Tee Ball Adds Place Into Geiberger

Golf Betting Lines

"I got off to a bad start, but regrouped with that birdie on No. 4, " Armour admitted. "I didn't drive it well on the back nine."

 

The two-time Nationwide Tour winner parred his next four holes. Down the stretch, he turned it on. Bowden birdied the par-four 15th from 18 feet out and made it two straight as he drained an improbable 80-foot putt at 16.

 

"I've been playing good golf all year long, but I'm surprised to be in the picture. Realistically, I thought I had no shot after the first round," Bowden said of his opening 70.

 

"I came into this week without any expectations at all," admitted Bowden. "After the first day, I thought it would be an absolute moral victory to just make the cut. I have no expectations tomorrow. I'll just go out, have fun and think about my daughter."

 

Second-round leader Bradley Hughes faltered to a four-over 75 that dropped him all the way into a share of 35th.

 

"There's nothing more that helps your confidence than being able to say, 'I've done this before," said Woods, who is two weeks removed from his emotional win at the British Open. "My record is what it is."

 

"We all have to earn our way," said Glover. "It's up to us to get there. We all want to play. Captain Lehman can make up his mind on the next two. If we earn it, we'll be stronger when we get over there."

 

Before they start figuring Ryder Cup points, there's the matter of trying to catch the No. 1 player in the world.

 

When Taylor, who is 11th on the American Ryder Cup points list, three-putted the 17th green for a bogey, Woods tapped in a short birdie putt at 10 to draw even.

 

He parred that hole and 15, where he hit a nine-iron from 175 yards out. Woods pulled another outrageous club at the par-five 16th, when he roped a four- iron from 248 yards to 30 feet. His eagle putt came up well short, but Woods converted the five-footer for birdie and the outright lead.

 

His drive on the 18th became a tale of two different types of luck. Woods' tee ball struck a spectator in the hand, but sent the ball back into the fairway. After an autographed glove and quick check on the man's health, Woods knocked his second to seven feet. He drained the putt to give himself the two-shot advantage.

 

"You can't sit around and make a bunch of pars," said Woods, who won this title in 2002. "I made some nice putts and basically just stayed out of trouble."

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Horse Betting

(This is an update of a sportsbook for the May 4th issue of ESPN The Magazine).

The Kentucky Derby's post-position draw happened on Wednesday. And, as is always the case, shortly afterwards, a buzz raced around Churchill Downs. It was a low rumble at first, nothing that the squares in the mint julep crowd pick up right away. But by the time the sun set over the twin spires, the chatter was impossible to ignore. Everyone -- sharps, trainers, owners -- was talking about one thing: the wise guy horse, the pre-draw long shot us mopes didn't have on our radar until it was too late.

"You think you're hearing the scoop," says handicapper Lane Gold. "Then you get to the window, the odds are short, and you missed it."

Recognizing a wise-guy horse early is as hard as picking a Derby bonnet. That's because handicappers don't like hype (see ya, I Want Revenge). They want Thoroughbreds who look good losing prep races like the Santa Anita Derby. They eye horses who ate up the field after starting wide or made an easy transition from synthetic tracks to dirt. They look for ponies who showed muscle gain race to race and those who ran hard after several weeks' rest.

"A wise guy," says John Avello, a bookmaker at Wynn Las Vegas, "looks for a horse who can improve."

When I first wrote Horse Betting for The Mag, which I turned in a three weeks before Wednesday's draw, I predicted these three horses had wise guy potential:

CHOCOLATE CANDY (15-1 in mid-April, currently 20-1 according to Avello): His second-place finish at Santa Anita, following a seven-week layoff, proved two things: He can run after resting, and -- by losing a high-profile prep race -- he wouldn't be overhyped.

DESERT PARTY (15-1; 15-1): He was upset in the UAE Derby by a horse he had beaten twice. The public remembers his loss, but the wise guys his wins.

PIONEEROF THE NILE (8-1; 4-1): The big favorite at Santa Anita struggled to win, so he initially got less hype than Quality Road and I Want Revenge.

You may have noticed that the odds on Pioneerof the Nile have been cut in half, from 8-1 to 4-1. Which means the wise guys took a shine to him long before the post-position draw. But, to be honest, this is one of those years with four elite horses getting everyone's attention, squares and sharps alike.

"You're not gonna get a lot of chatter about a horse that isn't in that group, which includes Pioneer, I Want Revenge, Dunkirk and Friesan Fire," Avello told me Wednesday. "We don't have a group of horses behind those top four who look like real legit contenders."

Come Derby week, the final two elements in picking a wise guy horse are how he's working out and what gate he's coming out of.

(By the way, picking a Preakness favorite is a whole different bale of hay, partially based on how horses finish in the Derby. You can see my analysis of who has the best shot at Pimlico on Insider Sunday morning.)

Well, early in the week I Want Revenge, Pioneerof the Nile and Friesan Fire were working out better than anyone. Some thought Friesan Fire, currently 6-1, might have run too fast, burning a five-furlong run in :57 4/5. "When you are running that fast you have the sense that it took something out of him," says Gold. "The Derby is longer than any horse has run, and if they need that extra surge you worry they won't have it because they burned it in the workout."

But, Gold points out, Friesan Fire's trainer is Larry Jones, Two years ago his horse Hard Spun did a five-eighths workout in :57 3/5 and then went on to finish second, behind Street Sense, in the Derby. "Every trainer has different methods," says Gold. "And clearly he knows what he's doing."

Now, as for starting position, Gold says to remember this: Churchill Downs traditionally has 14 starting gates. For the Derby, it brings out auxiliary gates and between the original 14th gate and the new 15th gate, there is a little more space than there is between gates 1-14. "That 15 position will give you a precious second or two to sort out what's happening to your inside," says Gold. "Sixteen is also okay because you can follow the horse in front of you."

Dunkirk, one of the race favorites, is coming out of gate 15. In 16 is Baffert's Pioneerof the Nile. I Want Revenge drew 13, where Smarty Jones won from in 2004, and Friesan Fire picked the sixth position. "He doesn't have a lot of speed to the inside of him," says Gold. "So he will get a clear shot to be near the front."

All the jibber-jabber means this: Pioneerof the Nile has leapfrogged from 8-1 to being the second favorite, along with Dunkirk, behind I Want Revenge. Meanwhile, Friesan Fire, with a good trainer, a strong week of training and a decent post position, is still at 6-1. "By Saturday, it's possible he could go from fourth to the favorite," says Gold.

In other words, meet Friesan Fire, your 2009 wise guy horse.

"Now," says Avello, "it's time for action."

To visit this horse betting site go to MySportsbook.com for all your horse racing betting needs.