Grace, Finch atop leaderboard at suspended Joburg Open

Golf Betting Lines

01/14/2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Branden Grace and Richard Finch were atop the leaderboard Saturday when the third round of the Joburg Open was suspended due to dangerous weather.

Each day of this tournament has been marred with inclement weather, though Saturday proved to be the best of the three days at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. The event is now almost on track, with the final group having only four holes to play in the third round, which will resume at 12:30 a.m. (et) on Sunday.

After the first two rounds alternated over the East and West Courses, the third and final rounds are played solely on the more difficult par-72 East Course.

Grace and Finch both sit at 15-under, with Grace having three holes and Finch having four to finish on Sunday before the final round.

George Coetzee is third at 14-under with four holes to play, while Andrew Parr (64) and Dawie Van Der Walt (67) share the clubhouse lead at 12-under 203. Parr and Van Der Walt are tied with Jbe Kruger in fourth; Kruger has three holes to finish in his third round.

After the second round was completed and the cut was made at four-under 141, it was guaranteed that a new champion would be crowned on Sunday. Charl Schwartzel, the two-time defending champion, missed by one stroke and will not become the sixth European Tour player to win three straight titles at the same event.

Grace, meanwhile, has a good chance at his first European Tour title, while Finch is gunning for his third.

Finch entered the day with 12 holes to play in his second round, and he added a hole-in-one on the East Course's par-three 12th. He finished two rounds at 11-under and rode the momentum into the third round.

Finch began his third round with a 20-foot birdie putt at the first, but stumbled to a bogey at the fourth. After going birdie-bogey from the sixth, Finch chipped in for an eagle at the par-five eighth to move to 13-under.

He followed the eagle with a birdie at the ninth, and a 15-foot birdie putt at the 13th made sure he led when play was called.

Grace finished his second round on Friday and was flawless on Saturday, including a late surge that was halted by the weather. His front nine included birdies at two of the par-fives, making the turn at 12-under, and he had three consecutive birdies from the 13th to gain a share of the lead.

NOTES: A cash prize is awarded for a hole-in-one in the final round, so Finch's ace will go unrewarded...Both of Finch's victories came in 2008...There are still 27 players left to finish the third round.

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Academy Award Betting Odds for Best Picture Offer Great Value

If there is any category that is not an obvious win for any one nominee in this year's Academy Awards, it would be for Best Picture.  Sure the Departed is a 5/7 favorite, but that's hardly anything when we look at Helen Mirren and her "out-of-reach" 1 to 40 odds (which means you would win a whopping $1 for every $40 bet).

For value, take a look at MySportsbook.com Oscars betting odds on my personal favorite, The Queen - a remarkable 12 to 1 long shot.  The film hasn't won any pre-awards for Best Picture (compared to The Departed and Little Miss Sunshine), but there is a tremendous following and it is a strong enough film to warrant a surprise win.

TV Guide advises Oscar watchers should be cautioned not to discount the  drama "Babel" with its strong social themes about overcoming communication gaps among people of different cultures.

"While 'Babel' lost several guild awards to 'Sunshine' and 'Departed,'  it still enjoys loyal support, and historically Oscar voters favor dramas with social messages over comedies like 'Sunshine' and violent crime movies like 'Departed'."

"It hasn't done well in the guilds, which means there isn't much industry support," said Tom O'Neil of awards site TheEnvelope.com, "But several critics are expecting it to win, and that gets my attention." Babel had 7 to 2 odds at press time.

Who is to say independently produced Little Miss Sunshine won't be this year's Crash.  Last year, Crash won for Best Motion Picture, shocking those who bet on gay cowboy flick, Brokeback Mountain, as the favorite to win. 

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

NFL Betting Lines

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