Funk among leaders in South Korea

Golf Betting Lines

09/10/2010 - Songdo, South Korea (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tradition winner Fred Funk, Michael Allen and Jay Don Blake each posted rounds of three-under 69 on Friday to share the opening-round lead of the Posco E&C Songdo Championship.

This was the Champions Tour's first trip to Asia and the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea was the big winner. In addition to the three co-leaders, only John Cook and Sandy Lyle, who share fourth at two-under 70, and Sandy Lyle, who shot a 71 on Friday, broke par.

The field averaged a score of 74.428 in the first round, which was the fourth- highest average for an opening round. The three ranked higher were all major championships.

Two inches of rain fell since early Thursday night and the start of play was delayed for almost an hour and 45 minutes on Friday due to the wet conditions. The round was contested under lift, clean and place rules.

"The conditions were remarkably good with all of the rain," said Funk.

The Tradition winner started off well with a very long birdie putt at the second and a two-putt birdie at the par-five third. Funk followed with a pair of nice par saves at four and five, but dropped a shot at the par-three eighth when his five-iron came up short.

Funk wedged his approach to 15 feet at the ninth and poured in the birdie putt. He made another nice par save after the turn, but had a four-foot look at birdie at No. 11. Funk's putt stayed above ground and he stayed at two- under par.

Funk made some more great par saves on the back nine, including a nine-footer at the par-five 15th. He sank a 15-foot birdie putt at the 17th to join the lead at minus-three and he had a chance for first on his own, but his six-foot birdie try at the last missed the hole.

"I played solid," said Funk, who won the season's fourth major championship last month. "Hit a lot of good shots, especially on the difficult holes. Overall, really pleased."

Allen started on the 10th tee and flew out of the gate with four front-nine birdies, including a chip-in at the 10th. He fell to three-under par after a missed three-foot par putt at No. 2, but got back into sole possession of the leader with a 30-footer for birdie at eight.

Allen fell back into a tie for first when he missed a six-foot par save at his last hole.

Blake also began on the back nine Friday and notched two birdies. He bogeyed the first, but rattled off back-to-back five-foot birdie putts at the second and third holes to reach three-under par.

Blake missed a four-foot par save at the sixth, but an eight-foot birdie putt at the ninth earned him a share of the lead.

"It was a good to finish with a birdie at No. 9," said Blake. "Because of the rain, the course played very long today. Conditions were difficult, but fairways weren't that wet. Hit a lot of good shots."

Olin Browne, Nam-Sin Park, Denis Watson and Joe Ozaki share seventh place at even-par 72.

NOTES: Champions Tour leading money winner Bernhard Langer managed a one-over 73 on Friday and shares 11th place...Due to more rain in the forecast, players will once again go off split tees in threesomes for the second round.

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Big Ten Conference odds

Teams that should be in: Michigan State, Indiana
Work left to do: Illinois, Purdue, Michigan, Iowa

Behind the big two, the pecking order might be in a bit of flux. Has Michigan State passed Indiana after handling the Hoosiers in East Lansing? Where is Illinois in that mix? What looked like a four-big league last week could be morphing into five -- and even six is not unthinkable at this point if everything breaks right.

Should be in:

Michigan State [21-8 (8-6), RPI: 20, SOS: 15] The Spartans made it four-for-four on the homestand, a gigantic accomplishment that leaves them in extremely good shape. MSU is only 1-6 on the road and is at Michigan and at Wisconsin to close things out, meaning the date with the Wolverines on Tuesday looms very, very large. Beating Texas early will hold up well, as will the rout of Bradley and the win over BYU, but will 8-8 be enough? It very well could be, as the computer numbers are good, but why chance it?

Indiana [18-9 (8-6), RPI: 24, SOS: 32] Hmm ... good thing the last two are at Northwestern and home to Penn State, because IU might want to get both to feel completely safe after dropping its third in the last four, fading after halftime at Michigan State. Who knew the best nonconference win would be over Southern Illinois, which is a gift that keeps on giving for the Hoosiers. The win over Wisconsin also looks good on the mantel.

Work left to do:

Illinois [21-9 (9-6), RPI: 31, SOS: 25] A good performance at Penn State leaves the Illini in pretty good shape. Can they go to Iowa and take care of business to really look on their way? That's a huge game, as there is a possible cluster of teams that will end at 9-7. Illinois beat Bradley, but has lost to Xavier. A 9-7 mark and a semifinals trip in Chicago could be enough with the computer profile hanging in there, but it would be better not to mess around, clinching at least a tie for third.

Purdue [18-10 (7-7), RPI: 47, SOS: 28] Couldn't get it done at Iowa, but did win at Northwestern to put 9-7 squarely in sight. Where does that leave the Boilermakers, though? Even if they beat Minnesota and Northwestern at home, that won't help the computer numbers. Nonconference wins over Virginia, DePaul and Oklahoma are solid, but not spectacular. The Boilers very well might need an upset in the B10 quarters to have a legit claim.

Michigan [19-10 (7-7), RPI: 55, SOS: 53] Well, Michigan did what it needed to do, winning at Minnesota to take control of its fate. The Wolverines have Michigan State and an already-wrapped-up-the-league Ohio State at home to close, so the chances are there. Win both and we can talk. There is no marquee win yet in the profile, and the Wolverines were splattered in several games against name opponents. A mediocre computer profile fueled by a lack of road wins isn't helping, either.

Iowa [16-12 (8-6), RPI: 80, SOS: 64] For the sake of being complete, we'll add Iowa, this season's Stanford. It's plausible that the Hawkeyes could get to 10-6 (at Penn State, vs. Illinois left), but where does that leave them after a gruesome nonconference performance where the best win was over ... Toledo? Iowa State? Cornell?? If they get to 10-6, we can start to look at what they need to do in the B10 tourney, although my gut sense is that they would need to make the final and have knocked off Ohio State or Wisconsin on the way to have any real claim.

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