Woods shoots 66 to lead AT&T National

Golf Betting Lines

07/03/2009 - Bethesda, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tiger Woods nourished his momentum with a handful of scrambling par saves, shooting a four-under 66 on Friday to take the second-round lead at the AT&T National.

Woods finished two trips around Congressional at 10-under 130 and will carry a one-shot advantage into the weekend as he tries to win his tournament for the first time.

Australia's Rod Pampling shot a six-under 64, one off his career record, and climbed into second place behind Woods at nine-under 131.

Defending champion Anthony Kim, after posting a course-record 62 in the first round, fell to third place with a middling 70, remaining at eight-under par.

Jim Furyk had another steady round, carding a 67 to sit fourth at seven-under 133.

Woods started his second round on the back nine and made a bogey at the 11th hole, coming up short of the green. But he collected three birdies during a four-hole stretch beginning at the 13th, including one at the 15th that was set up by an approach shot to tap-in range.

While those birdies set up a day of good scoring for Woods, it was a slew of par saves that had the tournament host happiest with himself.

He got up and down from in front of the green at the 17th, holing a three-foot putt. It was the first of three tough par saves in a span of five holes. He got lucky with a good lie at No. 2 and saved par after hitting his approach way right at No. 3.

During that stretch, Woods spun a bunker shot to within seven feet at No. 1 -- his 10th hole -- and made a birdie.

Not as accurate off the tee or crisp with his irons as he was Thursday, when he opened the tournament with a 64, Woods was still able to coax a good score out of his second round, keeping the momentum going with the par saves.

He knocked a sand-wedge within three feet at No. 8 for his final birdie of the day.

"Either I hit it pretty close to the hole, within 10 feet, or I was missing greens," said Woods. "So it was a little bit of two ends today. It was nice to actually get a score out of it."

Woods has often blamed an inconsistent putter for his sometimes fitful play this season. But he's seemed more confident on the greens at Congressional this week, even as he ranks somewhere near the middle of the pack in putting.

Although he took one more stroke with the putter than he did in the first round, Woods said he felt better with the club in his hand on Friday, when the greens were still soft from rain that fell overnight Wednesday.

"The pins were a little bit more difficult today, so if the greens would have been even firmer, it would have been a pretty good test," he said.

Pampling shared the lead with Woods at minus-nine after a birdie on the 15th, but parred the remainder of his holes to finish a shot behind. The two-time PGA Tour winner has a good history at this event, tying for third place last year and sharing 19th in 2007.

"It's positional golf, and you have to think about what you're doing out there," said Pampling. "Obviously we're hitting the ball well, which allows you to get it into where they can tuck a pin. It's just a thinker's golf course, and I enjoy playing those."

Kim made three bogeys during a six-hole stretch beginning at No. 9, hitting into a bunker each time. He only managed to make three birdies -- this after he collected eight birdies without dropping a shot in the first round.

"I hate the way I hit the ball today," said Kim, who hasn't won since last year's AT&T National. "It was okay for about six or seven holes, but the swing got loose and I couldn't find it out there."

Woods is trying to win his tournament for the first time. It was started in 2007, when Woods tied for sixth, and he missed it last year after having knee surgery.

He is 31-6 on the PGA Tour when holding the 36-hole lead.

"I need to hit the ball better than I did today, just clean up my round, and if I can get hitting the ball like I did yesterday and putt like I did today, we'll be looking all right," said Woods.

The cut line fell at two-over 142 with 76 players moving on to the weekend.

World No. 3 Paul Casey and 2007 AT&T champion K.J. Choi were among those who missed the cut.

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FOOTBALL TRASH TALK

NFL Football Trash Talk

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.