Fleetwood, Hoey lead Alfred Dunhill
Golf Betting Lines
09/30/2011 - St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Fleetwood and Michael Hoey are knotted atop the leaderboard after Friday's second round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Fleetwood fired an nine-under 63, while Hoey had his second straight six-under 66. The pair finished 36 holes at 12-under 132 and are one shot clear of former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen, who carded a five-under 67 on Friday.
Play rotates over famed St. Andrews, Carnoustie and Kingsbarns over the first three rounds as professionals compete with amateurs. The final round will be at St. Andrews, the home of golf.
Fleetwood and Hoey both teed it up at Kingsbarns on Friday, while Oosthuizen played at Carnoustie.
Former U.S. Open winner Graeme McDowell posted a five-under 67 at Carnoustie in round two and headlines a group tied for fourth at 10-under 134.
Several of the world's best are in the field this week, first among them, the world No. 1 Luke Donald. The Englishman only managed a one-under 71 at Carnoustie and is tied for 51st at minus-four.
World No. 2 Lee Westwood is tied for 19th at seven-under 137, along with the third-ranked player, reigning U.S. Open champion Rory McIlroy.
Defending champion and world No. 6 Martin Kaymer posted a five-under 67 and is tied for ninth at nine-under 135, but the man one spot ahead of Kaymer in the rankings, Dustin Johnson, shot a one-over 73 on Friday at Carnoustie and is tied for 111th at even-par.
They're all chasing interesting co-leaders.
Fleetwood leads the Order of Merit on the European Challenge Tour, so he's assured of his card for next year.
"The last couple of weeks I've had no pressure on me really," acknowledged Fleetwood. "I know where I'm playing next year, which is great, and it's definitely given me confidence because there was a bit of thought of 'Can I win?' because I had been in there so many times."
Fleetwood got off to a great start on Friday with two birdies in his first three holes. He added three birdies in his last five holes of the front nine to make the turn at eight-under par for the championship.
The young Englishman birdied the 12th hole and two holes later, reached double-digits under par with another birdie. Fleetwood rattled off back-to- back birdies at 16 and 17 to get into the clubhouse at 12-under par.
"It feels pretty good," Fleetwood said. "It's pretty unexpected to be honest. Just to get the invite and the experience of playing here is great. I didn't hit it very well yesterday, but I holed good putts on the first three or four holes today and didn't really look back. I learn every time I play at the moment."
Hoey, who was a first-round co-leader, started on the back nine Friday at Carnoustie and also birdied two of his first three holes. He collected two more birdies on his opening nine and was 10-under par for the tournament.
Hoey, this year's Madeira Islands Open winner, bogeyed the second, but got the stroke back with a birdie at No. 3. The Northern Irishman tapped in a short birdie putt at the fifth and birdied the sixth to get to 12-under. Hoey parred out for his share of the lead.
"I've always enjoyed this pro-am format," said Hoey. "A couple of years ago I was tied for the lead after two rounds. It's slow, but it really takes your mind off stuff between shots."
First-round co-leader Markus Brier (68), Daniel Gaunt (65), Marc Warren (67) and Jaco Van Zyl (67) joined McDowell in fourth place, two shots behind the leaders.
Rafael Cabrera-Bello, who also shared the lead after round one, posted a three-under 69 to match Kaymer in ninth at minus-nine.
NOTES: Oosthuizen was also a first-round co-leader...He will play St. Andrews in rounds three and four, which was the site of his commanding victory at last year's British Open...Ernie Els had a three-under 69 Friday and is tied for 65th at three-under par...Reigning Open Champion Darren Clarke struggled to a two-over 74 at Carnoustie and is tied for a distant 147th at plus-three...The cut will be made after the third round.
Genk, Belgium (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Genk will be without defender Nadson for the next month, meaning he will miss at least the club's next Champions League match against Chelsea. The 26-year-old sustained the injury in the team's 2-0
<< In the FCS Huddle: Track, football work together at Northern Iowa
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Carlos Anderson and Jarred Herring may
have the largest fan following of any two sprinters in the Missouri Valley
Conference.
While their status as the two "Fastest Men in the Missouri Valley" - by
virtue
<< Red Wings' Smith suspended for illegal hit
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith has been
suspended by the NHL for the rest of the preseason and five regular-season
games because of an illegal hit during Wednesday's preseason contest.
At 5:26 of
<< Marseille hopes to build on CL win against Brest
Marseille, France (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Marseille coach Didier Deschamps admitted
"we'll savour this one" after a 3-0 Champions League win over defending German
champion Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.
Marseille's second win from as many games
<< Norwich striker Vaughan facing extended time on sidelines
Norwich, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Norwich City manager Paul Lambert
confirmed on Friday that the club will be without striker James Vaughan for
several months because of a knee injury.
The 23-year-old limped off the field in
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - I've done a lot in life which in retrospect fail to make me proud. Can you say the same? Whoever isn't nodding in agreement can add lying to his list. None of us is perfect. Not even close. Sure, w
Toronto, New York tilt a must-win for both teams >>
Toronto, ON (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Major League Soccer playoff picture is
taking shape with approximately a month remaining in the season, but there are
still plenty teams that could potentially qualify.
Two of those teams in contention
Week 14: Races wide open down the stretch >>
Toronto, Canada (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Usually by Week 14, teams seem to have
one another figured out and positioning for the postseason begins to become a
clearer picture. Not this CFL season.
Continuing in the tradition of one of the most un
Bryant's potential Italy deal faces scheduling problem >>
Bologna, Italy (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - A scheduling conflict has created problems
in a plan by Italian basketball club Virtus Bologna to sign star Kobe Bryant.
Claudio Sabatini, the club's president, had told an Italian radio station that
the
Painter to start for Colts >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Indianapolis Colts will start
Curtis Painter at quarterback for Monday night's contest against the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers.
Painter will make his first career start and replaces Kerry Collins, w
FOOTBALL TRASH TALK
NFL Football Trash TalkTrash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.