Cejka leads by five; gets Sunday pairing with Tiger

Golf Betting Lines

05/09/2009 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - If Alex Cejka is going to earn his first PGA Tour victory on Sunday, he will have to contend with his playing partner before all else.

That would be Tiger Woods.

Cejka only managed an even-par 72 on Saturday, but it was enough to extend his cushion to five shots over Woods and five other players after the third round of The Players Championship at the Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass.

Cejka, who birdied the last to finish at 11-under 205, will now be paired with Woods in Sunday's final group in his quest to get his first win inside the United States.

While Cejka may not have the PGA Tour victory yet, he's certainly no slouch. He owns four European Tour titles, and three of those came with at least a piece of the 54-hole lead.

This isn't Cejka's first third-round lead on tour. He shared a piece of the 2001 British Open third-round lead before a final-round 73 left him in a tie for 13th, six behind eventual winner David Duval.

His five-stroke advantage is the largest third-round lead in Players Championship history and Cejka may need all of those strokes come Sunday afternoon.

Woods is the most intimidating player in the sport and six weeks ago, toppled Sean O'Hair down five at the beginning of the final round at Bay Hill. Five shots is the largest comeback in tournament history and Cejka has not visited the winner's circle in almost seven years, so he could be shaky.

No matter what, this should make for an interesting Sunday.

"If you want to win a big event like this, you have to beat everybody," acknowledged Cejka. "It doesn't matter who you play with. It's going to be a challenge tomorrow. I've played with him before. He's the best golfer in the world and we'll see what I can match."

Woods posted a two-under 70 to finish at six-under 210 and was joined in second by two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen (71), Jonathan Byrd (71), Ben Crane (72), Henrik Stenson (73) and Ian Poulter (75).

Woods was only one-under par through his first 10 holes, then found trouble with a drive at the par-five 11th. His tee ball landed against a tree and Woods was forced to go left-handed with his second shot.

He was just trying to hit it back in the fairway, but with an inverted club face and a surprisingly proficient technique, Woods knocked it back into play.

"I don't have a problem hitting shots left-handed," said Woods. "I actually hit it too good and I was stymied there for my third shot."

Unfortunately, Woods couldn't save par at 11, but he got the stroke back at the next hole with a short birdie putt. The best in the game drove into a bunker at 15 and failed to make par. He took advantage of the next few holes to get back into contention.

At the par-five 16th, Woods knocked it on the green in two and lagged his 45- footer inside two feet. He birdied that hole, then delighted the crowd with a nine-iron tee ball to eight feet at the famous 17th.

Woods made that, then sank a spectacular par from the right rough at 18 to give himself a chance on Sunday.

"This is basically our fifth major, and that's how it's playing. It's playing just like a major championship," said Woods, who has not finished inside the top 10 since his only win here in 2001. "It's fast, it's hard, it's dry. And you just have to keep plodding along."

That's exactly what Cejka did on Saturday.

He made four pars in his first four holes and he had to scramble for some. At the fifth, Cejka rolled in a 14-foot birdie putt to get to 12-under par, but found trouble before the turn.

At the par-four seventh, Cejka three-putted from 35 feet for a bogey and two holes later, at the par-five ninth, Cejka made a mess of the hole and missed a nine-footer for par.

That bogey still left Cejka one ahead and he got it together at the par-five 11th. He knocked his second in a greenside bunker, then blasted out to four feet. Cejka converted the birdie putt and sank a six-footer for birdie at 12 to reclaim his three-stroke cushion.

That margin didn't last long.

Cejka missed a five-foot par save at the 13th and a 10-footer at 14, but was still two ahead thanks to mistakes by his closest competitors, most notably Stenson, who bogeyed three of his last five, and Kevin Na.

Na got within three after an eagle at 16, but back-to-back bogeys at 17 and 18 dropped him down the leaderboard.

Cejka was comfortably ahead. He made a curious decision at the par-five 16th with a poor lay-up, but survived with a par. He was four in front and made a two-putt par at the island 17th.

At the last, Cejka hit a spectacular shot to five feet. He calmly rolled in the birdie putt to match the largest 54-hole lead in tournament history.

"Every birdie is important out here, but I'm very pleased with the way I finished," said Cejka, who defected from Communist Czechoslovakia with his father when he was nine years old. "I went out there and tried to enjoy today's round and not really think too much ahead."

A Poulter birdie at the last would have put him in the final pairing Sunday, but now it'll be Cejka and the world's best golfer. It will be Cejka's biggest stage and he seems poised to prevail with a calm approach that worked on Saturday.

"My goal is to take it out there and take it easy," he said. "Wait for my chances."

Na had an eagle, four birdies, five bogeys and a triple-bogey for a round of 74. He is tied for eighth with Brian Davis (71) and John Mallinger (74) at minus-five.

Masters champion Angel Cabrera, who complained of pace of play problems with partner Na, posted a five-over 77 and fell into a tie for 28th at two-under 214.

Phil Mickelson shot a one-under 71 and is part of a group knotted in 41st at minus-one. That puts the 2007 champion two ahead of the 2008 winner, Sergio Garcia, who could only muster a one-over 73 on Saturday.

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NEW YORK, NY, Sept. 21 - My Sportsbook NCAA football fans: things are beginning to get really interesting on college football's national stage. Following last weekend's "Separation Saturday", which included five teams ranked in the top 15 dropping games, the BCS Championship picture is beginning to take shape - with Ohio State leading the charge. And, according to odds makers at MySportsbook.com, the number-one-ranked Buckeyes will continue their winning ways this weekend.

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Out west, 22nd-ranked Arizona State will be battling for their first victory over 21st-ranked California since 2000. Although the Golden Bears are listed as 7.5-point favorites, the Sun Devils are 3-0, lead the nation in sacks with 18 and possess the Pac-10's leading passer in sophomore quarterback Rudy Carpenter.

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NCAA Football betting lines (home team in CAPS)
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Date Favorite Opponent Point Spread
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Sept 21 GEORGIA TECH Virginia 17
Sept 22 NEVADA Northwestern 6.5
Sept 23 MICHIGAN Wisconsin 14
Sept 23 Minnesota PURDUE 3
Sept 23 SYRACUSE Miami (Ohio) 6.5
Sept 23 MISSOURI Ohio 21.5
Sept 23 Louisville KANSAS STATE 14
Sept 23 TENNESSEE Marshall 22
Sept 23 CLEMSON North Carolina 16.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA Kentucky 24
Sept 23 Iowa ILLINOIS 20.5
Sept 23 FLORIDA STATE Rice 30.5
Sept 23 AUBURN Buffalo 41.5
Sept 23 BOWLING GREEN Kent 7
Sept 23 NAVY Tulsa 4.5
Sept 23 VIRGINIA TECH Cincinnati 27
Sept 23 BYU Utah State 29
Sept 23 OHIO STATE Penn State 16.5
Sept 23 TEXAS Iowa State 25
Sept 23 Washington State STANFORD 10
Sept 23 CALIFORNIA Arizona State 7.5
Sept 23 UCLA WASHINGTON 3
Sept 23 INDIANA Connecticut 1.5
Sept 23 Central Michigan EASTERN MICHIGAN 4
Sept 23 WYOMING Air Force 1
Sept 23 UTEP NEW MEXICO 9.5
Sept 23 West Virginia EAST CAROLINA 21
Sept 23 Boston College NORTH CAROLINA STATE 7
Sept 23 GEORGIA Colorado 27
Sept 23 ARKANSAS Alabama 1.5
Sept 23 BAYLOR Army 11
Sept 23 WESTERN MICHIGAN Temple 28
Sept 23 MISSISSIPPI Wake Forest 2.5
Sept 23 KANSAS South Florida 5.5
Sept 23 TEXAS A&amp;M Louisiana Tech 23.5
Sept 23 UAB Mississippi State 9.5
Sept 23 LSU Tulane 36
Sept 23 Utah SAN DIEGO STATE 6.5
Sept 23 BOISE STATE Hawaii 15
Sept 23 Notre Dame MICHIGAN STATE 3
Sept 23 USC ARIZONA U 22
Sept 23 Oklahoma State HOUSTON 1
Sept 23 OREGON STATE Idaho 23
Sept 23 OKLAHOMA Middle Tennessee State 29
Sept 23 MARYLAND Florida International 18.5
Sept 23 AKRON North Texas 17.5
Sept 23 SOUTH CAROLINA Florida Atlantic 29.5
Sept 23 NEBRASKA Troy 23
Sept 23 SMU Arkansas State 6

For complete NCAA football odds and World Series odds please visit MySportsbook.com