Aiken leads European Tour opener

Golf Betting Lines

01/05/2012 - East London, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - South Africa's Thomas Aiken fired a nine-under 64 on Thursday to take the opening-round lead of the Africa Open, the first event on the 2012 European Tour schedule.

Aiken, last year's Open de Espana winner, is one shot clear at the par-73 East London Golf Club.

Two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who had the honor of hitting the first tee shot in the 2012 Race to Dubai, and fellow South African Jaco Ahlers are tied for second at eight-under 65.

In fact, players from the home country are doing quite well.

Michael Du Toit and Dean O'Riley, both South Africans, share fourth with Welshman Phillip Price at seven-under 66.

Aiken played in the same group with Goosen on Thursday off No. 9 (due to course logistics, the second wave of players went off nine, instead of 10). Aiken broke into red figures in spectacular fashion. He hit a good two-iron to the par-five 11th green for his second shot and holed the eagle putt.

Aiken birdied 16, 17 and 18 to head to the first tee at five-under par. He went lower thanks again to the two-iron. Aiken got to a par-five third green in two with that trusty club, and once again, made eagle.

"I have had that two-iron for seven years and it is the only club from my old bag that conforms with groove regulations," said Aiken. "I find it very versatile and it is one of my favorite clubs. I had 230 yards to the hole on the third, and a similar yardage on 11. Managed to get the yardage right and I hit two perfect shots."

Aiken parred the fourth after his second eagle of the round, but got to nine- under par thanks to back-to-back birdies at five and six. He parred his last two holes for a somewhat surprising first-round lead.

"I wasn't really expecting that after two weeks without touching a club," admitted Aiken. "It was a great morning this morning -- early start, and the scoring conditions were good. It was out there for the taking and luckily I hit some really good shots and made putts.

"I really enjoyed the round today. This is not the longest course, but it bites if you go askew. Anything off the line on this course is pretty much a reload off the tee, which makes it a thinking man's course. There are a lot of risk-and-reward holes -- a couple of drivable par fours and tricky par threes -- and I think that a lot of new courses lack that challenge."

Maarten Lafeber, Charles-Edouard Russo, Richard Bland, JJ Senekal, Danny Willett and Shaun Norris share seventh place at six-under 67.

NOTES: Defending champion and former British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen is in the mix after a four-under 69 on Thursday...Aiken has won several times on the South African Tour, which is co-sponsoring this championship...Aiken, Goosen and Peter Hedblom, the third member of the group, combined to go 18- under par in round one...Last year's Race to Dubai winner and world No. 1 Luke Donald, is not on hand this week.

Wwwharley-davidson Golf Betting News

<< Red Bulls sign defender Borrajo
Harrison, NJ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Bull New York signed former academy player Jonathan Borrajo on Thursday. Borrajo, 24, most recently played for Hamarkameratene of Norway. He played 36 games for the club. "We believe that Jonathan is

<< Short-handed Bucks visit weary Kings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kings will resume a torturous stretch of three games in three nights when they return to Sacramento for a date with the short-handed Milwaukee Bucks. The Kings have been routed during the first two games of the span, l

<< Blackhawks make return to Philly to battle Flyers
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blackhawks ended a 49-year championship drought the last time they played in Philadelphia. Chicago will return to the City of Brotherly Love for the first time since that memorable night in 2010, as it battles the Flyers

<< Aztecs get another breather in clash with visiting Hawks
San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - In the midst of a six-game homestand at Viejas Arena, the 24th-ranked San Diego State Aztecs kick off the new calendar year against the Hawks of San Diego Christian College tonight. San Diego State, which sti

<< Wolverines and Hoosiers meet in clash of ranked Big Ten foes
Bloomington, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Top-25 teams collide in Bloomington this evening, as the 16th-ranked Michigan Wolverines take on the 12th-ranked Indiana Hoosiers in Big Ten action at Assembly Hall. John Beilein's Wolverines are

Columbus signs Chile midfielder Mirosevic >>
Columbus, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Columbus Crew have signed Chile midfielder Milovan Mirosevic to a multi-year contract, pending receipt of his P-1 work visa. Mirosevic, 31, has played 25 matches for Chile, most recently appearing in

Federer reaches final four in Doha >>
Doha, Qatar (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The great Roger Federer secured a spot in Friday's semifinals at the season-opening $1.024 million Qatar Open. The three-time overall and reigning champion Federer was tested by eighth- seeded Italian An

Timbers sign Richards as homegrown player >>
Portland, OR (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Portland Timbers have signed forward Brent Richards as the club's first homegrown player. Richards, 21, joins the Timbers' first team after three years with the club's development team, the Portland Tim

Bombers name Buchko new president and CEO >>
Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have named Garth Buchko as the team's new president and chief executive officer. Buchko becomes the 39th president in team history and has an extensive background as a s

Line of Scrimmage: Ravens ready to rule AFC roost >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - After years of being blocked by a treacherous course, the Baltimore Ravens finally have a clear path to a championship, though it's a window of opportunity that may not be wide open for very long. The fir

Numerous College Basketball teams take final big step to March Madness betting

So, what turned on the lock spigot? Well, after what felt like weeks of teams treading water and slipping back into the bubble muck, a bunch of them finally decided to say "to heck with parity" and won games that should put them into the Big Dance.

Disagree with some of these? Then here's the challenge. Take all of the "should be ins" and make a legit case that each should be ahead of the team that's a lock. Then find 10 more teams that also should be placed in the bracket ahead of that lock team. Not so easy, is it?

If you want more evidence that these locks should be good to go, check out what our research department dug up. Since the NCAA Tournament went to 64 teams in 1985, only six teams from a "big six" conference have had a record of 10-6 or better in conference play and not been selected: Colorado (2004) and Nebraska (1999) from the Big 12, Boston College and Seton Hall (both 2003) from the Big East, Indiana (2005) from the Big Ten and UCLA, which somehow went 12-6 in the Pac-10 in 1988 and still missed out. (Note: Five teams went 11-7 and didn't get in, the latest being last season's Stanford team, which had a brutal nonconference run.)

Yes, 10 conference wins doesn't always mean what it used to because of unbalanced schedules, but this season, it should be plenty good in all but the extreme cases (see: Iowa).

In a way, this is a welcome development, because this is a bubble watch, not a lock watch. We can finally be done with teams like Maryland and Virginia Tech and start really bearing down on at-large battles such as Syracuse-West Virginia and Appalachian State-Georgia Tech.

Interestingly, all the shifting of teams into lock status appears to be more administrative than impactful. The number of remaining available at-larges didn't change one iota. The only difference is that teams on the bubble now have a clearer idea of which team(s) they are competing with for those precious bids.

The Bubble Breakdown
CONFERENCE LOCKS SHOULD BE INS AT-LARGES TAKEN
(assuming no auto bid outlier)
ACC Betting Odds 6 0 5
Big East Betting Odds 5 0 4
Big Ten Betting Odds 2 2 3
Big 12 Betting Odds 3 0 2
Pac-10 Betting Odds 5 1 5
SEC Betting Odds 4 0 3
MVC Betting Odds 1 1 1
MWC Betting Odds 2 1 2
TOTAL 28 5 25

As always, I've tried to be as inclusive as possible while only including teams that would have a reasonable chance of at least being discussed if this were Selection Sunday. If your team's not on here, there's probably a good reason (or three) -- start with the RPI and SOS numbers and work your way down.

(Please remember, per selection committee criteria, that records displayed are Division I only. Next update: Feb. 28)

If you have a legitimate grievance, or just like talking bubble, send an e-mail. Polite ones with fact-based arguments have a much better chance of receiving a response. I apologize in advance if I can't get back to all of you.

Atlantic Coast Conference

Work left to do: Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech

The ACC moves to six locks as BC, Va Tech and Virginia all got their 10th ACC wins, which should be more than enough this season, and Maryland rallied past North Carolina to get the final piece the Terps needed. After that? It could end there unless FSU, Ga Tech or Clemson picks things up in a hurry.

 

Work left to do:

Clemson [19-9 (5-9), RPI: 41, SOS: 42] The Tigers are closer to locking up the collapse of the year award (in a good battle with OK State) than they are to grabbing an at-large. Clemson's been very competitive, but there's no really positive way you can spin nine losses in 11 games. They now cannot get to .500 in ACC play and still must head to Virginia Tech in the season finale (after hosting Miami). Unless the Tigers win both and/or do some serious work in the ACC tourney, they very well could be left out. There are no great nonconference wins, but ODU, App State, Miss. State, South Carolina and Georgia are all respectable W's.

Florida State [18-11 (6-9), RPI: 48, SOS: 14] The Noles got thrashed at Maryland to run their losing streak to five, but then pounded NC State at home to set the table for what likely is an elimination game at Miami. You can at least make a case for the Seminoles at 7-9 in ACC play (and some work in the ACC tourney), but 6-10 is not going to cut it. Wins at Duke and over Florida will resonate, but the computer numbers remain questionable. Beyond Florida, FSU thrashed bubble buddy Providence, but there's not a ton beyond those two games that will help. They didn't show well in big-time opportunities against Pitt and Wisconsin (before the Florida win).

Georgia Tech [18-10 (6-8), RPI: 51, SOS: 46] The Jackets beat Wake on Wednesday but couldn't get it done at UVa on Saturday, which could be a crucial loss with UNC and BC (both at home) remaining and 8-8 almost a certain need for at-large consideration. A nonconference win over Memphis helps, but the RPI and SOS are not at-large quality right now; if you combine those with a sub-.500 ACC mark, that could spell NIT for GT.

For more College Basketball betting lines go to MySportsbook.com

Additional basketball lines can be found at: www.MySportsbook.com

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com - this sportsbook accepts credit cards.