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05/24/2009 - Beachwood, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michael Allen drilled his final drive 315 yards down the 18th fairway, then stuck his last approach shot to 12 feet.
"About freaking time!" he called out.
The 50-year-old from San Mateo, Calif., had a reason to be so effusive.
Winless in 334 PGA Tour stars, Allen won his Champions Tour debut by shooting a three-under 67 in the final round of the Senior PGA Championship on Sunday.
Clinging to a one-shot lead over Larry Mize through 17 holes, Allen turned his two uninhibited shots at No. 18 into a closing birdie and a two-shot win at six-under-par 274.
His first title in 11 years was also a major championship, the first of the season on the over-50 tour.
"It's been a great week," said Allen.
Mize, the 1987 Masters champion, coughed up the lead on the tough back nine at Canterbury Golf Club, also closing with a 67 to end at four-under 276. He watched as Allen clinched the win at 18.
"Two great shots. You gotta take your hat off to him," said the 50-year-old Mize, playing his first full season on the Champions Tour. "He played well."
Bruce Fleisher, an 18-time winner on the Champions Tour, joined Allen and Mize with a 67 in the final round and took third place at three-under 277. Tom Watson (66) was the only other survivor to par, ending at even-par 280.
Fred Funk (70), Jeff Sluman (73), Gil Morgan (72) and Chris Starkjohann (70) tied for fifth place at one-over 281.
Allen and Mize, after steady front nines, battled for the lead. Fleisher showed up late as a challenger, but the 60-year-old former U.S. Senior Open champion may simply have run out of holes against his younger competitors.
"Obviously 50 years old is a lot younger than 60," said Fleisher.
The final round was tight throughout.
Mize tied Allen for the lead with 15-foot birdie putts on the first two holes, then moved two shots ahead when he collected back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth. Allen climbed within a stroke when he rolled in a 20- footer for birdie at No. 9.
But neither player was going to win without playing well on Canterbury's back nine.
In Saturday's third round, Mize made an eagle, a birdie, three bogeys and a double-bogey on the demanding stretch of holes, while Allen had a trio of birdies.
Allen was better on Sunday, as well.
Mize hit two offline drives in two holes, the 11th and 12th. He saved par from a fairway bunker at 11 when he chipped to a foot, but made bogey from the rough at 12 to fall into a tie for the lead with Allen at four-under par.
That allowed Allen to take the lead with a five-foot birdie putt at the 12th.
Allen, however, gave the shot back when he missed a six-footer for par at No. 14 -- making his only bogey of the round and forging another tie for the lead with Mize at four-under.
Taking a long time over his shots towards the end of the round, Allen drained an eight-foot birdie putt at No. 15 to regain his one-shot lead.
Mize saved par from 15 feet at the 18th, placing all the pressure on Allen to make at least a closing par for the win.
Which is when Allen pulled driver on the last tee -- an unnecessary risk -- and unloaded his 315-yard blast down the fairway. As impressive was his gutsy approach to the green, taking the ball over a bunker and right at the hole.
"To hit a drive like that on 18 under the gun in awfully impressive," said Mize.
Allen, who turned 50 in January, had made 271 professional starts since winning the 1998 Greater Austin Open on the Nationwide Tour. He opted to play this tournament instead of the Byron Nelson Championship, the $6.5 million event on the PGA Tour this week, accepting a special invitation from the PGA of America to join the field.
It paid off.
Allen became the 14th player to win his Champions Tour debut, earning him $360,000 and a one-year exemption on the senior circuit. He is already fully- exempt on the PGA Tour, where he has made 9-of-12 cuts this season without posting a top-20 finish.
Short on experience in situations like the one he found himself in Sunday, Allen nevertheless appeared calm -- if meticulous -- as he found all but one fairway on the back nine.
Afterward, he smiled broadly on the 18th green, holding the Alfred S. Bourne Trophy in his hands.
"It's really heavy," Allen said.
Apparently, the pressure was not.
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Datsyuk w
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one key player for Sunday's Western Conference final contest, but will also
welcome one back.
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on loan from AC Milan in Italy, will return to the Italian club.
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former Italian i
Rockies edge Tigers >>
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Hammel (1-3)
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Munich, Germany (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Bayern Munich general manager Uli Hoeness
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Dunn's two homers push Nats past O's >>
Washington, DC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Adam Dunn belted a grand slam and hit a two-
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to avoid a three-game sweep at Nationals Park.
Wil Nieves went 2-for-4 with an RB
Trash talk has a place in every competitive endeavor (except baseball; those stirrup-wearers are too busy chewing on their sunflower seeds and their supplements to worry about what their opponents are doing).
Fantasy sports is no exception. Any intelligent discussion of the subject would probably start with a thesis statement or a definition of terms. Thankfully, this wont be an intelligent discussion.
Let me just say that I am happy to take a place in this space alongside my talented colleagues, even our commissioner. (You should see how she bleats like a demented paper boy about league fees on our fantasy site).
Trash talking, I would argue, is primarily about amusing your friends, their sheeplike demeanors and sloping foreheads notwithstanding. The best place I have found for football trash talking is at www.SportsAlarm.com.
Beyond the entertainment factor, though, I would recognize that the sophomoric ritual has one advantage, when properly applied. It magnifies your fantasy triumphs and mitigates your fantasy failures by transforming the eventual point total into an afterthought. Winning makes it seem like your opponent really is a truss-owning, lapel-pin-wearing nitwit. And in defeat, trash talk can be the air bag to break the fall from your hyperbolic heights. The plug-necked yahoos on your team, you can say, will be sacking groceries by the end of the season.
The best trash talk, in my view, is layered and nuanced. And it doesnt focus only on your opponents team. It picks apart your opponent. The idea is to create a shock-and-awe-scale blizzard of nonsense, and the goal is to make your opponent drop his hands from his keyboard in exasperation.
What team does your opponent root for? Accuse a Giants fan of having a Joe Namath pillowcase. Wheres your opponent from? Give a look of concern no matter his reply, then say, I'll try to type slower for you next time. Is your opponent into politics? Label everyone a tax-and-spend corporate shill.
Cap all that with a liberal application of irrelevance. For instance, dont just conclude by saying your opponent is a twerp who drafts like my grandmother. Say that your opponent is a sweater-wearing, eyebrow-plucking twerp who drafts his team about as well as Zsa Zsa Gabor gave acceptance speeches at the Oscars. By the time your foe makes sense of that, his starting running back will have had puppies.
But what about you? Hmm? Recall a memorable slam? Have a tried-and-true technique? Know someone who seems impervious to insult? Take a moment and tells us about it. Put together some (fit-for-publication) thoughts. You wont be too busy returning phone messages from your friends, Im sure, to reply.
In addition to the trash talking, the Sports Alarm has a huge gallery of high resolution pictures of beautiful women and models in bikinis. The most popular models are: Lindsay Lohan, Carrie Underwood, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Paris Hilton.
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.
To visit this online sportsbook got to MySportsbook.com for all your Sportsbook accepts Visa needs.
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