Here comes win No. 5; Pettersen opens huge lead in Thailand

Golf Betting Lines

10/27/2007 - Chonburim, Thailand (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Suzann Pettersen fired a nine-under 63 on Saturday to open a seven-shot lead after three rounds of the Honda LPGA Thailand.

She finished three rounds at 20-under 196. Hee-Won Han won this title last year when it was a 54-hole event with a score of 202, so Pettersen easily established a tournament record for 54 holes.

Pettersen is in the middle of an amazing run of golf. She has four wins this year already, including victories in two of her last three starts. Pettersen was declared the winner last week in South Korea when wind storms forced the cancellation of the final round.

Laura Davies posted a six-under 66 on Saturday to move into sole possession of second place at minus-13. Paula Creamer also carded a 66 in round three to get to third at 12-under 204.

Former world No. 1 Annika Sorenstam shot her second consecutive round of four- under 68 on Saturday. That brought her into a tie for seventh at minus-eight, which is 12 behind her Solheim Cup teammate.

This has been Pettersen's tournament since an opening-round 65, which featured nine birdies and two bogeys. On Friday, she was erratic with an eagle, six birdies and four bogeys, but her 68 still kept her in the lead.

On Saturday, Pettersen seemingly put the tournament away.

She began the third round with a two-shot lead over Alena Sharp and flew out of the gate. Pettersen birdied the par-five first at the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club for the third consecutive round. She birdied the par-four second and found herself four clear.

Davies stayed close on the front nine with five birdies through eight holes. Pettersen birdied the sixth to hold a two-shot cushion, but a birdie at the par-four ninth gave the reigning LPGA Championship winner a three-stroke lead at the turn.

Davies cut the gap back to two with a birdie at the par-five 10th. That would be the closest anyone would get as Pettersen caught fire on her back nine.

She birdied the 12th and 13th holes to push her advantage to four. A Pettersen birdie at No. 15 gave her a five-shot lead and the tournament would get further out of reach for Davies and the field.

Pettersen birdied the 17th and 18th holes to earn her seven-shot edge with one round to play.

In addition to Pettersen's win last week, she captured the Longs Drugs Challenge three weeks ago. Pettersen shared the 54-hole lead with Player of the Year Lorena Ochoa at the Samsung World Championship the following week, but only managed a 72 on Sunday and took fifth.

Rachel Hetherington and Katherine Hull each shot rounds of four-under 68 on Saturday and are tied with Sharp, who posted an even-par 72, for fourth at minus-nine.

Stacy Prammanasudh carded a round of three-under 69 in round three to join Sorenstam in seventh at eight-under 208.

Seon Hwa Lee (69), Reilley Rankin (70) and Joo Mi Kim (71) share ninth place at seven-under 209.

Amateur Ariya Jutanukarn, who became the youngest golfer ever to compete in a major tour event when she teed it up at the age of 11 years, 11 months and two days old on Thursday, shot a two-over 74 on Saturday. She is part of a group tied for 48th at plus-seven.

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SPORTS BETTING - Tennis is an underrated and under-utilized bettors' sport.

Ten years ago, at just about this time, I called Alan Boston in Vegas and left him a voicemail that went something like this (abridged version): "Hey Alan, Chad Millman from ESPN The Magazine calling. I want to do a book about wise guys, you in?"

A couple weeks later I got a message back (abridged version): "I don't know, maybe," Boston said. "Call me and we'll talk about it. But not later today. I got $1,000 on Andre Agassi to win the French Open at 40-1, and he's in the finals."

Here's what happened next (abridged version): Agassi won his tourney. Boston won his $40,000. I wrote sportsbook.

In the ten years since, how much has been wagered on the big-time tennis events? Put it this way: The Nevada Gaming Commission doesn't even track the number year by year because it's so small.

"Tennis makes up about one-tenth of one percent of our take," says Lucky's bookmaking boss Jimmy Vaccaro. "The last big golf major we probably had $100,000 worth of bets. In tennis, we might have written two big tickets."

Tennis' lack of popularity amongst the American bettoratti is no surprise, really. For starters, the biggest sports betting holidays -- the Super Bowl, the NCAA tourney -- are must see TV. People, at least the degenerates I know, plan vacations around watching those events in Vegas sports books.

But Wimbledon? Doesn't exactly reel in the whales. "Seriously, it's the nuts as an event," says Boston. "But who even knows when it's on?"

Here's another reason that helps explain why golf gets traction, something I call "The Bubbe Theory." My Bubbe is pushing 95 and has cataracts so bad that, to her, even the most crystalline Chicago day is mostly cloudy. But she still listens to the Cubs games, and she still calls me in a fit if she disagrees with something Rick Telander writes in the Chicago Sun Times. She's a sports fan. If she doesn't know you, you're just filling a niche. And niche players, even historically good ones like Roger and Raf, don't drive betting volume. Only the highest profile names attract square money, which inflates wagering totals like a shot of saline to the lips. Bubbe, and the public, loved Agassi, tennis' last cross-the-rubicon, mainstream draw. She also has a crush on Tiger. She's given me standing orders to put a sawbuck on the big cat whenever I walk through a sports book (or mistakenly tap into one via my Internet machine.) That explains why the Masters is getting $100K in action at some books while the four tennis majors might not get that combined this year.

This isn't a case of tennis being a difficult sport to bet. In fact, in Europe, it's probably the second most popular sport for gambling after soccer. Granted, as the WSJ football betting last week and The Mag's Shaun Assael examined in even greater depth last year, that might be because gamblers across the pond see it as an easy game to fix. But it could also be because, over there it holds the kind of sway the big two do over here.

Street corners in Spain are peppered with public courts and kids doing their best Raffy impressions. In some war torn parts of Eastern Europe poverty-stricken kids view tennis as an escape route, like football or basketball here. A couple years ago The Mag's Lindsay Berra wrote a great piece about Belgrade's Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Novak Djokovic. They learned the game as kids while bombs were raining down on their homeland. They practiced in drained swimming pools. Not exactly Nick Bolletierri conditions.

In the United States, casual fans think tennis is played four times a year. But on the tightly packed European continent, national interest in homegrown talent runs deep every weekend. Of the ATP's current top 20 players, only two, tennis betting and James Blake, are American. Fourteen are from Europe, representing six different countries.

No wonder fans from Lisbon to Bhudapest get jacked up for the net game, whether it's Wimbledon or a low-level tourney like the Estoril Open in Portugal (congrats to Spain's Albert Montanes for winning that one, btw). Chances are good that someone representing their flag will not only be playing, but have a shot at winning.

And that's all any bettor can ask for.

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