Casey eagles his way to BMW lead

Golf Betting Lines

05/22/2009 - Surrey, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Casey tallied two eagles, bent a four- iron and shot a five-under 67 Friday en route to the second-round lead of the BMW Championship.

Casey, the seventh-ranked player in the world, finished 36 holes at eight- under 136 and is two shots clear at Wentworth Club, the site of the HSBC World Match Play Championship three years ago.

Defending champion Miguel Angel Jimenez (70), first-round co-leaders David Horsey (71) and Anthony Wall (71), Soren Kjeldsen (69) and Marc Warren (66) are knotted in second place at minus-six.

Casey parred his first hole, but got into red figures after a birdie at the par-three second. He lost that stroke one hole later thanks to a bogey at three, but Casey began his vault up the leaderboard in earnest with an eagle at the par-five fourth.

The Englishman birdied the ninth and 10th to reach seven-under par for the championship. That gave Casey the lead to himself, but he extended with a birdie at the par-five 12th, a hole he eagled on Thursday.

At the par-fourth 13th, Casey found the fairway off the tee. His approach bounced 10 feet in front of the flag, took one more hop, then rolled in for his second eagle of the round.

Casey, now at 10-under par, bogeyed the 14th hole and nearly made a 20-footer for birdie at the 15th. At the 17th, Casey tried to hit a four-iron next to a tree and the winner was the tree.

Casey bent the shaft on his four-iron and made bogey on the hole.

"I've got to try and fix that if I can," Casey said of his shaft. "Could be difficult to find a four-iron shaft. I had to hit a cut three-iron into the last when it was, in fact, a perfect four-iron. I ended up making par instead of knocking it on the green and giving myself an eagle putt.

"The way I finished that round of golf wasn't very good. Having gotten to 10- under after 13 holes, it's certainly disappointing to be sitting in the clubhouse at eight-under. Leading by two, so I have to focus on the positives."

The 2009 season has been full of positives for Casey.

He captured the 2009 Abu Dhabi Golf Championship in January, then lost in the final of the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship to Geoff Ogilvy five weeks later.

Casey finally broke through with his first win on the PGA Tour the week before the Masters at the Houston Open. But Casey realizes that all of his success this season, and at this venue, doesn't mean anything come the weekend.

"I honestly think it doesn't really matter," acknowledged Casey. "Golf is one of those sports where the ball doesn't care what you did earlier this year or the previous shot."

Former British Open champion Ben Curtis (70), Thomas Aiken (67) and Stephen Dodd (68) share seventh at five-under 139.

Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, the final first-round leader, struggled to a five- over 77 and fell to even-par 144.

The 36-hole cut fell at two-over 146 and two of this year's biggest winners missed the weekend.

Players Champion Henrik Stenson (148) and Masters winner Angel Cabrera (149) both missed the cut. Retief Goosen and Lee Westwood also failed to make the mark.

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American Idol odds : Blake Lewis the Early Standout

An important American Idol betting lines recap from February 20 Guys episode. The 12 men came out flat overall with Blake Lewis appearing to have the early edge after the first hour and a half.

Rudy - was quite good singing "Free Ride" to start off.  Randy was not impressed though.  Paula thought he started off fantastic.  "Never had anyone stop off so lively" said Paula but Simon (who does not like Rudy) does not feel he has a distinct voice and was not impressed either. 

Brandon was a little pitchy according to Randy and Paula agreed.  Simon said he was a good singer but the song was "too safe" and he needs to make an impact.  He was listed at +1200 odds or $1200 paid out on a $100 bet should he win the competition. 

Big favorite Sundance came in with a flat version of "Knights in White Satin" and the judges let him have it, including Paula.  Randy claimed the song was out of pitch throughout.

Korean American - and a Jenny Woo favorite - Paul Kim was up next.  Another pitchy flat one but Randy said he still liked his potential.  Kim at +3000 odds was said to have sung a "third rate version of that (George Michael) song" according to Simon Cowell.  He sang "Careless Whisper".

22 year old Chris Richardson was up next.  He was listed with +1100 odds coming in.  He got the best response from the judges though Simon did not believe the vocal was that great. 

Nick was boring and pitchy.  Simon didn't think he was that bad though and predicted he would be back next week.  Nick Pedro was a big +3000 dog coming into this competition. 

Beat boxer Blake Lewis was listed with early +1000 odds or $1000 payout on a $100 bet if he were to become the next American Idol winner odds .  These of course were the early odds.  He was considered original for picking an "odd song".  He did not beat box and the judges felt it was the best vocal of the night. 

Sanjaya came in as the second biggest favorite after Chris Sligh but his performance Tuesday night was not very good. 

Chris Sleigh was the early favorite at +450 odds.  Great voice and a great sense of humor.  He's a real standout.  Randy felt it was on point but maybe ahead of the chorus a little bit.  Simon Cowell said he felt like he was in some "sort of weird student gig". 

Jared Cotter followed.  He was listed with +2000 odds early on to win the competition.  The judges felt he needs to take more risks but looked good. 

22-year old AJ Talbado, who has tried out for American Idol five times, was up next.  "Kind of a theme park performance" said Simon.  Though the judges felt he performed okay.  Simon did feel AJ might be better than he originally thought.

Phil - this season's military favorite - came into this competition with +1200 odds to win the competition.  He was the last to perform.  He was certainly strong enough to get through this stage of the competition and perhaps the best one after a shaky start. 

Tomorrow night, the ladies perform and I sure hope they do a better job than the boys.  Check out all the American Idol betting odds here.

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