Strange one clear in New Zealand

Golf Betting Lines

11/30/2006 - Whangaparaoa, New Zealand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Scott Strange birdied the 18th hole Thursday to shoot four-under-par 67. He stands one clear of a crowded leaderboard after the first round of the New Zealand Open at Gulf Harbour Country Club.

Jarrod Moseley posted a three-under-par 68 and is tied for second place with Greg Chalmers and Kim Felton. Chalmers and Felton each bogeyed their final hole to shoot 68. There are nine player one stroke further back.

The players had to battle the elements in the opening round. There was heavy rain and wind early in the day. As the day went on, conditions dried up, but the wind kept blowing and temperatures fell.

Strange, who teed off in the afternoon, opened with a birdie on the first, but parred each of his next nine holes. He moved to minus-two with a birdie on the par-five 11th.

The Australian grabbed a share of the lead at three-under with a birdie on the par-three 15th. Strange gave that stroke right back with a bogey on 16.

Strange bounced right back to birdie 17 to regain a share of the lead. He closed by sinking a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 18 to end one clear of the field.

"I had a birdie chance on 17 and had one on 18 and I knocked them in," Strange said. "When I had a realistic birdie chance, I holed the putt."

Moseley started on the back nine and got off the flying start. He eagled the par-five 11th, and followed with birdies on the next two holes to get to minus-four.

The 34-year-old tripped to a bogey on 14 and cruised around the turn with five pars in a row. Moseley got back to minus-four with a birdie on two. He was the only player to reach five-under for the round after a birdie on five. Moseley stumbled to a double-bogey at the sixth to slide back to three-under.

Chalmers traded a birdie for a bogey from the third. He collected birdies on six and eight, but made the turn at one-under after a bogey on the ninth.

The 33-year-old Chalmers flew up the leaderboard with three birdies in a four- hole span from the 10th. He could not get up and down for par from short of the green at the last to finish one back.

"I'm not a water rat. I don't seem to play well in the rain. I was pleased that I could hang in there and hit some good shots," admitted Chalmers. "It's a lot easier to do that in bad weather when the putts are going in."

Felton parred eight of the first nine hole, with a lone birdie at the fifth. Around the turn, Felton birdied three straight from the 10th to get to minus- four. He tripped to a bogey on 18 though.

"We were coming in and 16, 17 and 18 were all into the wind," Felton said. "I held on all day until the last. It would have been a nice bogey-free round, but the last hole got me."

Craig Parry shot two-under-par 69. He shares fifth place with Stephen Scahill, Peter Senior, Simon Wakefield, Marcus Fraser, Lee S. James, Nick Dougherty, Michael Long and Mark Purser.

Damien McGrane and David Bransdon are among 15 players one stroke further back at minus-one.

Former U.S. Open champion and New Zealand-native Michael Campbell is part of a large group tie for 29th at even-par 71.

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Betting Football

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Is there such a thing as a trap game in the NFL?

I once asked that question to Pete Korner, who at the time was office manager and a senior linesmaker for Las Vegas Sports Consultants.

Korner almost ripped my head off. There is no such thing as a trap game, he loudly berated me. It’s a myth. The numbers are made using power ratings, he said.

There are trap games, though. They just might not be what you think. The perception is of a good team, say Philadelphia, laying a small number against New Orleans.

Using the highly-respected power ranking from The Gold Sheet, you’d find the Eagles with a power rating of 4 and the Saints at 8. When you factor the game being played in New Orleans, you could see why the line opened so short at less than a field goal.

For some, this makes it enticing to take the Eagles. That’s not a real trap game, though.

A real trap game, says professional gambler Dave Malinsky, is thinking you’re getting value betting a bad team, which brings us to the Oakland Raiders-Denver Broncos matchup.

The Raiders are +15 in this long-standing division rivalry. Denver is on a short week having dispatched Baltimore Monday. However, the Raiders haven’t covered the spread their last 10 games.

Many bettors don’t trust the Raiders to give a full effort. Few think much of Art Shell and his Oakland’s coaching staff.

So oddsmakers have to do something to make Oakland attractive if they hope to get equal action.

Now Malinsky is a value shopper. But he won’t touch the Raiders even getting more than two touchdowns.

“I try to eliminate the undisciplined, unfocused teams because they’re the ones most likely to suffer the bad beats,” he said.

Near the top of Malinsky’s list of stay-away teams is the Miami Dolphins, who have yet to cover a spread this season.

“Whatever you think of Nick Saban, you have to look at the penalties and turnovers,” Malinsky said.

It’s easy to point out the Dolphins failed to get the money this past week against New England because Olindo Mare missed a field goal and had another field goal blocked. But even though the Dolphins outgained the Patriots, 283-213, they committed eight penalties.

Bad teams not only cost themselves victories, but pointspread covers as well. The Arizona Cardinals and Green Bay Packers are two more examples.

The Cardinals couldn’t have been in a better position this past Sunday, up 14-0 at home against a mediocre Kansas City Chiefs squad. But they couldn’t hold it. The Packers got a push against St. Louis, but also could have won losing by three when Brett Favre fumbled at the St. Louis 11-yard line with 44 seconds left.

“The Packers were in a position to beat Philadelphia, too,” Malinsky said. “But they couldn’t even cover double digits.

“These teams just make mistakes and it costs you … they always will look good from a value standpoint. They really will. But that’s the trap.”

Houston and Tennessee rank among the six-worst teams. Malinsky wouldn’t be afraid to take either of these teams, however, if the price were high enough.

The Texans are bad, Malinsky said, but they have some discipline. The Titans showed they could not only come up with an outstanding game plan, but execute it as well, losing by one to the Colts on the road as an 18 ?-point underdog this past Sunday.

“Jeff Fisher is a worker,” Malinsky said of the Titans coach. “I’m not sure how hard Art Shell wants to work when he gets out of bed.”

Fisher, though, could be out as Tennessee coach after this season. Is he still worth backing in the right spot, with the right price, as a lame duck coach?

“It’s in his nature to keep working hard and not worry about any possible lame duck status,” Malinsky said. “He’s coaching for his resume.”

Note: Monday night game will be picked Monday. Lines used are from football betting lines.