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04/09/2010 - Augusta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Englishmen Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood are knotted atop the leaderboard after Friday's second round of The Masters at Augusta National.
Poulter (68) and Westwood (69) are tied at eight-under 136.
Tiger Woods shot a two-under 70 on Friday and is tied for third place at six- under 138.
Thursday's round was Woods' first on the PGA Tour since a sex scandal last fall caused the four-time Masters champion to take a self-imposed absence from the game.
Woods came back with a fury when he posted a four-under 68, his lowest opening round at The Masters. On Friday, Woods mixed three birdies and a bogey for his 70.
"I feel good, I feel very comfortable," said Woods. "Today I hit a lot of good putts. I made my share. Conditions were so much more difficult today. As you can see the scores, guys are not tearing this place apart like they were yesterday."
On Friday, Woods tapped in a short birdie putt at the par-five second hole, but lost a shot thanks to a bogey at No. 4. He parred his next eight holes, then took advantage of the two par fives on Augusta's second nine.
At the 13th, Woods hit his drive long enough to reach the green in two, but elected to lay up due to the wind. He hit his third 20 feet short of the stick, but drained the putt for birdie.
He was five-under for the championship and missed the green with his second at the par-five 15th. Woods chipped on and made the birdie putt to get to minus- six.
Woods parred his last three to get in at 138.
Phil Mickelson, a two-time Masters champion, finished with a one-under 71 and tied Woods, K.J. Choi (71), Ricky Barnes (70) and Anthony Kim (70) at minus- six.
Mickelson nearly made a long birdie putt on the last, but it popped out of the hole.
"I gave it a little bit extra," said Mickelson, who won in 2004 and 2006. "I was fortunate it hit the hole."
Reigning PGA Champion Y.E. Yang managed an even-par 72 and is eighth at five- under 139.
First-round leader Fred Couples battled his balky back on Friday morning and bogeyed the last three holes for a three-over 75. The 50-year-old three-time winner on the Champions Tour this year is certainly still in contention at three-under 141, but admitted it was the back that did him in on Friday.
"For a while I felt like I could go from first to last," acknowledged Couples, the 1992 Masters champion. "But I kind of loosened up and I got it around."
Sixty-year-old Tom Watson, whose 67 on Thursday was his lowest round at Augusta since 1997, struggled to a two-over 74 on Friday, but matched Couples and Soren Kjeldsen (71) at minus-three.
"It was a struggle today," he admitted. "I'm disappointed that I didn't do as well as I could have today."
Poulter did about as well as anyone could have on Friday.
He broke into red figures with a birdie at the par-five second after his five- wood second landed in the middle of the green. Poulter's next birdie came from eight feet at the eighth, then it was off to the back nine where he flew up the board.
At the famous, par-three 12th, Poulter hit an eight-iron to eight feet to set up birdie. He ran his eagle putt 10 feet past the hole at the par-five 13th, but the colorful Englishman hit the comeback putt for another birdie.
Poulter hit another strong eight-iron at 16 and the result was the same as No. 12. He drained an eight-foot birdie try and was nine-under par for the championship.
Trouble loomed at the last. Poulter pulled his five-iron approach shot and left himself with seven feet for par. His putt stayed above ground and Poulter walked off with a bogey at 18.
"I'm pleased that I gave myself so many chances, and I would say it's one of best rounds of golf I've played in a while," said Poulter.
It was at this year's WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship where Poulter earned his first win in the United States and first PGA Tour victory. He is the seventh-ranked golfer in the world and feels like he belongs on top of leaderboards at major championships.
"It's helped a lot to win on this side of the pond, has made a big difference, and the fact that it was a WGC has given me an extra boost," he said. "To be playing Augusta was in my dreams, and to be sitting at the top of the leaderboards was in my dreams, as well. So hopefully we can have a good weekend and be in a similar situation come Sunday night."
He will battle his fellow countrymen, starting Saturday.
Westwood flew out of the gate with a tap-in eagle at two and a curling birdie putt at No. 3. He bogeyed five, but back-to-back birdies at six and seven got him to nine-under par.
After a bogey at 10 and a birdie at 11, Westwood two-putted for a birdie at 13. He was 10-under and two clear, but that evaporated quickly. A bad drive at 14 led to a double-bogey, but he got one stroke back with another two-putt birdie at 15.
Westwood was in the lead until yet another errant drive, this time at the last. His ball went way right and Westwood turned around to the gallery as if he was distracted by something.
He pitched out, then knocked his third on to the green, but it rolled down toward the front of the green. Westwood missed the putt, made bogey and will play in Saturday's final pairing with his buddy.
"I don't think it'll be a factor at all," said Westwood of playing with his friend in round three. "If anything it'll help, but as golfers we go out there and concentrate on our own ball and not what the other guys do."
NOTES: The 36-hole cut fell at three-over 147 and defending champion Angel Cabrera birdied the last to make it on the number...Padraig Harrington, Bernhard Langer, Rory McIlory, British Open champion Stewart Cink, Paul Casey, Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk were the biggest names to miss the weekend.
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In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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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.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your NFL football betting needs.
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