Last year’s US Open winner, Rory McIlroy, a favourite of fans betting on golf, has moved into contention to add the Masters to his list of titles, after firing a 69 in the second round to move to within one shot of joint leaders, Fred Couples and Jason Dufner.
The 52-year-old Couples, who won the tournament 20 years ago, was in solid form on Friday, shooting a 67 while Dufner went round the Augusta course in 70. Also on four-under alongside McIlroy, are Sergio Garcia (68), former Open champion, Louis Oosthuizen (72), Bubba Watson (71), and first-round leader, Lee Westwood (73), who dropped two shots on the 18th.
Couples is the oldest player to lead the Masters at halfway, while Jack Nicklaus is the tournament's oldest ever winner at 46 in 1986.
McIlroy was pleased with his day’s work, saying afterwards: "I drove the ball better than in the first round. That was the big thing. I think the whole round on Thursday was important to me; to not let the start get to me, and those two birdies at the end really gave me some momentum going into Friday. To stay patient and hang in there, I felt like I did that pretty well."
Three-time champion, Phil Mickelson, birdied the last hole for the second day running while Oosthuizen birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th holes to move into contention. However, Oosthuizen’s prowess at Augusta did little to improve his odds in US Open 2012 golf betting; he stands on 50/1.
Garcia is on course to improve on a best finish of tied fourth eight years ago, while Scotland's Paul Lawrie birdied the last three holes to be three-under at the halfway stage. Australian, Jason Day, who was joint-second, last year, was forced to drop out of the tournament after suffering a recurrence of an ankle injury.
Saturday, 7 April 2012
Friday, 30 March 2012
Barton warns team-mates
Queens Park Rangers skipper Joey Barton has warned his team-mates they are all playing for their futures ahead of the run-in.
QPR sit one point adrift of safety in 18th place in the Premier League, facing an uphill struggle to avoid the drop in their first season back in the top flight.
The Rs have eight games to rescue their season, starting with a clash against red-hot Arsenal at Loftus Road on Saturday.
Barton, who was dropped for the 3-1 defeat at Sunderland last time out after a poor performance against Liverpool, is well aware relegation from the Premier League at the first time of asking could see wholesale changes at the club. Anyone placing a Bet Victor bet will know they need to change their tunes.
"This is more than a game of football now. The next eight games govern our futures," Barton told the club's official website.
"There are lads here whose careers are on the line - all the lads need to realise that. If we don't, we'll be punished for it."
QPR have spent plenty of money since they travelled to Arsenal on New Year’s Eve but have failed to pull away from the relegation zone. In fact, they sit one place worse off than at the beginning of the January transfer window.
The Hoops fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat on that occasion and will arguably face a tougher challenge this time around against the league’s form side. Fans of Bet Victor betting need to bear this in mind.
Barton believes QPR can take heart from their display at Emirates Stadium.
"I feel when we went to the Emirates we acquitted ourselves really well. I think we deserved to get something out of the game," Barton added.
"The manner of that defeat was frustrating, because we gave a good account of ourselves."
Mark Hughes’ side will need to better that performance if they are to boost their survival hopes.
QPR sit one point adrift of safety in 18th place in the Premier League, facing an uphill struggle to avoid the drop in their first season back in the top flight.
The Rs have eight games to rescue their season, starting with a clash against red-hot Arsenal at Loftus Road on Saturday.
Barton, who was dropped for the 3-1 defeat at Sunderland last time out after a poor performance against Liverpool, is well aware relegation from the Premier League at the first time of asking could see wholesale changes at the club. Anyone placing a Bet Victor bet will know they need to change their tunes.
"This is more than a game of football now. The next eight games govern our futures," Barton told the club's official website.
"There are lads here whose careers are on the line - all the lads need to realise that. If we don't, we'll be punished for it."
QPR have spent plenty of money since they travelled to Arsenal on New Year’s Eve but have failed to pull away from the relegation zone. In fact, they sit one place worse off than at the beginning of the January transfer window.
The Hoops fell to a narrow 1-0 defeat on that occasion and will arguably face a tougher challenge this time around against the league’s form side. Fans of Bet Victor betting need to bear this in mind.
Barton believes QPR can take heart from their display at Emirates Stadium.
"I feel when we went to the Emirates we acquitted ourselves really well. I think we deserved to get something out of the game," Barton added.
"The manner of that defeat was frustrating, because we gave a good account of ourselves."
Mark Hughes’ side will need to better that performance if they are to boost their survival hopes.
Thursday, 29 March 2012
Benitez Perfect for Chelsea
After Andres Villas Boas was shown the door at Stamford Bridge a few weeks ago the usual speculation over who will become the next manager kicks in, and with Rafa Benitez out of work since he left Inter Milan, he was linked to the role, but insists that was not contacted by Chelsea.
It is surprising that Benitez is still out of work, but it seems that he is waiting for that right opportunity to come along, and from the looks of it, he wants that opportunity to be in England.
He had six good years at Liverpool where he lead them to two Champions League finals of course and that is why he may have been linked to Stamford Bridge, with Roman Abramovich's desire for European success. And although he didn't win the Premier League, he has enough experience of the English game to be successful and it should Chelsea not give Roberto Di Matteo the full time job, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Benitez come in. Those betting Premiership money will know he has linked himself with the job.
He is a manager who would get instant respect from the players, which is something that AVB ultimately failed to do during his time at the club. Benitez has spent a number of seasons at each club he has been at, growing the club behind the scenes while buying him time to do so with his success on the pitch, exactly what Chelsea need. People placing a football bet will be wondering if this will happen.
The only thing you could say negative about him is his failure to cope with the mind games of Sir Alex Ferguson. Roberto Mancini is on the verge of getting into a sticky battle with the United boss, and from history, not may managers come out better off. Benitez knows all too well after he went on a rant about United in a pre match press conference which ultimately saw his team lose the lead in the table as United went on to win the title.
It is surprising that Benitez is still out of work, but it seems that he is waiting for that right opportunity to come along, and from the looks of it, he wants that opportunity to be in England.
He had six good years at Liverpool where he lead them to two Champions League finals of course and that is why he may have been linked to Stamford Bridge, with Roman Abramovich's desire for European success. And although he didn't win the Premier League, he has enough experience of the English game to be successful and it should Chelsea not give Roberto Di Matteo the full time job, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Benitez come in. Those betting Premiership money will know he has linked himself with the job.
He is a manager who would get instant respect from the players, which is something that AVB ultimately failed to do during his time at the club. Benitez has spent a number of seasons at each club he has been at, growing the club behind the scenes while buying him time to do so with his success on the pitch, exactly what Chelsea need. People placing a football bet will be wondering if this will happen.
The only thing you could say negative about him is his failure to cope with the mind games of Sir Alex Ferguson. Roberto Mancini is on the verge of getting into a sticky battle with the United boss, and from history, not may managers come out better off. Benitez knows all too well after he went on a rant about United in a pre match press conference which ultimately saw his team lose the lead in the table as United went on to win the title.
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