Langer among the leaders at Senior British

Golf Betting Lines

07/22/2010 - Carnoustie, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bernhard Langer posted a four-under 67 on Thursday to share the first-round lead with Jay Don Blake and Carl Mason at the Senior Open Championship.

Bruce Vaughan, the 2008 winner, Mark Wiebe and Dan Forsman are knotted in fourth place at three-under 68 at a wind-swept Carnoustie.

Tom Watson, who won his first of five claret jugs at Carnoustie back in 1975, struggled on Thursday with a three-over 74, but is still in the hunt for a fourth Senior Open title.

While Watson has been one of the most prolific winners in both British Open and Senior Open history, Langer was never able to hoist the claret jug in his younger days.

Langer, a two-time Masters champion, has never even earned a major title on the Champions Tour, despite being the two-time reigning Player of the Year and leading money winner.

"To put four good rounds together here, in the red numbers, you need to play some extremely good golf," said Langer, a 10-time winner on the Champions Tour, including two this year.

Langer started well with a birdie at the first, then parred his next five holes. The German finished off his opening nine with three consecutive birdies to make the turn at four-under par.

Langer parred his first four of the back nine, then played classic links golf en route to a birdie at the par-five 14th. He putted from well off the green, but lagged up close and tapped in for the birdie to reach five-under par for the championship.

The Hall of Famer immediately lost that stroke thanks to a bogey at the 15th. Langer parred out and certainly didn't mind the tough close to his opening round.

"I'm very happy with it," acknowledged Langer. "I played very well. I kept the ball in play, I drove it pretty good and hit a number of fairways. When I didn't hit the fairway, I was either fortunate enough to get a reasonable lie or miss some trouble and hit those shots out of the rough pretty good. Made a few putts and hit my irons fairly close."

Blake had an up and down front side with two birdies and a bogey. He did most of his damage at the start of the second nine with three birdies in a four- hole span from No. 10.

Like Langer, Blake reached five-under par with a birdie at the par-four 17th. Blake fell victim to the demanding closing hole and walked off with a bogey to fall into a tie for first.

"I just tried to execute myself around the golf course and be patient," said Blake. "It's a golf course that you can't be aggressive because everything runs up to the pin so much that you can't fly it to the flags like we are used to over in the courses we play in America."

Mason, an Englishman, played in the afternoon on Thursday and had a spectacular front nine with five birdies and no bogeys. Trouble loomed right away on the back with a double-bogey at the 10th, but he got those strokes back with birdies at 12 and 14.

Following in the footsteps of his fellow co-leaders, Mason was five-under, but Carnoustie got him late. He bogeyed the par-four 15th to fall back into the tie for the lead.

Mason may not be a household name in the U.S., but he has been downright dominant on the European Senior Tour. He won the Bad Ragaz PGA Seniors Open in early July and that tied him with Tommy Horton for most wins on that circuit with 23.

"If this was the 24th, that would be something special, wouldn't it?" noted Mason. "I was thrilled to bits the way I played, I played great. Best I've played for a good few weeks, so that was good. I felt good, and I started rolling in the putts and hit some great shots."

U.S. Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, Sam Torrance, John Cook, Mike Donald, Jeff Sluman and Larry Mize, who won the last Champions Tour event, the Montreal Championship, are tied for seventh place at two-under 69.

NOTES: Defending champion Loren Roberts shot an even-par 71 and is tied for 19th place...Boonchu Ruangkit leads the European Senior Tour Order of Merit, but shot a four-over 75 on Thursday and is tied for 61st.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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