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Jhonattan Vegas, Dean Wilson, Joe Ogilvie and Kyle Stanley posted three-under 67s in the morning and share third place. Vegas posted the lone bogey-free round of the day.
Scott, who earned his seventh PGA Tour win last year at the Texas Open, parred the first two holes before rolling in a 20-footer for birdie on the third. He made it two in a row with a 25-foot birdie putt on No. 4.
The 30-year-old Australian stuck his approach six feet from the hole on the sixth to move to minus-three. He parred the last three holes on the front side.
Scott, who has missed four cuts in 10 starts this season, hit a stellar tee shot on the par-three 14th to two feet and kicked that in for birdie. At the 18th, Scott hit sand-wedge to 15 feet and converted that putt for birdie to get in at minus-four.
The 34-year-old Haas dropped his tee shot inside three feet on the 14th and made that for birdie to move to minus-two. He ran home a 32-footer for birdie on 15 and made it four in a row with an up-and-down birdie on the 16th.
Haas carded five straight pars around the turn. He converted a 15-footer for birdie on the fourth to move to minus-five. At the seventh, his tee ball missed the fairway well left, but he had a clear shot to the green.
The other five that played the U.S. Junior here with Scott are outside the top 10 after one round. Glover withdrew after nine holes citing illness, Immelman carded a one-under 69, Marino posted an even-par 70, Mahan stumbled to a two- over 72 and O'Hair struggled to a six-over 76 that included a seven-over 42 on his opening nine, the back nine.
NOTES: Justin Rose, the defending champion, is tied for 29th after opening with an even-par 70....Amateur Patrick Cantlay continued his solid play with a 70. Cantlay was low amateur at the U.S. Open, where he tied for 21st, and he followed that with a share of 24th last week at the Travelers Championship...Graham DeLaet withdrew with a back injury...Like last year, the par-three eighth was the most difficult hole on Thursday.
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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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