McGrane, Elson lead in stormy South Africa

Golf Betting Lines

01/12/2012 - Johannesburg, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Damien McGrane and Jamie Elson posted impressive eight-under 63s on Thursday en route to the clubhouse lead at the opening round of the suspended Joburg Open.

Thunderstorms forced a lengthy delay of nearly five hours before darkness suspended play at Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, where golfers are on both the East and West Courses over the first two rounds. For the last 36 holes, only the more difficult par-72 East Course is used.

With some gloomy weather forecasted over the weekend, it remains to be seen if there will be more delays ahead. The second round will resume at 6:45 a.m. local time, 11:45 p.m. (et).

The East Course lived up to its name in its brief usage on Thursday, with 19 of the top 21 players on the leaderboard playing on the par-71 West Course.

McGrane and Elson were two of them, though one of their closest competitors, Desvonde Botes, posted a seven-under 65 on the East Course. Reinier Saxton and Peter Karmis had a seven-under 64s on the West Course and share second, while Joel Sjoholm, David Drysdale, George Coetzee, George Murray, Carlos Del Moral and Shaun Norris posted six-under 65s on the West Course.

The week's storyline is reigning Masters champ Charl Schwartzel, who began his surprising 2011 season with his second straight Joburg Open title. The top- ranked player in the field by a considerable margin at No. 9, Schwartzel is even-par through 15 holes on the East Course.

It was McGrane and Elson, however, who stole the show Thursday. McGrane is looking for his first European Tour victory since the 2008 China Open, while Elson gained his tour card for this year by holing a 40-foot birdie putt on the final hole at qualifying school.

"I am delighted to be in a good position after round one," McGrane said. "For the last three or four years, Irish golf has been quite incredible, and I think we feed off each other. For a small nation, it sure is great to be there or thereabouts."

McGrane's day could have been even better if not for a bogey at the last. He had five birdies in a flawless front nine and added back-to-back birdies from the 11th to get to seven-under.

He moved to nine-under with an eagle at the par-five 15th, but lost a stroke at the last, one that could cost him with Botes hot on his tail.

"I stacked up a few birdies during the round, but that eagle really turned my round," McGrane said.

Elson started with four consecutive birdies and added two more at the sixth and ninth to make the turn at six-under. He began the back nine with two bogeys, but had four birdies in his last seven holes to tie McGrane.

Botes, who has 12 international victories but none on the European Tour, had five birdies and an eagle on the East Course, which means he'll have an opportunity to build on his score on the easier West Course.

His last victory anywhere came at the 2003 Parmalot Classic.

Schwartzel, who has not won since his Masters triumph, got off to a rocky start with bogeys at the first and fourth. His first birdie came at the sixth, but he followed with his third bogey of the day.

A birdie at the ninth put Schwartzel at one-over, but he finally got under par for the first time with birdies at the 12th and 14th. A bogey at No. 15 dropped him to even-par before the round was halted.

NOTES: After Schwartzel, the highest-ranked player is Retief Goosen at No. 50. He shot a five-under 66 on the West Course and is tied for 10th...Schwartzel is attempting to become the sixth European Tour player to win the same tournament three straight times.

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SPORTS BETTING: NFL Football Sportsbook Betting

NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.


That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.

A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."

It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.

The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.

So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."

Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.

Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.

Seriously.

The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.

The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.

Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."

The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.

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