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03/23/2007 - Broussard, LA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Brendan Pappas fired an 11-under 60 Thursday in the first round of the Chitimacha Louisiana Open, grabbing a four-shot lead and almost becoming the fourth player in Nationwide Tour history to shoot a 59.
Pappas left a long birdie putt at the edge of the cup on No. 8 -- his 17th hole -- then closed with a routine par at No. 9 after landing his approach 60 feet short with a lob wedge.
"I threw up on myself with that lob wedge on the last hole," said Pappas, who two-putted for his closing par. "I was shaking like a leaf out in the fairway. But it was still an incredible day."
Pappas opened with five birdies on Le Triomphe's back nine, then added six more on the front nine to break the course record by one shot and equal the lowest opening round score in Nationwide Tour history.
It was his personal best score on the Nationwide Tour by five shots.
Though he hit 16 greens in regulation and needed just 24 putts in a bogey-free round, the brush with history left Pappas lamenting the few shots he left on the course.
"Let's talk about what I didn't do right," he said. "I hit a bad shot on No. 5 and a bad lob wedge on the last hole. Every other shot was just how I pictured it. I made the putts I was supposed to make and three or four that I wasn't supposed to make. I just kept making birdies all day."
Pappas' previous best score on any tour was a 62 in the final round of the PGA Tour's 2003 Southern Farm Bureau Classic, where he was runner-up. He also flirted with a 59 during that round.
"I was 11-under playing the last hole that day and bogeyed it," Pappas recalled. "Making the (eight-foot par putt) on the last hole today was important psychologically just to know I'm not going to bogey every time I get to 11-under."
Pappas was aiming to become the second Nationwide Tour player to shoot 59 on a par-71 course. The first player, Jason Gore, was also the last player on a major professional tour to card a 59 when he accomplished the feat in the second round of the 2005 Cox Classic.
Gore rode his 59 to a win and a battlefield promotion to the PGA Tour.
It's the sort of thing that can do wonders for a player like Pappas, a 36- year-old grinder with previous PGA Tour experience who won his first Nationwide Tour title last year.
"When I made the putt on No. 12 to get to eight-under I knew I had a chance," Pappas said. "What actually cost me a 59 was on the par-three sixth hole. My seven-iron from 190 yards actually jumped in the hole and then back out."
Behind Pappas, Justin Bolli had one bogey in a round of seven-under 64 to sit alone in second place. Eight players are tied one shot further back at 66, and 84 players broke par overall.
"It was one of those days where everything felt easy," said Bolli.
This is the fourth of 33 Nationwide Tour events scheduled for the 2007 season, and the first played in the United States.
<< Angels' Figgins sustains fractured finger
Tempe, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Los Angeles Angels third baseman Chone
Figgins suffered a fractured right middle finger as the Angels defeated the
Arizona Diamondbacks, 8-3, in spring training action Wednesday.
Phoenix Suns ortho
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Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Xavier University announced Thursday that
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St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Running back Marshall Faulk has called a news
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retirement.
Faulk, who is ninth all-time in rushing yards with 12,279 since start
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Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Miami Dolphins signed wide receiver Az-
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Cole, 'Canes can Caps >>
Raleigh, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Erik Cole posted a goal and an assist to lead
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Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jonathan Cheechoo notched his second hat trick
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Memphis wins 25th straight by edging Aggies >>
San Antonio, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Antonio Anderson's two free throws with 3.1
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Superstition, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Young Jo and Catriona Matthew shot
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For the third straight tourna
The AFC South and the NFC East are the favorite divisions to have the next Super Bowl champ among them in the NFL betting odds. But more down to the point, these football odds are in favor of the Indianapolis Colts, by far the strongest team in the AFC South, and the Dallas Cowboys of the NFC East.
Most sports fans would agree that these two teams top the list to win it all before the season even begins. In the BetUS Sportsbook football futures, the Colts are +800 in the odds to win the Super Bowl, while the Cowboys are sitting at +1000 and the Super Bowl XLIV champions New Orleans Saints at +900. In the AFC South, the Colts won the division for five straight years after the 2002 realignment, before the Tennessee Titans won it in 2008. But the Colts came back strong in 2009 to win the division again en route to the Super Bowl. The Cowboys are the favorite to win the NFC East, as well as to advance far into the post season. The Cowboys won the division last season before their horrendous loss in the NFC Divisional playoff to Brett Favre and the Minnesota Vikings. But the ‘Boys will take that loss humbly and be ready for the playoffs this time around.
The NFC South is also very strong, at +600 in the NFL futures, considering that it is home to the defending Super Bowl champions. However, some predictions have the Atlanta Falcons with possibilities of claiming the divisional title this season in place of the Saints, as no team has won back-to-back division championships since the division realignment took place. Let’s not overlook the AFC North at +500. As TO goes to Cincinnati to join Chad OchoCinco and Adam “Pac-Man” Jones, this team looks to claim the division title again. And it is likely they will do so. The Bengals lost in the AFC Wild Card spot in a hard-fought battle against the New York Jets last season. Lest not forget the Pittsburgh Steelers, the XLII Super Bowl Champions… All these teams present interesting odds and matchups for the upcoming season, but the safest and surest bet seems to be with the Colts in the AFC South and the Cowboys in the NFC East. Play this weekly NFL Football Contestto see if you can win.
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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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