Clarke pushes lead to three in Scotland

Golf Betting Lines

07/09/2010 - Glasgow, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Darren Clarke carded a four-under 67 in steady rain Friday to extend his lead to three strokes after two rounds of the Scottish Open.

Clarke, who led by one after the first round, completed 36 holes at 10-under- par 132. He is seeking his 13th victory on the European Tour and a spot in next week's British Open.

"It wasn't torrential heavy rain, it was just torrential rain," Clarke said of the weather conditions. "If you're from Ireland there's a difference, a massive difference. We knew it was going to be very hard, but obviously at home in Portrush I've had much worse than this."

The 41-year-old is not yet eligible for the season's third major next weekend. If he were to win this week, he would get one of the last available spots in the field at St. Andrews.

Edoardo Molinari posted a two-under 69 in the afternoon and is alone in second at minus-seven. Molinari, and the rest of the afternoon wave, played in much better conditions than Clarke and the early group at Loch Lomond Golf Club.

Bradley Dredge and Peter Hedblom both carded 69s and are tied for third at six-under-par 136. Francesco Molinari also shot two-under 69 and is one stroke back at minus-five.

Further down the leaderboard, there was plenty of news as well.

Phil Mickelson could have overtaken Tiger Woods for the top spot in the world rankings. However, he was done in by a quintuple-bogey nine on the par-four 18th, his ninth on Friday.

Mickelson got a couple of those strokes back, but not enough as he shot three- over 74 to miss the cut by a stroke at three-over-par 145. Also missing the cut on the number were two-time winner Ernie Els and 2009 champion Martin Kaymer.

Clarke played the back nine first on Friday and three-putted for a bogey on No. 11. That was his first and only bogey of the week. He bounced back with a birdie on the 12th and moved to minus-seven with a chip-in birdie at the 16th.

Around the turn, Clarke poured in three birdies in the first four holes to jump to 10-under. His birdies on one and three came from off the green, before he converted from 20 feet out for birdie at the fourth. Clarke closed with five straight pars to lead by three.

"You have to take what the course gives you and try to grind out a score," Clarke said. "Certainly, I'm very pleased to have ground out four-under. I thought anything around level par was going to be pretty good."

Edoardo Molinari parred his first three holes before dropping in a birdie effort on the fourth. He faltered to a bogey on the par-three eighth, but atoned for that mistake with a birdie at the ninth.

The Italian parred the first four holes of the back nine. Molinari birdied the short par-four 14th, a hole in which he eagled one day earlier. The 2005 U.S. Amateur champion stumbled to a bogey on the 16th, but came back to birdie 17 to end three shots off Clarke's lead.

"I think it was a great round today, it was very windy out there. The wind was hurting a lot," Molinari stated. "I am almost happier today than I was with my 66 [Thursday]."

NOTES: Robert-Jan Derksen (68), Damien McGrane (72) and Graeme Storm (72) share sixth at four-under-par 138...The cut fell at two-over 144 with 68 players moving on to the final two rounds...Y.E. Yang, Vijay Singh, Lucas Glover, 2001 champion Retief Goosen, Robert Allenby, European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie, 1996 winner Thomas Bjorn and Miguel Angel Jimenez, who has won twice this season, also missed the cut.

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Pacific-10 Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Stanford

Oregon and USC get their tickets punched after taking care of business this weekend. Yes, the Trojans' computer numbers aren't great, but there's no way the third-place team in this league is getting nixed. Grudgingly, I added Arizona after consultation with our Bracketologist. I don't know that Arizona will lose its last three (including a Pac-10 quarterfinal game), and even if the Cats do, I still can't see how they'd be left out, given the overall profile. That said, it bears watching, as three more L's would leave them at 18-12 (9-9) and on a 6-11 skid entering the Dance. It would be nice to see the Wildcats get at least one W in the Bay Area next week, as Cincinnati (albeit without Armein Kirkland and with a worse profile) was axed after a similar slide last season. I just couldn't rationalize having some of the other teams as locks and not having Arizona in that category -- there just aren't enough good teams behind the Cats to threaten their spot, it seems. Stanford has its fate in its own hands with the Arizona schools coming to the Farm to close out the regular season next weekend.

Should be in:

Stanford [17-10 (9-7), RPI: 40, SOS: 21] No shame in not getting a win in L.A., but that makes the home game against Arizona State a must-win ahead of what could be an intriguing meeting with Arizona should the Cats lose at Cal. Getting to 11 Pac-10 wins would make Selection Sunday much more comfortable, but 10's probably more than enough this season. The Cardinal have nonconference wins over Texas Tech and at Virginia to lean on, although they also lost badly to Air Force and Santa Clara at home.

Southeastern Conference odds
Work left to do: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Mississippi State

It looks more and more possible that no one from the SEC West will make the NCAAs. How weird is that? Tennessee and Vandy move into the locks category after more good work this weekend. Kentucky stays there, although it would be smart for the Cats to handle Georgia at home Wednesday ahead of a trip to the Swamp. Could a disaster scenario (two more L's and a first-round SEC tourney exit) somehow dislodge the Cats despite their incredible computer numbers? Still unlikely, but not worth chancing it.

Work left to do:

Alabama [19-9 (6-8), RPI: 43, SOS: 47] The tough L at Tennessee was understandable, and even created some hope. Unfortunately, that hope was dashed by a home loss to Auburn, which leaves the Tide in some real trouble. There's still no signature win on the profile (no, Kentucky doesn't count), and the computer profile is weakening rapidly. The Tide conceivably could beat Ole Miss and win at Miss. State to get to 8-8 and clinch at least a share of the West crown, but that's probably not enough right now. The Tide will need to do some work in the SEC tourney.

Georgia [16-10 (8-6), RPI: 52, SOS: 23] This is the team with the best chance to make it from this section right now. The Bulldogs rebounded from a terrible performance at Ole Miss to beat down Miss. State. Now they are at Kentucky (king of the RPI 51-100 win) and home to Tennessee. That would be worth a lot of computer points to get both (which is doable), as both teams are in the top 11 in RPI. Finishing at least 9-7 is an absolute must, and I would feel much better about the Dawgs' chances if they got both to get to 10 SEC wins. They also beat Gonzaga, but lost to ACC bubblers Georgia Tech and Clemson.

Mississippi [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 63, SOS: 79] Like everyone else in this division, Ole Miss gacked up a chance to stake a claim, losing by double figures at South Carolina. Even 9-7 likely is not nearly enough with a nonconference profile devoid of anything notable.

Mississippi State [16-11 (7-7), RPI: 66, SOS: 37] With a chance to get in the mix, these Bulldogs were leashed by their Georgia counterparts. Could they get to 9-7? I guess -- although winning at Arkansas, then beating Alabama is no lock -- but would that mean all that much for a team with this overall profile? Probably not. There's nothing of note (on the good side) in the nonconference profile.

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