Monday. The ninth-year pro underwent an arthroscopic procedure to clean out loose bodies in his right hip. Following recovery,

Venus wins Rome opener >>
Rome, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was tested in her second-round match Monday at the $2 million Internazionali BNL d'Italia tennis event. The fourth-seeded former world No. 1 Williams snuck past Czech Lucie

Rachel Alexandra gains top spot in NTRA Poll >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Following her 20 1/4-length victory in Friday's Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, the filly Rachel Alexandra has vaulted to the top of the weekly NTRA poll of three-year-olds. Kentucky Derby winner

King James crowned: LeBron named MVP >>
Akron, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - LeBron James has been named the NBA's Most Valuable Player, making him the first Cleveland Cavaliers player to win the award. James garnered 1,172 points, including 109 first-place votes out of a possib

Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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