A step in the right direction for O'Hair

Golf Betting Lines

05/04/2009 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods and Sean O'Hair text each other.

This is not news -- not when we have reporters texting soon-to-be NFL draft picks, congressmen "tweeting" from the floor of the house and Ashton Kutcher posting underwear pics of wife Demi Moore online.

We live in one hell of a well-connected world. If I wanted to, I could see the color of the roof on your house. But I don't want to.

Here at The Sportsbook Betting Lines, we've written about O'Hair a lot. We've spent more column space on him than other equally-deserving young golfers. Part of the reason is that we have a personal relationship with the young man, so...that's how that goes.

We live in one hell of a well-connected world.

O'Hair won the Quail Hollow Championship on Sunday for the third -- and by far biggest -- victory of his career and his first $1 million check. It's a whale of a tournament, won in the past by Woods, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk, David Toms and Anthony Kim.

In beating one of the best fields outside of the four major championships, O'Hair became the only American player under the age of 30 with three PGA Tour titles. Kim, Dustin Johnson, Charles Howell III and Boo Weekley each have two.

O'Hair also joined Sergio Garcia (seven victories) and Adam Scott (six) as the only under-30 players of any nationality who have won at least three times on the PGA Tour.

Now, we could write all we want about what that means: about how O'Hair, and not Howell or Kim, might be the real Next Great American Golfer. But it's way too early for any of that -- even if the victory moved O'Hair to No. 12 in the world rankings, ahead of Kim.

O'Hair won despite coughing up a two-shot lead with back-to-back bogeys on the last two holes. Only a bogey by Lucas Glover on 17 saved him.

Coming just five weeks after he lost a five-shot lead to Woods at the Arnold Palmer Invitational -- Woods beat him with a birdie on the last hole -- his victory on Sunday didn't come in convincing fashion.

Not the way we expect the Next Great American Golfer to win tournaments, at least.

Yes, O'Hair was the only player among the final groups to break 70, but his scrambling finish -- he three-putted from 26 feet at the 18th after missing a slippery downhiller from the back of the green -- didn't inspire waves of confidence in his closing abilities.

But it was a step in the right direction -- OK, a giant leap in the right direction.

Of course, there are other things to consider with O'Hair. Things like the estranged father who pushed him too hard; and that fact that, at age 26, O'Hair has already played professionally for a decade.

These are well-known and well-worn stories -- "Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel" stuff.

"It feels like a whole 'nother life," O'Hair said about his days playing the mini-tours. "My wife and I have been through a lot ... I remember being on the Gateway Tour in '04 and having $2,000 in our bank account and we didn't have enough money to play in any tournaments in the summer.

"It was basically we were playing for a meal ticket for the next week. I mean, it was actually that tough. We constantly talk about that stuff and reminisce. I think that's the stuff that makes this so sweet. It makes the hard work worth it, and it's just really nice to enjoy it with her, especially from where we came from."

O'Hair and Woods have struck up something of a friendship on tour -- Woods calls O'Hair "Chicago" after the Windy City airport -- and that shouldn't be overlooked.

Woods, 33, is a man whose professional golfer friends tend to be much older -- think 52-year-old Mark O'Meara or 51-year-old John Cook -- so it's eye-opening to see him embrace a youngster like O'Hair. Especially one who is on everybody's "Who will challenge Tiger?" radar.

The world No. 1, after finishing fourth, waited around to congratulate O'Hair on his victory.

"He's got all the talent. We know that," said Woods, who admitted being a friend -- and fan -- of O'Hair's. "We've seen how well he's played. It's just he's been through a lot off the golf course, and it's just a matter of time before all that settles in."

"He's got a great family," Woods continued, "and you can see now he's starting to gain confidence with what he's working on. I think he's gone back to his old coach, and things are working out pretty good for him."

When O'Hair arrived for Masters week two Mondays after losing to Woods at Bay Hill, he spotted Woods during a practice round.

"I saw Tiger, and he looked over and I kind of nodded, and he said something, and I'm like, 'That son of a b---h!'" O'Hair laughed. "The guy is a fierce competitor."

The fiercest.

A colleague is always harping on the topic of "learning how to win." He wrote often about how Michelle Wie was never given a chance to learn how to win, how she was thrust into the spotlight on the LPGA Tour and pushed to play against the men on the PGA Tour.

In some ways, her story could end up like O'Hair's. She could be -- there's a good chance she will be -- a three-time winner by the time she is 26. But she needs to learn how to win.

O'Hair is almost there. Three wins into his still-young career, a spot just outside the top-10 in the world rankings and a slew of good performances to start the season, and it's clear O'Hair is learning.

But he nearly gave away another win on Sunday.

Luckily for him, Lucas Glover is not Tiger Woods.

O'Hair talked more about seeing Woods at Augusta, so soon after he had become just the latest Sunday offering to the Best Player in the World.

"I just saw him, and he smiled and I smiled back. He's a good guy. You know, he texted me afterwards and said some nice words. The guy is just -- no matter how friendly you are with him, he wants to slit your throat on the golf course, and I respect that. That's a true competitor."

And that's where O'Hair needs to be.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

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Football Betting: Defensive Rookie of the Year Awards

Oddsmakers have released the odds for the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award and Seattle Seahawks linebacker Aaron Curry has been made the opening favorite.

Bet on NFL Football

Seattle took Curry with the fourth overall pick in April's NFL draft and plan on inserting him into its starting lineup right away. The Hawks traded linebacker Julian Peterson in the offseason, so Curry is expected to have a significant role in Seattle's defense next year and that's one of the primary reasons he is the favorite to win the NFL ROY Award.

Oddsmakers from online sportsbook MySportsbook.com have made Curry a 5/1 favorite to win this year's NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award. Given that he was the best defensive prospect in this year's draft and how he'll have plenty of opportunities to make plays in '09, Curry offers a ton of value at 5/1.

Another thing working for Curry is the position he plays. A linebacker has won the defensive ROY award six straight times and eight of the last nine years. Jerod Mayo, Patrick Willis, DeMeco Ryans, Shawne Merriman, Jonathan Vilma, Terrell Suggs, Kendrell Bell and Brian Urlacher were the most recent linebackers to take home the award.

Following Curry at 5/1 are Tyson Jackson (Chiefs) at 7/1, James Laurinaitas (Rams) at 8/1, Brian Orakpo (Redskins) at 10/1, Rey Maualuga (Bengals) at 10/1 and Jerry Peria (Falcons) at 10/1.

All the players mentioned above are expected to start for their respective teams, but Jackson and Peria are going to have a tough time being recognized on a national level given they're both defensive linemen. D-linemen rarely put up the numbers that it takes to win an individual award like the ROY.

A couple of players with some value are Clay Matthews (Packers) at 12/1 and Larry English (Chargers) at 15/1. Matthews is expected to start at outside linebacker in Green Bay's new 3-4 defense and could rack up a ton of tackles. English, who was an impressive player at Northern Illinois, is expected to be a situational pass rusher for the Chargers and could rack up a ton of sacks.

For complete odds on the 2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award, see below. And for complete odds for the 2009 AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award, click the link provided.

2009 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year Award

Robert Ayers (DEN) 12/1

Ron Brace (NE) 25/1

Everette Brown (CAR) 16/1

Darius Butler (NE) 40/1

Patrick Chung (NE) 30/1

Aaron Curry (SEA) 5/1

Brian Cushing (HOU) 12/1

Vontae Davis (MIA) 30/1

Louis Delmas (DET) 30/1

Larry English (SD) 15/1

Evander Hood (PIT) 25/1

Tyson Jackson (KC) 7/1

Malcolm Jenkins (NO) 25/1

Paul Kruger (BAL) 50/1

James Laurinaitas (STL) 8/1

Sen'Derrick Marks (TEN) 20/1

Clay Matthews (GB) 12/1

Aaron Maybin (BUF) 15/1

Rey Maualuga (CIN) 10/1

Roy Miller (TB) 20/1

Michael Mitchell (OAK) 45/1

Fili Moala (IND) 30/1

Brian Orakpo (WAS) 10/1

Jerry Peria (ATL) 10/1

B J Raji (GB) 7/1

Clint Sintim (NYG) 35/1

Alphonso Smith (DEN) 40/1

David Verkune (CLE) 20/1

Jason Williams (DAL) 30/1

Field (Any Other Player) 6/1

NFL football gambling

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