This Week in Golf -- February 9th through February 12th

Golf Betting Lines

02/06/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - PGA TOUR - AT&T PEBBLE BEACH NATIONAL PRO- AM - Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula Country Club, Spyglass Hill Golf Club, Pebble Beach, California - One might look at this week's field for the Pebble Beach National Pro-Am and think it is lacking the stars with just one player ranked in the top-10 in the world playing this week.

That surely isn't the case however.

Tiger Woods makes his return to this event for the first time since 2002 and is one of eight former champions in the field that account for 12 titles.

World No. 9 Dustin Johnson, who won this event in 2009-10, is the highest- ranked player in the field. Woods and Johnson are joined in the field by Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Jim Furyk and Geoff Ogilvy.

However, it is D.A. Points that is the defending champion. Points fired a seven-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula in the opening round and closed with a five-under 67 en route to a two-stroke win over Hunter Mahan.

Points not only won the professional title, but he teamed with Bill Murray to win the Pro-Am crown as well. For Murray, it marked the first time he won the Pro-Am in 20 years of competing at this event.

The 35-year-old Points has had a solid start to his season as he has made the cut in each of his four events, has three top-12 finishes and ranks 12th on the money list.

Woods played on the European Tour two weeks ago and shared the lead entering the final round, but closed with an even-par 72 to share third place behind Robert Rock.

In 2000, Woods erased a five-stroke deficit to come from behind and win this title. It was his sixth straight PGA Tour victory.

Later that year, Woods would win three of the four majors. Among those three was his dominating 15-stroke victory at the U.S. Open on this same Pebble Beach course.

Woods is still searching for his first PGA Tour win since the 2009 BMW Championship.

With the amateurs included in the event, the field will play one round apiece at Pebble Beach Golf Links, Monterey Peninsula Country Club and Spyglass Hill Golf Club before the final round is contested at Pebble Beach.

Murray is back to defend his Pro-Am title against a field of celebrities that includes musicians Michael Bolton, Huey Lewis and Darius Rucker; football coaches Jim Harbuagh, Nick Saban and Bob Stoops; as well as a group of athletes that includes Clyde Drexler, Matt Cain, Aaron Rodgers and Tony Romo, who will team with Woods in the Pro-Am.

Golf Channel will broadcast the first two rounds before CBS takes over on the weekend.

The PGA Tour heads to Riviera next week for the Northern Trust Open, where Aaron Baddeley earned a two-stroke win over Vijay Singh last year.

EUROPEAN TOUR

OMEGA DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC - Emirates Golf Club, Dubai, United Arab Emirates - The European Tour wraps up its three-week swing through the Persian Gulf region with the Dubai Desert Classic.

Spain's Alvaro Quiros enjoyed Dubai, twice last year. He closed with three straight 68s at this event to win by a shot over Anders Hansen and James Kingston.

Quiros wasn't done in Dubai though. When the tour returned in December for the season-ending Dubai World Championship, Quiros had four straight sub-par rounds en route to a two-stroke victory over Paul Lawrie. He sealed the win with a 50-foot eagle putt at the last.

The Spaniard will have a tough battle on his hands in his title defense as World Nos. 2, 3 and 4 - Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer - are in the field this week.

A group of Americans also highlights the field as Champions Tour stalwarts Fred Couples and Mark O'Meara will be joined at Emirates Golf Club by Nicholas Thompson, Peter Uihlein and John Daly, who took fourth place last week behind Paul Lawrie.

Golf Channel will have early morning coverage of all four rounds.

The tour shifts to India next week, where local favorite S.S.P. Chowrasia closed with back-to-back 67s to win the Avantha Masters by a shot over Robert Coles.

LPGA TOUR

ISPS HANDA WOMEN'S AUSTRALIAN OPEN - Royal Melbourne Golf Club, Victoria, Australia - The Women's Australian Open joins the LPGA Tour schedule this year for the first time.

The event has been around since 1974, but was only played 20 times in those 37 years.

Women's world No. 1 Yani Tseng won this title each of the last two years. Last year, she rolled to a seven-stroke win over three players.

The event will be played on the par-73 Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the first time.

Golf Channel will have tape-delayed coverage of all four rounds.

The LPGA continues its three-event Asia swing next week with the Honda LPGA Thailand, where Tseng cruised to a five-stroke win over Michelle Wie.

CHAMPIONS TOUR

ALLIANZ CHAMPIONSHIP - The Old Course at Broken Sound, Boca Raton, Florida - The Champions Tour returns after a two-week break with the first of two events in Florida.

Tom Lehman back-to-back 69s win last year's Allianz Championship by a single stroke over Jeff Sluman and Rod Spittle. Lehman needed a birdie on the final hole to win for the third time on the Champions Tour.

The 1996 British Open champion went on to win two more events en route to being named the tour's Player of the Year.

Lehman, Sluman and Spittle are all in the field this week at the Old Course at Broken Sound, which has hosted the event all five years of its existence.

Golf Channel has tape-delayed coverage all week.

The Champions Tour moves to Naples next week for the ACE Group Classic. Bernhard Langer shot 66 in the final two rounds to cruise to a four-stroke win over Fred Funk.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

For more March Madness odds go to MySportsbook.com

For more College Basketball betting lines go to BettingExpress.com

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