Choi up to No. 3 in world rankings

Golf Betting Lines

12/26/2011 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Na Yeon Choi inched up to third in this week's world rankings.

Yani Tseng remained comfortably in first, followed by Suzann Pettersen and Choi. Cristie Kerr slipped one to fourth, while Paula Creamer once again completed the top five.

Sun Ju Ahn, Jiyai Shin, I.K. Kim, Ai Miyazato and Stacy Lewis rounded out the top 10. Brittany Lincicome, Amy Yang, Shanshan Feng and Chie Arimura held their places from last week, while Ji-Hee Lee climbed one to 15th.

Morgan Pressel dropped a spot to 16th and Michelle Wie, Karrie Webb, Angela Stanford and Sakura Yokomine rounded out the top 20.

Onlinesportsbooj Golf Betting News

<< Road-challenged Ducks shoot for win in San Jose
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Exactly half of the Ducks' road wins this season have come versus the Sharks. Anaheim looks to snap a 13-game winless stretch on the road tonight, but in order to do so it will need to snap San Jose's run of five straight

<< Low-scoring Kings welcome Coyotes to LA
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Kings still haven't shaken their scoring issues since the firing of Terry Murray, but at least they are finding ways to produce victories. Los Angeles tries to record a point in a fourth straight game this evening as

<< Nugent-Hopkins, Oilers head to Vancouver
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - While it will be over two weeks until the Oilers next play in Edmonton, at least one skater will feel at home in tonight's road matchup in Vancouver. British Columbia native and NHL rookie scoring leader Ryan Nugent-Hopkin

<< Lowly Blue Jackets visit first-place Blackhawks
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Blue Jackets showed last time out just how dangerous their power play can be. Now if only they could find a way to win on the road. Columbus tries to avoid a fifth straight defeat this evening as it takes on the NHL-le

<< Weber, Preds host Red Wings
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nashville captain Shea Weber's current point streak began with an excellent effort over Detroit 11 days ago. The Predators' leading scorer will look for a repeat effort this evening as his club looks to deal the Red Wings a

Rockets sign C Dalembert to multi-year deal >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Houston Rockets signed veteran center Samuel Dalembert to a multi-year contract on Monday. "Samuel is someone we had great interest in signing as a free agent," said Rockets general manager Daryl

Handing out NFL holiday gifts and grinches >>
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Guess Rex Ryan really has been naughty this year. The ever-bombastic Jets head coach's Christmas Eve meal consisted one of one mighty big helping of humble pie courtesy of the crosstown rival Giants in Sa

Marchand highlights NHL's 'Three Stars' >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand, New York Rangers sniper Marian Gaborik and Colorado Avalanche goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere have been named the NHL's "Three Stars" for the week ending December 25.

Wild hope to snap slide against streaking Avs >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A pair of Northwest Division teams heading in opposite directions will meet tonight in St. Paul, as the sliding Wild host the surging Avalanche at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild have lost their last six games (0-4-2) and ent

Baylor still unanimous No. 1 >>
New York, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Baylor remained a unanimous choice as the No. 1 team in the Associated Press women's college basketball poll on Monday. The Lady Bears received all 40 first-place votes for a total of 1,000 points from a

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.

To visit this sports book go to MySportsbook.com for all your football betting needs.