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05/08/2009 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Cejka posted a five-under 67 on Friday to move atop the leaderboard after the second round of The Players Championship.
Cejka finished 36 holes at 11-under 133 and is two clear of Ian Poulter, who managed a four-under 68 on Friday, at the famous Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass.
Masters champion Angel Cabrera tallied nine birdies Friday, including seven in a 10-hole span, and ended up with a seven-under 65. That vaulted the two-time major winner into a tie for third at minus-seven.
"All tournaments are important to me. I really haven't changed the way I prepare for them," said Cabrera. "My tee shots were pretty much the difference today. I was able to get the hole started out right."
Tiger Woods managed a three-under 69 and finished two rounds at minus-four. The 2001 champion, who hasn't finished inside the top-10 here since that win, is tied for 22nd place.
Woods was even at the turn after a six-foot birdie at nine, but a 15-foot birdie putt at 10 and a two-putt birdie at 11 got him to three-under for the championship.
He failed to save par from a bunker at the 12th, but back-to-back birdies from the 14th got him to four-under for the tournament. Woods hit a spectacular punch shot from the right rough by a tree at the last, but could not hole his 10-footer for birdie.
"I made a couple of mistakes today, but overall I'm still right back in the ball game," said Woods, who found several terrible lies en route to his 69. "Take your medicine sometimes and move on from there."
One player who didn't have to take his medicine much on Friday was Cejka.
He parred the first hole Friday, but made a great save from left of the green at the par-five second for a birdie. Cejka knocked his tee ball to 10 feet at the par-three third and canned the birdie putt. Cejka made it three in a row at the fourth when he drained a 15-footer.
At the par-three seventh, Cejka hit a seven-iron inside a foot. He tapped in for a birdie, then converted a 30-foot par save at the very next hole to stay at 10-under par for the championship.
After he made the turn, Cejka hit his approach almost 20 feet left of the hole, but slightly off the putting surface. He holed that birdie effort to get to minus-11 and tapped in a short birdie putt at the par-five 11th to become the first player to get to 12-under par.
Cejka parred his next three holes, but found some trouble at the 15th when his approach landed in a greenside bunker. He could not get up and down for par and fell back to minus-11.
Cejka parred 16 and 17, but once again found some problems, this time at the par-four closing hole. He drove into the right rough and missed the green with his second. The best Cejka could muster was a pitch to 18 feet, but he ran home the par putt to finish at 11-under par.
"I didn't really hit the ball as well as yesterday. Yesterday was kind of flawless," said Cejka. "But I still made a couple good up-and-downs, and when I had a birdie chance I took it."
Cejka is quite an interesting leader.
At the end of last season, Cejka had neck fusion surgery and admittedly, came back too soon. He had an epidural injection in his neck just last week to curtail some numbness in his arm and fingers.
"It's still a little bit numb, but there's no pain," he said.
But Cejka's story predates neck surgery or the lead in the Players Championship.
When Cejka was nine years old, he and his father fled Communist Czechoslovakia. They went to Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Italy and eventually landed in Germany.
"I was too young to understand what's going on," said Cejka. "My dad told nobody what he was doing. I was nine years old. Back then I didn't know. For me it was a vacation, so for me it was a smooth ride."
That ride went by foot, by train, by bike and even through water.
"I think we swam across the Rhine," said Cejka, a four-time winner on the European Tour.
He hit a few balls in Czechoslovakia, but started taking lessons when he and his father settled in Germany. Cejka became more interested in golf in the mid-80s when Bernhard Langer started to burst on to the scene.
"I skipped school and I watched him even in pro-ams, and he was my inspiration," Cejka said of Langer. "He was the only German guy who was on Tour, the only German guy who won tournaments, the only German who won a major, so that was inspiration."
Cabrera was joined in third by 2001 PGA Champion David Toms (70), Kevin Na (66), Jason Dufner (70), John Mallinger (71) and world No. 9 Henrik Stenson (69).
Overnight-leader Ben Crane struggled to a one-over 73 on Friday and fell into a tie for ninth with Richard S. Johnson (72), Jeff Overton (67) and Tim Petrovic (70) at six-under 138.
The last two winners of this championship, Phil Mickelson (2007) and Sergio Garcia (2008), both made the cut on the number at even-par 144.
Among those who did make the weekend were: Adam Scott (145), Davis Love III (147), last week's Quail Hollow Championship winner Sean O'Hair (148), 2008 playoff loser Paul Goydos (148) and Anthony Kim (155).
<< In a Hinch: D-Backs tab former catcher new skipper
Phoenix, AZ (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A.J. Hinch was introduced as Arizona's new
manager at a press conference on Friday, one day after the Diamondbacks
dismissed Bob Melvin.
"It's a big day, an emotional day," Hinch said. "I'm excited
<< A's acquire INF Kennedy from Rays
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Oakland Athletics acquired infielder
Adam Kennedy from the Tampa Bay Rays on Friday for a player to be named.
Kennedy was assigned to Oakland's Triple-A affiliate in Sacramento.
Kennedy, the 2002
<< Ochoa pushes lead to three strokes in Virginia
Williamsburg, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Lorena Ochoa posted a six-under 65 Friday
to extend her lead to three strokes after two rounds of the Michelob Ultra
Open.
Ochoa, a three-time runner-up at this event, completed 36 holes at 13-under
<< L.A. trades Fletcher, Welsh to St. Louis for draft picks
Carson, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Los Angeles Sol traded defender Kendall
Fletcher, forward Christie Welsh and a 2011 second-round draft pick to the
Saint Louis Athletica for a conditional 2010 first-round draft pick and a 2011
first-r
Kenseth takes pole at Darlington with new track record >>
Darlington, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Matt Kenseth will start on the pole for
Saturday's Southern 500 after setting a new track qualifying record at
Darlington Raceway.
Kenseth, the 2009 Daytona 500 champion, topped the charts wi
Penguins D Gonchar leaves game >>
Pittsburgh, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman Sergei
Gonchar left Friday's Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against
Washington after a knee-to-knee hit by Capitals forward Alex Ovechkin.
The play oc
Dallas, Houston to resume Texas rivalry >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Dynamo and FC Dallas renew their
Texas rivalry when they square off at Robertson Stadium on Saturday night.
The Dynamo (2-2-2) are riding a two-game winning streak and would love nothing
more th
Yanks P Kennedy to have surgery >>
Baltimore, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - New York Yankees pitching prospect
Ian Kennedy has been diagnosed with an aneurysm under his right armpit, and
will undergo surgery on Tuesday.
Kennedy, 24, left an April 27 start for Triple-A
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
To visit this sportsbook go to MySportsbook.com for all your college football betting needs.
Matt Kenseth And Kevin Harvick Favorites To Take NASCAR Nextel Cup Championship
(September 15)—The NASCAR season has hit the homestretch with the opening event on this year’s Chase for the Cup taking place this weekend at the Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway. With 10 races remaining to determine the Cup Series champion, leading online sportsbook MySportsbook.com today announced odds on all 10 Chase qualifying drivers capturing the NASCAR Sprint Cup Championship.
One of the largest sportsbook sites on the Internet, MySportsbook.com currently lists the top two drivers in the point standings as the early favorites to win the Nextel Cup. Entering the Chase for the Cup with a slim five-point lead in the point standings, 2003 NASCAR champ Matt Kenseth has been made a slight favorite to win his second Cup at 7/2 betting odds. 2001 Cup Rookie of the Year Kevin Harvick has betting odds listed at 5/2 and four-time NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon is listed at 6/1 to capture the Nextel Cup this year.
Hoping to follow in the footsteps of his legendary father who won six NASCAR titles, Dale Earnhardt Jr. stands at 8/1 to breakthrough with his first Cup victory. Staying with the family theme, MySportsbook.com lists 2005 Rookie of the Year Kyle Busch at 14/1 to succeed big brother Kurt’s 2004 NASCAR title. While Kasey Kahne was the final driver to qualify for the Chase with a third place finish last week, the oddsmakers give him a fighting chance at 10/1 mainly due to several mile-and-a-half tracks remaining on the schedule. Despite going winless on the NASCAR circuit this season, Jeff Burton enters the Chase at 5/1 to capture the Cup title. Meanwhile, rookie Denny Hamlin is 4/1 to win the championship, while veteran driver Mark Martin enters the Chase for the Cup as a 15/1 long shot to win his first NASCAR title in his 24th and final season.
MySportsbook.com will offer comprehensive Nascar betting lines on every race remaining on the Nextel Cup series including driver match-ups, props and odds to win each race. For a complete list of NASCAR odds, please visit www.MySportsbook.com.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts US credit cards needs.
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