Pettersen leads Webb at McDonald's LPGA

Golf Betting Lines

06/09/2007 - Havre de Grace, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suzann Pettersen shot a five-under 67 Friday to take a one-shot lead over Karrie Webb midway through the McDonald's LPGA Championship, the second women's major of the season.

Pettersen finished two rounds at Bulle Rock at eight-under 136. Webb bounced back from a double-bogey with two late birdies and shot a three-under 69. She was at seven-under 137.

Birdie Kim (71) and Brittany Lincicome (69) were tied for third place at six- under 138.

Annika Sorenstam shot a 69 and was tied with Paula Creamer (68), Morgan Pressel (71) and Meena Lee (69) at 139.

Michelle Wie followed her opening round 73 with a two-over 74 and made the cut on the number at three-over 147. She made back-to-back birdies at the 14th and 15th holes, where she went bogey-double bogey in the first round.

"My wrist felt a lot better. I felt stronger. I felt like I actually played some pretty good golf out there today," Wie said.

Her withdrawal from the Ginn Tribute last Thursday with a wrist injury caused a stir this week when Sorenstam said Wednesday that the 17-year-old star lacked "respect and class" by showing up over the weekend to practice for the LPGA Championship.

Wie was two bogeys away from shooting an 88, placing her dangerously close to an obscure LPGA Tour rule that disqualifies any non-member for the remainder of the season if they shoot an 88 or worse.

Thursday, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens joined the chorus of critics by saying Wie was "not very respectful" in her decision. Friday, Wie was asked if she's had a chance to speak with her most vocal critic.

"I haven't really seen her this week," Wie said, referring to Sorenstam.

By making the cut, she will have two more days of opportunities to speak with Sorenstam, who posted six birdies Friday to make up for a double-bogey at No. 2 and a bogey at No. 4.

Sorenstam is playing for the second straight week after missing two months with a ruptured disk in her back. She won this event three straight times from 2003-05.

"I'm a competitor and I might be a little injured physically, but let me tell you, mentally I'm not,' said Sorenstam. "I'm probably strong as ever. So that's really what keeps me going."

Pettersen played in the first morning tee time off No. 1 Friday and made birdie at the first hole when she knocked an 80-yard wedge shot within tap-in range. She followed that with a bogey from the bunker at No. 2, then didn't make another bogey until the 13th hole.

In between, Pettersen made three birdies. She added three more in a row from the 15th hole to take the early lead, including a 15-foot putt at 16.

Pettersen, who won Michelob ULTRA Open in May, was asked if her first two rounds this week are the best golf she's ever played.

"I don't think so, but it's solid," she responded. "You should never say you're in control because then the game will get you the next day. I hit some good shots. I hit some half-decent shots. There's room for improvement."

Webb spent most of her round flirting with Pettersen's lead. She left a birdie putt at the edge of the cup on the 18th -- her ninth hole -- and was one shot down around the turn.

She fell three shot back with a double-bogey at the par-three third, where she missed the green left with an eight-iron. But Webb made birdies putts from 10 feet on No. 5 and five feet on No. 7 to climb back within a shot.

Last year, Webb lost to Se Ri Pak in a playoff when Pak stuck her approach within inches for birdie at the first extra hole. She won this event in 2001.

"I shot two rounds in the 60s pretty easily I feel," Webb said Friday. "So, another couple of rounds like that would definitely give me a good shot."

World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa shot her second consecutive 71 and was among a group of five players who were tied at two-under 142, six shots off the lead. Ochoa has won eight times in the last 14 months, but is still looking for her first major.

Pak, a three-time McDonald's LPGA champion, was a shot behind Ochoa at one- under 143. She had a 70 on Friday.

Eight-four players made the cut. Among those who missed the weekend were Ai Miyazato, Beth Daniel, Julieta Granada and Grace Park and 1995 winner Kelly Robbins.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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