Webb blows away field at ANZ Ladies Masters

Golf Betting Lines

03/07/2010 - Gold Coast, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Karrie Webb, who led by one entering Sunday's final round of the ANZ Ladies Masters, fired a course-record 11-under 61 to blow away the field for a six-stroke victory.

Webb completed her seventh ANZ Ladies Masters title at 26-under-par 262. Her total of 262 matched her own tournament-record score.

Katherine Hull, the 2009 winner, could not keep pace with Webb as she closed with a six-under 66 to share second place with Bo-Mee Lee, who also shot 66. Hull and Lee tied for second at 20-under-par 268.

Hee-Kyung Seo shot a 66 of her own to finish alone in fourth at minus-18. So Yeon Ryu was three shots back at 15-under-par 273 after a final-round 70.

Webb flew out of the gate with three birdies in her first four holes at the Royal Pines Resort. She holed out for eagle on the short par-four seventh to jump to 20-under.

The Australian posted back-to-back birdies from the ninth, then started a run of three birdies in a four-hole span at the 12th. Webb birdied the 18th for the third straight day to seal the win.

"I stood in the 13th fairway and thought to myself that I am eight-under for the day and yet I am only two ahead," Webb stated. "I was mentally exhausted. Then, a couple of holes later when I stood on the 16th tee, I couldn't quite work out how many under I was and then when I realized I was ten-under and I briefly allowed myself to think that if I birdied the final three holes then 59 might be possible. Then I thought I just am too tired to even think of 59."

Tamie Durdin fired a seven-under 65 Sunday to finish alongside Iben Tinning (68) at 14-under-par 274. Stacy Lewis (68), Lindsey Wright (67) and Amanda Blumenherst (70), who held at least a piece of the lead after the first and second rounds, shared eighth place at minus-13.

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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.

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