Garcia three clear at Tour Championship

Golf Betting Lines

09/27/2008 - Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sergio Garcia fired a three-under 67 on Saturday to move atop the leaderboard after the third round of the Tour Championship.

Garcia finished 54 holes at East Lake Golf Club at eight-under 202 and is three ahead of overnight leader Anthony Kim (72) and Phil Mickelson (69).

Garcia was paired with Kim in the final group Saturday in a rematch of the opening singles match last week at the Ryder Cup. On that day, Kim destroyed Garcia, 5 & 4, but on Saturday, Garcia gained some modicum of revenge.

"Obviously, A.K. (Kim) wasn't on his 'A' game," said Garcia.

Camilo Villegas shot a one-under 69 and is alone in fourth place. Ben Curtis (68) and Robert Allenby (67) are knotted in fifth place at two-under 208.

This is the final event of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and is merely a formality to the coronation of Vijay Singh as the winner. As long as Singh can complete his final round on Sunday, he walks off as the FedEx Cup winner and is $10 million wealthier.

"I tried to play as normal as possible," said Singh, who shot a two-over 72 on Saturday and is tied for 24th at plus-nine. "On almost every tee shot, somebody's congratulating you. It's kind of weird."

The winner of this championship will come in second for the FedEx Cup and earn an additional $3 million.

That man is now Garcia.

He trailed Kim by two shots at the start of the round and Kim extended his lead thanks to a 22-foot birdie putt at the third. Kim hit his tee ball into water at the sixth and drained a nine-footer just to save bogey.

It was after that that Garcia made his move.

At the seventh, Garcia ran home a seven-foot birdie putt to cut the deficit to a stroke. The ninth became a critical swing hole and it started very poorly for Kim and even worse for a member of the gallery.

Kim's drive hit a spectator in the face and the ball bounced several feet away after impact. Kim stayed with the man, whose face was bloodied, until he was taken for treatment.

"It's a very difficult situation," admitted Kim. "I felt terrible. You never want to see that anywhere, let alone when you're the guy who hit the golf shot. I think he's going to be all right."

Garcia kicked in a short birdie putt at the hole to join Kim in the lead. He missed the green short at the par-four 13th and could not get up and down for par.

Kim dropped a shot at the 14th when he missed a short one for par. Mickelson joined the lead after a tap-in birdie at the par-five 15th, but Garcia took over down the stretch.

Garcia rolled in a three-foot birdie putt to take the lead at 15. Mickelson missed the fairway and green en route to a bogey at 16, then Kim hit a tent with his approach at the same hole. That led to a bogey and Garcia was two clear of his Ryder Cup opponents.

Garcia's approach at the 17th rolled to the back fringe. It didn't matter. The Spaniard converted his 17-footer for birdie to take a three-shot lead. The three main principals parred the last and now Garcia looks for his eighth win on the PGA Tour.

"I managed to make a couple of birdies here and there," said Garcia, who won this year's Players Championship. "I played pretty solid overall."

Garcia has held at least a piece of the 54-hole lead only five times on the PGA Tour. The last was the 2007 British Open, which he lost to Padraig Harrington, and Garcia has only won two of those five times. The last time Garcia won with the third-round lead was the 2004 Byron Nelson.

Kim was not sharp on Saturday. He hit only four fairways and had a pretty decent explanation for his poor play.

"I was out of my rhythm," said Kim. "I didn't do the things I usually do before I tee off. I thought my tee time was 11:55 and it was 11:25. No excuses. I should've found my swing."

Mickelson was efficient in round three with three birdies and two bogeys.

"This is my last tournament of the year in the U.S.," said Mickelson. "I'm trying to give it everything I can to finish the year right. If I were able to come out on top tomorrow, I think it would change the way I look at the year."

K.J. Choi shot an even-par 70 and is alone in seventh at minus-one. Mike Weir posted a one-over 71 and is eighth at even-par 210.

Kevin Sutherland (69), Jim Furyk (69) and Ernie Els (70) are tied for ninth at one-over 211.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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