Bradley, Steele lead Franklin Templeton Shootout

Golf Betting Lines

12/10/2011 - Naples, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA Champion Keegan Bradley and Brendan Steele teamed for a 10-under 62 on Saturday to take the second-round lead of the Franklin Templeton Shootout.

Bradley and Steele, first-round co-leaders, finished at 19-under 125 and are shot clear at the Gold Course at Tiburon Golf Club.

Bradley and Steele shared Friday's lead with the Champions Tour pair of Mark Calcavecchia and Nick Price. Those two teams will be in Sunday's final group again. Calcavecchia and Price overcame a bad start with a nine-under 63 and are second at minus-18.

Bradley and Steele, both rookies, combined for three wins on the PGA Tour this year. Bradley's biggest victory came at the PGA Championship, where Steele was the third-round leader.

Calcavecchia and Price both won on the Champions Tour this season. They've combined for two British Open titles and had fun playing with their much younger peers on Saturday.

"It's enjoyable playing with those two kids," Calcavecchia said in a televised interview. "I've always enjoyed coming to play. This is fun. We're in the last group tomorrow."

Rory Sabbatini and Jhonattan Vegas fired Saturday's lowest round, a 12-under 60, and are third at minus-17.

Saturday's format was better ball. Sunday's scramble is a format that always yields low scores.

"We'll have Steeley (Steele) hit his drive down the middle and I'll swing as hard as I can," Bradley said on TV.

Bradley and Steele caught fire right before the turn with three straight birdies from the eighth. Bradley birdied 13 and 14 to get the team to 17-under par.

Steele made a nice par save at the 15th, then Bradley drained an eight-footer for birdie at 16. Steele two-putted the par-five 17th for his side's final birdie.

"It was a lot of fun," Bradley said.

Jerry Kelly and Steve Stricker paired for a seven-under 65 and are tied for fifth with Kenny Perry and Scott Stallings (62) at 15-under 129.

Charles Howell III and Justin Leonard (62), Anthony Kim and Webb Simpson (63) and Sean O'Hair and Jason Dufner (64) are tied for seventh at 14-under par.

Tournament host Greg Norman and his partner Scott McCarron shot a 10-under 62 and share 10th with Chad Campbell and Chris DiMarco, who managed a nine-under 63. The two teams came in at minus-13.

Stewart Cink and Bo Van Pelt carded a 10-under 62 and are last at 12-under par.

NOTES: Ian Poulter and Dustin Johnson won last year, but neither are in the field this week...Stricker and Kelly captured the title in 2009.

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Betting the NFL preseason

Rule No. 1 in the gamblers' handbook states, "Avoid sports betting on meaningless games."

When you're drowning in a sea of baseball monotony, however, things change. Even a hint of pro football betting can persuade the most disciplined bettor to break a few rules. 

The NFL preseason is around the corner, with a tempting Hall of Fame match kicking off on Sunday. But bettors must stay vigilant. Wagering on NFL exhibition games is an entirely different beast than the regular season. Most fans don't recognize the players on the field because starters get as much action in August as Warcraft fans get on Prom night.

The only certainty about the NFL this time of year is uncertainty – and yet there are some who say betting in August can be a gold mine.

“I actually feel the NFL preseason presents solid profit opportunities for sharp bettors and handicappers,” Sports Expert Steve Merril explains. “My experience has been that the sportsbooks fear the preseason, which is evident by lower limits and massive moves.”

The line moves are attributed to the limited knowledge available regarding playing-time distribution. One team’s top unit out on the field for one more series has an impact on the pointspread. Setting lines in the preseason often is a shot in the dark.

“We base the betting lines mostly on public perception,” Pete Korner, founder of the Sports Club in Las Vegas, says. “It’s very tough to predict, almost a guessing game.”

The preseason is all about figuring out who’s in and for how long.

“It becomes a race between bettors and oddsmakers to find out how long the quarterbacks are going to stay in,” Korner admits. “If a sharp gets the information first, he could exploit an early line. I’m a full believer in moving the line in the preseason if the books find out something late in the week.”

Determining what each team’s motive is can help bettors handicap. To do this you must pay close attention to the philosophies head coaches employ in exhibition play.

“You need to know what a coach is trying to accomplish,” says Covers Expert Bryan Leonard. “Sometimes a new coach will want to instill a winning attitude. Others just want to make sure their starters don’t get hurt."

So how do you distinguish who’s playing scared and who’s playing for keeps?

“Head coaches on the hot seat or new coaches trying to implement a winning attitude usually try harder to win in the preseason,” Merril says.

Cleveland Browns head coach Romeo Crennel fits this criteria. He’s entering his third season as the sideline boss and has yet to lead the Browns to more than six wins.

Cleveland is an enticing bet as well because of the unresolved quarterback situation. General manager Phil Savage sacrificed the Browns’ first-round pick in next year’s draft for Brady Quinn, but the former Notre Dame quarterback hasn’t signed or reported to training camp yet.

Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson split time at QB last season and it looks like either player (or even Quinn) could be the opening-day starter.

“If a team has quarterback depth and the pecking order hasn’t been decided, it’s a big advantage,” Leonard says.

Even in the third week of the preseason when starters generally play the most, the final outcome of the game is in the hands of fringe players. A team's talent, all the way down to the last man on the roster, is something to consider.

The New England Patriots have long been considered one of the deeper teams in the NFL and coach Bill Belichick has said in the past he’s unafraid of stars getting hurt in games with nothing on the line. He shocked his colleagues in 2003 by playing some of his starters on special teams in the preseason.

“We want to have the team ready to play a tough, physical game and preparation has to go into that and I imagine a certain amount of injuries go with it,” Belichick told the Providence Journal in August 2003.

Bettors can only hope to find more teams that share the Pats' business-like approach to the preseason (New England is 17-9-3 against the spread since 2000) and take advantage of teams who detest the exhibition schedule.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your bet on football needs. Mysportsbook.com online sportsbook accepts Visa and Mastercard credit cards.