Haas coasts to three-stroke win in Des Moines

Golf Betting Lines

06/10/2007 - West Des Moines, IA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Jay Haas stumbled to bogeys on the final two holes Sunday, but it didn't matter as he still claimed The Principal Charity Classic by three strokes.

Haas closed with a two-under 69 to finish at 12-under-par 201. The win was his third of the season and ninth of his Champions Tour career.

He matched Hale Irwin's hot start to a Champions Tour career. Irwin, and now Haas, both picked up nine wins in their first 49 tour starts.

"It's a thrill holding off some great players," said Haas, who earned $240,000 for the win. "Brad Bryant and R.W. Eaks came on there and David Edwards made a nice couple of birdies coming in. It was a long day, but it never seemed like the 18th hole was going to get here."

Eaks fired a seven-under 64 in the final round to end in a share of second place at nine-under-par 204. He was joined there by Bryant (67). Jay Sigel joined Edwards and Mark James in fourth place at minus-eight.

Haas, the reigning Champions Tour Player of the Year, got off to a solid start to put things out of reach. He dropped in a six-foot birdie putt at the first.

The 53-year-old drained a 15-footer for birdie at the fourth to move six clear of the field at 12-under. Two holes later, Haas converted a three-footer for birdie.

From there, Haas admittedly played against the scoreboard. He parred his next eight holes at Glen Oaks Country Club, but still comfortably led by five strokes.

Haas came up short and right of the 17th green. He pitched to 12 feet, but two-putted for bogey. At the last, Haas drove into a fairway bunker and pitched down the fairway.

He knocked his third to 33 feet, then two-putted for another bogey to drop his winning margin to three strokes.

"I was definitely playing the scoreboard there coming in," Haas said. "I got a little sloppy the last couple of holes, but I knew I had a nice cushion coming in. I was playing for bogey those last couple of holes."

Eaks flew up the leaderboard with four birdies over the first six holes. He posted three birdies the rest of the way to cap a bogey-free round of 64. It was a strong round for Eaks, who has been battling a bad back recently.

"I was in the fitness trailer before the round and they worked on me for about an hour," Eaks stated. "I think I learned something. I need to get a massage out here every week. I've been having problems for about 12 weeks, but I think those guys showed me the light."

Bryant, who defeated Eaks in a playoff at the Regions Charity Classic, stumbled out of the gate with bogeys at two and three. Bryant rebounded with three birdies over the next five holes to get to six-under.

After six straight pars around the turn, Bryant birdied three of the last four holes to share second place.

Denis Watson, who won the Senior PGA Championship last month, played in the final threesome, but struggled to an even-par 71 in the final round. He shared seventh place with Morris Hatalsky and Irwin at six-under-par 207.

Andy Bean, Chip Beck, Dave Stockton, Danny Edwards, Vicente Fernandez and Bruce Summerhays were two strokes further back at minus-four.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts MasterCard needs.