Maybin leads by three in Italy

Golf Betting Lines

05/07/2009 - Turin, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Gareth Maybin fired a course-record, seven- under 64 Thursday to grab a three-stroke lead after the opening round of the BMW Italian Open.

Maybin owns the first-round lead for the first time in his brief European Tour career.

"I was very disappointed at the time -- any time you're beaten in a playoff you're not going to be too chuffed," said Maybin of his loss at the South African Open, where he opened with a 66. "But I went home for Christmas and reflected on it. I looked at the names below me and a lot of them were highly- ranked."

Raphael Jacquelin, a two-time winner on the European Tour, opened with a four- under 67. He was joined in second place by Marcus Higley, Richie Ramsay and Christian Cevaer.

There are 11 players tied for sixth at minus-three.

Maybin parred four in a row to open his round before posting his first birdie on the par-five fifth. He also birdied the par-five eighth to turn in minus- two.

The 28-year-old from Northern Ireland moved to minus-four with birdies on the 10th and 12th.

Maybin holed a 116-yard wedge shot for eagle on the par-four 13th to jump into the lead at six-under. He drained a 15-footer for birdie on 15 to push his lead to three shots.

After dropping a shot on the 16th, Maybin rebounded with a six-foot birdie at the last to lead by three.

Jacquelin birdied the first, but tripped to a bogey on the fourth. He bounced back to birdie No. 5, then drained four birdies in a six-hole span from the eighth to move to five-under. However, he tripped to a bogey on the 16th to end three back.

Higley birdied two of the first three holes before making bogey on the fourth. The Englishman ran off three straight birdies from the fifth, then parred four in a row around the turn.

After a birdie on 12, Higley dropped a shot on 13. He erased that mistake with a birdie at 14, but ended in a share of second place after making bogey on 17.

Ramsay opened with back-to-back birdies and moved to three-under with a birdie on the fifth. He birdied the eighth and followed with another on No. 9 to turn in five-under.

After tripping to a bogey on the 14th, Ramsay birdied 15 and 16 to move within one of the lead at six-under. However, he bogeyed the final two holes to end three back.

Cevaer started on the back nine and collected his first two birdies on 11 and 12. He faltered to his only bogey on the par-four 16th. Around the turn, Cevaer birdied one, seven and eight to post four-under.

Francesco Molinari posted a three-under 68 and shares sixth place with Brett Rumford, Anthony Wall, Ulrich Van den Berg, Matteo Del Podio, Garry Houston, Daniel Vancsik, Thomas Aiken, Shiv Kapur, Fabrizio Zanotti and Ake Nilsson.

Two-time major champion John Daly leads a group of 11 players tied for 17th at minus-two.

"I love the way I'm hitting the ball. I had a lot of opportunities out there," Daly said.

Defending champion Hennie Otto is tied for 43rd at even-par 71.

Bestfootballchance Golf Betting News

<< Chelsea's Lampard defends protests
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Frank Lampard felt as though he had been kicked in the teeth after Chelsea lost its Champions League semifinal clash to Barcelona in controversial fashion. Andres Iniesta scored in stoppage time as

<< PGA Tour, SBS agree on two big deals
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The PGA Tour and the Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS) have agreed to a 10-year contract for SBS to sponsor the PGA Tour's season-opening event at Kapalua. The winners-only event, which Ge

<< Bengals finalize deal with S Williams
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Cincinnati Bengals officially signed safety Roy Williams on Thursday. Per club policy, terms of the deal were not released. Williams, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, was released in early March b

<< Simon, Blake charge into Estoril quarters
Estoril, Portugal (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Top-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon and fourth-seeded American James Blake highlighted Thursday's second-round victors at the $595,000 clay-court Estoril Open. Simon handled Italian Fabio Fogn

<< NL West: Say it isn't so, Manny
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It seems now that every baseball superstar has some dirty little secret to hide from the general public. And the list continued to grow on Thursday with the reported suspension of Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez for performance

Livid Terry blames ref for exit >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Chelsea captain John Terry does not think Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo was good enough to officiate his side's Champions League semi-final second leg clash against Barcelona. The Blues crashed

Arsenal's Bendtner sorry for nightclub incident >>
London, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Arsenal striker Nicklas Bendtner has moved quickly to express his sorrow after being pictured leaving a London nightclub just hours after his side's Champions League exit. The Denmark international was

Rams ship RB Leonard to Bengals for DT Harris >>
St. Louis, MO (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The St. Louis Rams acquired defensive tackle Orien Harris from the Cincinnati Bengals on Thursday in exchange for running back Brian Leonard. Harris appeared in 14 games for the Bengals last season, record

Florida's Sanchez leaves with shoulder discomfort >>
Miami, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Florida Marlins pitcher Anibal Sanchez left Thursday's game against Atlanta with discomfort in his right shoulder. Sanchez was lifted in the fifth inning after throwing a pitch. He had allowed four runs an

Bayern's Lell sidelined with ankle injury >>
Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich right back Christian Lell will likely miss this weekend's clash with relegation-threatened Energie Cottbus. There are fears that the ankle injury the 24-year-old picked up in the victory agai

Big 12 Conference betting odds

Work left to do: Texas Tech, Oklahoma State, Kansas State

Texas joins Texas A&M and Kansas as locks after getting league win No. 11. Texas Tech greatly helped its own hopes and crippled OK State's with the two-point win Saturday. Is K-State the last reasonable hopeful? Could be an elimination match in Stillwater on Tuesday, at least for the Cowboys.

Work left to do:

Texas Tech [18-11 (7-7), RPI: 44, SOS: 12] A critical two-point win over OK State leaves the Red Raiders with Baylor and at Iowa State left. Get both and the Red Raiders likely are good to go. Get one and there could be some interesting comparisons with a K-State team that could finish two or three games "ahead" of them in the standings but doesn't have any of the quality wins Texas Tech has. Not a lot in nonconference play (against Arkansas in Little Rock being the best win, by far) to lean on.

Oklahoma State [18-9 (5-8), RPI: 50, SOS: 35] Still without a road win, the Cowboys now need to win two on the road just to get to .500 in conference play. It's hard to recall a team (OK, other than Clemson) falling so precipitously from lock status to almost certainly out of the NCAAs at this point. There are wins to be had in the last three, including a very big home game against K-State on Tuesday, but this team is reeling. Can you tell the pressure to win is getting to them with the way the final possession played out at Texas Tech? There are some good nonconference performances to lean on, specifically beating Missouri State and Syracuse on neutral floors and Pitt in OK City, but if the Pokes don't right this very, very soon, that won't be enough.

Kansas State [20-9 (9-5), RPI: 56, SOS: 96] It pays to be in the Big 12 North. The nine league wins are Colorado (twice), Missouri (twice), Iowa State (twice), Baylor, Nebraska and (a good one against) Texas. That helps explain the middling computer profile. The win over USC is nice, but the nonconference leaves a lot to be desired. The game at OK State in Stillwater on Tuesday is huge, as it could KO the Cowboys and leave K-State with a home date against Oklahoma with which to work.