Lawrie pulls away for Qatar Masters title

Golf Betting Lines

02/05/2012 - Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Paul Lawrie staved off challenges from Jason Day and Sergio Garcia on Sunday to win the Qatar Masters in comfortable fashion.

Lawrie, the second-round leader, fired a seven-under 65 on Sunday. The Scotsman was tied for the lead after eight holes, but played the last 10 in six-under par to earn a four-shot win.

"I don't think I can play much better than that," said Lawrie. "I've been playing well for a long, long time, but it's just nice to come out one ahead and shoot seven-under."

Day (65) and Peter Hanson (67) shared second at 11-under 205.

John Daly carded a five-under 67 and took fourth alone at minus-nine.

Garcia, who was tied for the lead with Lawrie after a birdie at the 10th, notched one birdie and two bogeys the rest of the way. He fell into a tie for fifth with Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (65), Soren Hansen (66) and Ricardo Gonzalez (70) at eight-under par.

The victory was Lawrie's seventh on the European Tour. He captured the 1999 British Open, but earlier in that season, he won this championship.

"Now wouldn't that be nice to get that again?" he asked.

Lawrie returned to the winner's circle for the first time in nine years when he won last year's Open de Andalucia.

But Sunday's victory was a big one based on the strength of the field, which included world No. 2 Lee Westwood, who tied for 12th, and No. 4 Martin Kaymer, who shared ninth.

Lawrie is expected to move into the top 45 in the world rankings based on this win. He hasn't been in that position since 2003.

The tournament was shortened to 54 holes when most of Friday's action was called off due to high winds.

Lawrie grabbed the second-round lead with a 67 in round two, then birdied his first hole Sunday morning. He parred his next seven and Garcia took that opportunity to vault up the leaderboard.

Garcia birdied one, five, seven and eight to get within one. His birdie at the par-five 10th tied him for the lead with Lawrie at nine-under par, but Lawrie chipped in for eagle at the par-five ninth to move two clear.

Garcia got one back with birdie at the 11th, but that was the last threat the Spaniard mounted. He three-putted the 13th for a bogey, dropped a shot at 15 and fell several behind Lawrie.

The leader played the best golf of the round after the eagle at nine. Lawrie ran home a six-footer for birdie at the 11th and was three in front of Garcia and Day, who birdied four in a row from the 10th.

Day, the No. 10 player in the world, trimmed the gap to two, and Lawrie began to spray the ball off the tee. He had a decent look at birdie at the 13th, but extended his cushion back to three with a birdie at 14.

Lawrie missed a good opportunity for birdie at 15, but cashed in at 16. He drove into the left rough at the drivable par four, then chipped to three feet to set up the easy birdie.

Four ahead with two to play, Lawrie birdied the par-three 17th and the final margin of victory became four only when Day birdied the par-five last.

With a four-shot edge to play with, Lawrie laid up at the closing hole and made a par to secure the trophy.

"When you've got a chance to win a tournament you don't sleep as well the night before and things go racing through your mind," said Lawrie. "You've got to get back to basics and I did that. I hit some nice shots coming in."

Kaymer was joined in ninth place by Victor Dubuisson (69) and Nicolas Colsaerts (72). The trio finished at seven-under 209.

NOTES: Lawrie has three top 10s in his first three starts of the season...European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal celebrated his 46th birthday Sunday with a three-under 69. He tied for 12th, his second top-15 finish of the season...Last year's winner Thomas Bjorn posted a four-under 68 on Sunday and tied for 25th at four-under...Next week, the tour hosts the Dubai Desert Classic, where Alvaro Quiros won the 2011 event.

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College Football Betting Tips From a Pro

While the NFL is the sport wagered on the heaviest, college football betting lines has become more and more popular as people realize it’s a game that can be beat. The NCAA football season gets longer each year with the addition of numerous bowl games and with that comes more opportunities for more money in your pocket, if handled correctly.

Betting on college football is not the same as with the NFL, so make sure you separate the two. Because of the vast number of teams, the parity between college football programs is slight and thus, you are going to see some high numbers in the NCAA. Teams favored by more than 40 points are not uncommon especially early in the season when teams playing their non-conference schedules.

The best advice when trying to tackle these enormous spreads and is to just stay away. A team that is favored by 40 points is favored by that many for a reason while teams getting 40 points are bad enough that they shouldn’t be touched. Set yourself a spread limit. Getting rid of these games will cut down on the number of contests that you need to handicap while staying away from backdoor or front-door covers.

What is a backdoor and front-door cover you ask? A backdoor cover is a team that is getting beat by more than the spread, but scores late to get within that number thus covering the spread. A front-door cover is just the opposite where the favorite scores late and covers the number they are favored by.

These front-door and backdoor covers are common when second and third string players enter games in college football and it can be the worst nightmare for some bettors. These players can also be your best friend, but ask any bettor and he will give you more instances on losing in this situation than winning. It just seems to work out that way even though everything evens out in the end.

College football betting has some of the softest lines of any sport and it’s being able to find these lines that will make you a successful college football handicapper. The NFL and NBA have the tightest lines around and while those sports can be beat by looking at situations and systems, college football doesn’t quite work that way. It’s much more manual, but when done correctly, it’s much more gratifying as well.

Getting into the nuts and bolts of college football means looking at the many stats in order to beat the number. As opposed to pro football, college football is less dependent on situations and angles and more on certain statistics. Rushing offense and defense, pass efficiency offense and defense and turnover margins are huge. These are vital in the NFL, but even more so when it comes to college football.

Being able to run the ball in college football has always been a key factor in the overall success of a team. The same adage also goes for teams who have the ability to stop the run. Putting these two factors together can produce some positive results in a team’s record both straight up and against the spread. These numbers show huge differences in teams and the spread may not take those into effect, which is where the value comes into play.

Passing yardage numbers both for and against can be a misinterpreted statistic. However, pass efficiency has always been one of the best ways to look at a teams’ passing game ability both offensively and defensively. But is it really a true indication of how they perform? I wouldn’t say so since they are raw passing numbers with nothing else taken into consideration.

I use pass efficiency ratings when doing my handicapping but I adjust my numbers based on a number of factors including power ratings, strength of schedules, personnel and injuries. This gives a much better picture of a team’s ability to pass effectively and also being able to defend the pass. Tweaking pass efficiency stats instead of raw passing yards is the key.

Turnovers are the single most frustrating, and at times the most gratifying, aspect of a college football lines, mostly because they are so unpredictable. They are part of the game and most of the time nothing can be done to control them. However, turnovers are contagious and they can carry over from game to game and season to season.

It’s important to know how to forecast these unforeseen events and how to use them to your advantage. You can find ways to give yourself an edge by looking at past histories of teams and coaches and how they have fared in turnover wars in the past. Instead of turnovers hurting you at the wrong times, find ways to use them to your advantage.

As you can see, college football handicapping is very labor intensive and isn’t just based on where teams are ranked in the AP and coaches polls. Experience, coaching and match-ups are all important since unlike the NFL, college teams turn over much more often with new personnel at most positions every single year. Keeping current on this information is vital.

Betting NCAA football can be lucrative if done correctly, but more importantly, it’s just plain enjoyable because it can be beat. College football is one of the best sports to watch with some of the best rivalries taking place in all of sports. The only downfall is that a championship isn’t decided on the field but on a computer-based system that is the Bowl Championship Series. That will change someday and we will all be better off for it.

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