BEHIND THE LINES: Tiger Woods' absence opens up options

[clevfan]

BEHIND THE LINES

Tiger Woods' absence opens up options

With the world's No. 1 golfer still on the mend from knee surgery, "wide-open" betting action has taken hold at several tournaments.

By Lonnie White
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

4:45 PM PDT, May 27, 2008

Since Tiger Woods was forced to take time off to recover from surgery he had on his knee in mid-April, golf gamblers have taken advantage of increased betting options in recent weeks.

With more respectable odds available for a higher number of golfers, a variety of bets were made on Tiger-less events such as the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the Players Championship and last week's Colonial Invitational.

And with Woods still sidelined this week, the same "wide-open" betting action is expected for this weekend's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio.

The Memorial, won by K.J. Choi last year, also will be missing Vijay Singh and Adam Scott, who will sit out the event.

To take advantage of the uncertainty regarding this weekend, Sportsbetting.com has listed "the field" as a 3-1 favorite, followed by Phil Mickelson, who is coming off a one-stroke win at the Colonial and is listed at 7-1.

Sergio Garcia, who won the Players Championship earlier this month, is next at 15-1, followed by Stewart Cink, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy at 20-1. Ernie Els, who initially planned to skip the Memorial but wrote on his website on Tuesday that he'll play this weekend,was given 25-1 odds.

Choi is also listed at 25-1, while Fred Couples is at 30-1 and Trevor Immelman, this year's winner of the Masters, is listed at 60-1.

Among some of the head-to-head matchup wagers, Mickelson is favored (-170) over Garcia (+135); Cink is a slight favorite (-120) over Ogilvy (-110); and Furyk is favored (-130) over Choi (even).

Pro Basketball

Boston heads into tonight's Game 5 against Detroit needing two victories to reach this year's NBA Finals. The Celtics and Pistons are tied at 2-2 in the best-of-seven series with Boston listed as a 5 1/2 -point favorite to win tonight's game.

The moneyline for tonight's game has Boston at -260 and Detroit at +220.

What's so remarkable about the Celtics' playoff run has been their dismal 7-11 record against the point spread in the postseason.

In comparison, the Pistons are 9-6 against the point spread in the playoffs, while the Lakers were 8-4-1 and San Antonio 7-6-2 against the point spread heading into Tuesday night's Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.

Baseball

New York Mets Manager Willie Randolph may be under the spotlight for his team's slow start this season, but Las Vegas oddsmakers still like the Mets' chances of winning the National League East Division title.

At Bodoglife.com, the Mets are listed at 7-4, with the Atlanta Braves and Philadelphia Phillies at 2-1, Florida Marlins at 9-2, and Washington Nationals at 80-1.

The Mets are listed at 7-2 to win the National League pennant with only the Chicago Cubs getting better odds at 4-1.

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This story is not intended as a tip sheet but is an account of significant betting taking place in the sports world.

[Rogthedodger]

"Sunday Phil" is the fav??? LMFAO