Anderson and Clark lead BMW Charity Pro-Am

Golf Betting Lines

05/14/2009 - Greer, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chris Anderson and Michael Clark II are tied atop the leaderboard at nine-under par after the first round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am.

The tournament features Nationwide Tour players coupled with amateurs over the first three rounds on three different courses. Thornblade Club is a par-71 layout and will host the final round. The Carolina Country Club and Bright's Creek Golf Club are par-72 courses and finalize the rotation.

Anderson shot a nine-under 63 at the Carolina Club, while Clark managed a nine-under 62 at Thorndale. Both were course records at their respective sites.

Fabian Gomez and Dustin Bray are knotted in third place at minus-eight. Gomez posted an eight-under 63 at Thorndale and Bray's 64 came at the Carolina Club.

Anderson began on the first tee at the Carolina Club and played pretty ordinary golf over the front nine. He tallied birdies at six and nine to make the turn at two-under, but caught fire on the back side.

He rattled off five consecutive birdies from the 11th to find himself atop the leaderboard at minus-seven. Anderson parred the 16th, but closed with back-to- back birdies for his 63.

Anderson finished with a 29 on his back nine and he could use a good week. Despite a tie for third at the Louisiana Open, Anderson has not finished inside the top 35 in any other tournament this year.

"I got off to a shaky start but I tried to take it one shot at a time," said Anderson, who won the 2004 SAS Carolina Classic.

Clark got off to a similar start as his fellow co-leader. He had two birdies in his first four holes, but didn't make another until the par-three ninth. That allowed him to turn at three-under, but a big back nine earned him his share of first.

The former PGA Tour Rookie of the Year birdied 10, 12 and 13 and was close to the lead. Clark polished off his round with birdies at 15, 17 and 18 to match Anderson in first -- at least in terms of par.

"When I finished, the guy in the scoring tent said I shot 62 and I thought 'Wait a minute, I had 63,'" said Clark. "I didn't realize this course was a par-71. I hit it where I was looking and it was nice to make some putts."

Daniel Summerhays, Esteban Toledo, Tom Johnson and Brent Delahoussaye are knotted in fifth place at minus-seven.

Jon Mills, Michael Putnam, David Morland IV, Geoffrey Sisk, Jeff Gove, Brenden Pappas, Scott Dunlap, D.J. Brigman, Jason Caron and Craig Bowden share ninth at six-under par.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

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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