Weekley Leaves Round Against Barnes

Golf Betting Lines

Reigning U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy (69) and 2001 British Open champion David Duval (70) are part of a group tied at minus-four.

 

Ken Duke, who won the Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs earlier this year, also shot 63 to move into a share of second place at 15-under-par 129. He was joined there by 2002 U.S. Amateur winner Ricky Barnes (64).

 

Around the turn, Weekley birdied the first at Highland Springs Country Club. He tripped to his first bogey of the event at the second to slip back to 11- under.

 

Weekley, who turns 33-years-old on Sunday, caught fire down the stretch. He birdied the par-four fifth and came right back with a birdie on six. Weekley was not done.

 

Duke also played the back nine first Friday. He poured in consecutive birdies from the 11th and again from the 15th to jump to 10-under. He picked up a birdie on 18 and came right back with a birdie on the first as well.

 

Barnes collected just one birdie over his first four holes, and that came on the par-five 11th. He birdied three straight from the 14th to get to 11-under.

 

"Boo and I had a lot of good looks today," said Barnes, who was played with Weekley the first two rounds. "We've fed off of each other the first two days. Our iron play has been pretty spot on."

 

Nick Flanagan fired a nine-under 63 of his own. He stands at 12-under-par 132 and he shares sixth place with Josh Broadaway and Justin Bolli.

 

Hoylake, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods two-putted for birdie from short of the 18th green Saturday to card a one-under 71 and maintain a one- stroke lead after three rounds of the British Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. Woods completed 54 holes at 13-under-par 203. In his 10 major championship wins, Woods has held at least a share of the 54-hole lead all 10 times.

 

The world's No. 1 player struggled on the back nine Saturday with his putter. He three-putted three times, including twice for bogey, but it was his closing birdie that helped him remain atop the leaderboard by himself through three rounds.

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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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