Levin, Stanley post matching 62s at Torrey Pines

Golf Betting Lines

01/26/2012 - La Jolla, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Spencer Levin and Kyle Stanley both fired 10- under 62s on Thursday to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open.

Levin and Stanley are both looking for their first PGA Tour victories. Both also played the easier North Course at Torrey Pines on Thursday and will rotate to the harder South Course on Friday. The South Course will also host the final two rounds.

Despite a double-bogey on his 14th hole, reigning FedExCup champion Bill Haas carded a nine-under 63 on the North Course and is alone in third.

John Huh posted a 64 and was joined in fourth place by Rod Pampling, Josh Teater and Vijay Singh. All four played the North Course. Huh matched a PGA Tour record with three eagles in his round.

Only six of the top-35 players on the leaderboard played the South Course on Friday. The leader of that group is Marc Turnesa, who carded a six-under 66 and is tied for 13th.

Among those that struggled on the South Course were Phil Mickelson and J.B. Holmes. Mickelson, who shared 49th at the Humana Challenge last week, faltered to a five-over 77 and tied for the most bogeys (seven) in the first round.

Holmes is competing for the first time since brain surgery last year. He had four bogeys in a round of four-over 76.

Levin started with a birdie on the first, but his next birdie didn't come until the par-four seventh. After a par at the eighth, he birdied eight of the last 10 holes.

He birdied the ninth and followed with a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 10. The 27-year-old dropped his approach within four feet at the 11th. After knocking that in, he got up and down for par on the par-three 12th.

Levin caught fire from there, At the 13th, he left himself three feet for birdie. On each of the next three holes, he made birdie putts of eight feet on each hole to grab a share of the lead at minus-nine.

Levin, a three-time winner on the Canadian Tour, two-putted for birdie at the last to finish at 10-under.

"It feels great. I drove the ball well today. The first couple weeks I played decent," said Levin, who tied for 23rd and 64th in his first two starts. "In those two tournaments, I didn't drive it particularly good. I drove it well today and kind of set me up because I've been putting pretty good. I had some putts for birdies instead of pars today and kind of added up to a good score."

Stanley did his scoring in bunches. He birdied the first, then parred No. 2. He poured in three consecutive birdie efforts from the third to move to four- under.

After five straight pars, Stanley tripped to a bogey on the 11th. The 24-year- old ran off four birdies in a row from the 12th to jump to minus-seven.

Stanley birdied the 17th to move within two of Levin. He erased that deficit and grabbed a piece of the lead with a three-foot eagle putt at the 18th.

"It was good. I know it was a 62, but it was a pretty boring round of golf," said an understated Stanley. "Hit a lot of greens and made a lot of putts."

NOTES: Defending champion Bubba Watson posted a three-under 69 on the North Course and is tied for 37th...Dustin Johnson, who withdrew last week with a sore back and is still recovering from offseason knee surgery, fired a six- under 66 on the North Course and is tied for 13th...The North Course played to an average of 69.244, while the South Course played to an average of 72.846...The last first-time winner of this event was Jay Don Blake in 1991.

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How did changes to college football betting rules affect bettors?

The 2007 college football rules changes that were implemented to shorten games are now history. The NCAA rules committee did what they set out to do; games were cut by an average of 14 minutes per game last season. There were also, on average, 14 fewer plays per game. We’ll get into how that did (or didn’t) affect games in regards to the pointspread a bit later.

While the NCAA rules committee may have had the betterment of the game in mind, they'll now “turn back the clock” for next season. Two key rules have now been overturned by the NCAA committee for the 2007 season, something definitely for the better.

For those of you who may not remember what those rules actually were, let us refresh your memory.

1) The first one was actually starting the clock on a kickoff as soon as the kicker touched the ball rather than waiting until the returner touched it. The problem here was near the end of the half (or game), if the team leading was kicking off, they could milk the clock by intentionally running offsides and then re-kicking. They could run 10-15 seconds off the clock each play while taking just five-yard penalties each time. They could run the clock down and simply cause the half (or game) to end on a kickoff, keeping the opposing offense off the field. In 2007, the clock will now start when the returner touches the ball as it had before last season.

2) The second rule dealt with starting the clock after a change of online football betting possession rather than waiting until the ball was snapped. This took a lot of time off the clock throughout the game as teams changed possession, however it caused the most problems late in games (or halves). Rather than huddling up and calling a play, the offensive team would have to rush onto the field as the clock started. This was a definite disadvantage to a team that was trying to come from behind late in the game. This year the clock will start on a change of possession, after the ball is snapped.

How did those rules affect the college game last year and will it make a difference this year when it comes to the pointspread? We commonly heard two theories when it came to these changes. First, it would affect scoring negatively. Second, it would hurt favorites as they would have less time and fewer plays to cover the number.

Did the rules hurt scoring? Yes. It seemed obvious that shortening the game by what amounted to 14 plays would push scoring downward. That was the case last year. Of the 119 Division 1A teams, 69 squads scored fewer points in 2007 than they did in 2005. Just 48 teams had a higher PPG scoring average and two stayed the same. Almost 59 percent of the teams in college football last year had a lower PPG average than they did in 2005. Expect more scoring in 2007 as we revert back to the old rules.

Did the rules hinder favorites from covering the number in 2007? Not really. Last year the favorites posted an overall spread record of 336-350-16 (48.9 percent). The year before, favorites were 316-326-13 (49.2 percent). In 2004, the favorites were 316-339-2 (48.2 percent). In fact, college football favorites have been above 50 percent for the season just once in the last seven years (in 2003). Last year’s numbers fell right in line with where they have been historically.

How about big favorites? The rules must have hurt them? Maybe a little bit. Double-digit favorites last year came in at a 47.8 percent clip compare with an average of just over 50 percent over the last seven years. Since 1980, favorites of -10 or more have covered at exactly a 50 percent clip (measured over 6,716 games).

Even bigger favorites must have struggled? Not really. In fact, it was just the opposite. Favorites of three TD’s or more were 59-54-2 last year (52.2 percent). Since 2000, those same favorites (-21 or higher) hit at 51.3 percent and since 1990 came in a clip of 50.3 percent. Stepping it up a notch to four TD favorites or higher, we actually see they've covered at a much better rate last season than before. Last year, favorites of -28 or more were 31-21-1, or almost 60 percent. Historically, four-TD-or-higher favorites have come in at a 50.7 percent spot since 2000 and only 48.9 percent since 1990. The “perceived” problem with the favorites covering at a reduced rate really never came to fruition.

Bottom line is, there might be some more scoring in 2007, but no real revelations when it comes to finding any pointspread golden nuggets.

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