Fisher flirts with 59, takes Irish Open lead

Golf Betting Lines

07/30/2010 - Killarney, Ireland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ross Fisher fired a 10-under 61 on Friday to grab sole possession of first place after the second round of the Irish Open.

Fisher finished 36 holes at 12-under 130 and is three strokes clear at Killarney Golf & Fishing Club.

Francesco Molinari posted a five-under 66 on Friday and is alone in second at minus-nine.

Two Irish stars made big moves in the second round.

World No. 8 Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot a three-under 68 and moved into a tie for third place at seven-under 135.

"I'm only five back going into tomorrow. If I get off to a fast start, hopefully I can close the gap on Ross a little bit," said McIlroy, who mixed six birdies and three bogeys. "It was quite frustrating to be honest. It seemed like every time I made a birdie, I made a bogey and it sort of halted me in my tracks."

Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington carded a four-under 67 and is part of the large group tied with McIlroy at minus-seven. Much like McIlroy, Harrington wasn't completely satisfied with his round.

"I didn't play anywhere near as well as I played yesterday," acknowledged Harrington. "I drove it superbly yesterday and drove it poorly today. I'm very happy that my short game is good."

But they have work to do to catch Fisher.

The Englishman opened with a two-under 69 on Thursday and parred his first two holes on Friday. Fisher caught fire starting at the third and birdied six holes in a row.

"I got off to a steady start, a couple pars on the first two, and then the putter caught fire really," said Fisher, who was eight-under for the championship after the turn. "I had a nice little run."

Fisher parred the 10th, then went on another spectacular run. He birdied his next four holes, including a 25-footer at the 13th, and was 10-under through 14.

Naturally, thoughts of 59 popped into Fisher's head.

"It was obviously a shame that it came to an end on nine, but I just kept on hitting good shots and got on to a little patch on the back, as well," said Fisher, who has won each of the last three seasons on the European Tour. "I had a chance on 15 from eight feet; unfortunately I pulled it."

Fisher parred his final four holes and lost his chance at becoming the first player to shoot a 59 on the European Tour.

"All I wanted to do was give myself chances coming in the last four holes, and I gave myself four good looks at birdie. Unfortunately I didn't make them so I have to be satisfied with 61," said Fisher, who held a piece of the lead at some point in all four majors last year. "It's pretty flawless golf to be fair."

Anders Hansen (68), Seung-yul Noh (69), Brett Rumford (69), Gonzalo Fernandez- Castano (69), Michael Hoey (69), David Dixon (68) and Richard Green (70) joined McIlroy and Harrington in third at minus-seven.

Defending champion Shane Lowry, who won this title in a playoff as an amateur last year, fired a six-under 65 on Friday to move into a tie for 24th at three-under 139.

NOTES: Fisher just missed the 36-hole record at this championship. Patrik Sjoland established the mark of 129 in 2000 and Lowry matched it last year...U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell and Justin Rose, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour this year, made the cut on the number at even-par 142...Kenneth Ferrie, Jose Manuel Lara and Sam Little withdrew on Friday...First-round leader David Howell struggled to a four-over 75 and fell to three-under par.

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Football Betting Sportsbook Accepts Credit Cards

Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.