Golf Rantings: February Madness!

Golf Betting Lines

02/20/2012 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Despite the efforts of Golf Channel and its bracket announcement special Monday morning, the WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship pales a wee bit in comparison to the Selection Sunday you'll see in a little less than three weeks.

Yet, this is the strongest field to date on the PGA Tour schedule this season. The top 64 players in the world rankings are eligible and only two passed on the event.

Phil Mickelson, who would go in as the favorite based on his play two Sundays ago at Pebble Beach and a playoff loss at the Northern Trust Open, scheduled a family vacation for this week. That's code for "I don't really want to play in this event that much."

Paul Casey is still hurt and he's a two-time runner-up in this championship. He'd be a contender, but his absence won't be missed too terribly.

The field is set. The matches are penciled in, barring any other withdrawals, so let's analyze the brackets, found at http://www.sportsnetwork.com/merge/tsnform.aspx?c=sportsnetwork&page=golf- e/stat/MATCHPLAY-BRACKET.htm

BOBBY JONES BRACKET

Luke Donald comes into the tournament as the No. 1 overall seed and the defending champion. He couldn't be overjoyed to draw Ernie Els in the first round, but Els' record in this event borders on pathetic, so Donald should be a safe bet to advance past him.

Otherwise, this features some interesting names and perhaps the most interesting first-round match.

Dustin Johnson is the third seed and will meet Jim Furyk in Round 1. Johnson hits it a mile. Furyk will give up about 35 yards off the tee, but has the pedigree and mettle to take down Johnson, who showed serious short game problems Sunday at Riviera.

Thomas Bjorn is a fascinating name. He knocked out Tiger Woods last year and could make some waves.

This bracket will come down to Donald and upset special Bo Van Pelt. He's the No. 7 seed and will advance with wins over Mark Wilson and Johnson.

Donald will overcome all. His match-game record in both this event and the Ryder Cup is sterling and, frankly, this bracket doesn't do much for me. Johnson is shaky in clutch moments and No. 2 seed Adam Scott has missed a lot of time after having his tonsils taken out.

BEN HOGAN BRACKET

Martin Kaymer is the top seed and last year's runner-up. His game hasn't been sharp, but the biggest potential problem for the German is if it's chilly out and he has to wear a preposterous outfit (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/- cZPiekO71iM/TWlDs_o-LMI/AAAAAAAADqc/G_XQkzKiy-c/s1600/109453888%2Bkaymer.jpg).

Kaymer didn't get a great first-round draw, either. Greg Chalmers won twice in Australia at the end of last year and will get a ton of upset buzz, but Kaymer should be all right.

More than anything in this format, you'll see players who have done well continue to do well. Kaymer is one of them.

He will face Bubba Watson, the No. 5 seed, in the third round and Watson will take him down. Watson and Ben Crane will take longer than my sophomore year of college to complete their first-round match, but Bubba is truly one of the world's best right now. Like Kaymer, he has a strong record in this event and he will represent the Hogan bracket in the semifinals.

Graeme McDowell is a weak No. 3 and could meet Hunter Mahan in the second round if they both win. That would be a rematch of the decisive Ryder Cup bout from two years ago, when McDowell holed a long birdie putt to win 16, then watched Mahan barely make contact with the ball on 17.

I'm going with Mahan to come out of the lower half. No. 2 seed Steve Stricker gives pause for concern. Yes, he won the season opener in Hawaii, but with a balky neck, can he endure a possible six matches in five days?

GARY PLAYER BRACKET

Rory McIlroy is the No. 1 seed and this bracket is sneaky good. Geoff Ogilvy is the No. 12 seed, but a two-time winner. Ian Poulter is No. 6 and won two years ago. Keegan Bradley just showed a ton of marbles in his playoff loss to Bill Haas at Riviera, but the man who will come out of this bracket is the fourth seed.

Sergio Garcia was the best player on the course Sunday at the Northern Trust Open. He will have a tough time against his fellow Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez in the first round, but Garcia is in great form.

He'll have a tough paper route to get to the semifinals. Garcia will have to eliminate The Mechanic, either Bradley or Ogilvy, then McIlroy. Poulter will be waiting at the bottom half, but Garcia gets by.

SAM SNEAD BRACKET

And now we get to Tiger Woods.

He is a three-time winner, but has been prone to some hiccups in this tournament. There was Bjorn last year, and anyone remember him losing to Peter O'Malley in his prime?

Woods drew Gonzalo-Fernandez Castano on Wednesday. He's due respect, but Woods will walk by that one. A match-up with Nick Watney or Woods' good buddy Darren Clarke looms. Watney is perhaps the most under-appreciated great player in the game. He will add his name to the list that bested Woods.

This is a great chance for Tiger this week. His match-up singles record since the scandal has been overall very impressive, aside from the Bjorn bumbling of 2011.

He trounced Francesco Molinari at the 2010 Ryder Cup and hammered Aaron Baddeley at the past Presidents Cup. Woods doesn't have to be spectacular to win in match play. He just has to do enough. Sounds foolish, but if Woods gets by Watney (and I don't think he will), he could go on to the semifinals.

Lee Westwood is No. 1 in the bracket, but has a shaky 7-11 record.

Haas is at the bottom of the draw with No. 2 Webb Simpson. My hunch is Watney knocks off No. 10 Martin Laird to get into the last four. Laird hits it a ton and is just the type of unheralded player who always does well in this thing.

SEMIFINALS

Watson and Donald should be a fantastic blend of opposites, not unlike a fine bowl of chocolate and vanilla ice cream. Donald will advance, but he's not going to win it all.

That honor will belong to Garcia.

Very quietly, Garcia has been one of the top five players in the sport since last fall. He won twice in his home soil at the end of last year's European Tour campaign.

This year, he has a pair of top-fives in only three starts. Garcia's final- round 64 at Riviera sealed the deal.

Sergio Garcia, 2012 WGC-Accenture Match Play Champion.

RANDOM THOUGHTS

- The drama at the Northern Trust Open proved that golf can survive without Woods in a prominent role. It will just need Mickelson.

- There was a fascinating Twitter dust-up about Keegan Bradley's constant spitting Sunday. It shouldn't have taken away from the spectacular golf, and it's hard to tell a guy what to do in the pressure of back-nine Sunday golf, but watching a guy spit for five hours can be a little stomach-turning. My hunch is someone says something casually to Bradley that golf courses aren't his private spittoons.

- Movie moment - Oscar picks - "The Artist" for Best Picture, Clooney in the tightest race of the night for Best Actor, Viola Davis for Best Actress, Christopher Plummer for Best Supporting Actor for a movie not one person you know has ever seen and Octavia Spencer for Best Supporting Actress, although I wouldn't count out Melissa McCarthy. Call it the Marisa Tomei theory.

- And, finally, the greatest thing that I have ever, or will ever write is that my son Lukas Blee Brighters was born last Friday. Golf is one of those transcendent things that unite fathers and sons. It did with my father and golf is certainly one of those things I most look forward to teaching my son. Then I'll get him lessons.

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Police report: Terrell Owens hospitalized after attempt

Terrell Owens will address the media at a 3:15 p.m. ET news conference outside the Cowboys' practice facility after an internal police report indicated he tried to kill himself by overdosing on prescription pain medication, even putting two more pills into his mouth after a friend intervened.

The Dallas police report said Owens was asked by rescue workers "if he was attempting to harm himself, at which time [he] stated, 'Yes.'"

Owens left the hospital late Wednesday morning, giving reporters a "thumbs up" but making no comment as he was driven away in an SUV.

Michael Irvin said that Owens denied he attempted suicide and said he was rushed to the hospital as a result of an adverse reaction to medication. And a source close to Owens told Michael A. Smith that Owens wasn't attempting suicide.

NFL Network analyst Deion Sanders said he spoke with Owens shortly before his release from the hospital and that Owens was in good spirits.

"The fact that it has been reported a suicide attempt, he's laughed at that notion. It was a case that medication that was taken wasn't accepted well in his system with the other vitamins he's on," Sanders said.

The series of events began a little before 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Owens' publicist, Kim Etheredge, said she was at Owens' home when he took pain medicine for his broken right hand. Concerned by how he began acting, Etheredge said in various interviews Wednesday with Dallas-area media that she called 911. Owens was taken to a hospital, with Etheredge saying it was an allergic reaction to the medicine.

But early Wednesday, several media outlets received a police report -- that had yet to be released by the authorities -- saying Owens had attempted suicide by overdosing on the painkillers, even putting two more pills into his mouth after an unidentified friend intervened.

The police document, first reported by WFAA-TV, said Owens was asked by rescue workers "if he was attempting to harm himself, at which time [he] stated, 'Yes.'"

When officially released by police, about half the document was blacked out, including the phrases "attempting suicide by prescription pain medication" and "a drug overdose," as well as the details of Owens having two pills pried from his mouth and Owens saying "Yes" when asked if he intended to harm himself.

Etheredge, who said she was the friend cited in the police document, told Dallas-area media Wednesday that the police got the story wrong.

The tape of the 911 call could help clear things up. The Associated Press filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get its contents, but fire department officials said it would not be available before late Wednesday.

The police report said the 32-year-old Owens told his friend "that he was depressed." Details of the police report were first reported by WFAA-TV.

The friend, who is not identified in the report, "noticed that [his] prescription pain medication was empty and observed [Owens] putting two pills in his mouth," the police report said.

Using her fingers, the friend attempted to pry them out of Owens' mouth. Owens told police he had taken only five of the 40 pain pills in the bottle he'd emptied before the incident.

Etheredge told the Star-Telegram that Owens was "fine."

Etheredge said she called 911 because Owens was groggy and lethargic. After taking some supplements "it kicked in a reaction" with the painkillers, she told the Star-Telegram.

"Here's a person whose body is so clean, it really had a negative reaction to the medication and supplements he was taking," Etheridge told The Morning News. "Thank goodness someone was there to call an ambulance."

Police Lt. Rick Watson said he could only confirm that paramedics called police to say they were taking Owens to the hospital. He said no more details would come from the police because no laws were broken.

It is not a crime in Texas for a person to attempt suicide.

"This is a high-profile person. We looked into it and we determined it is not a criminal offense," Watson said. "This a medical type of situation that occurred."

Watson and fire department spokesman Joel Lavender cited privacy laws for the lack of information they could provide. Lavender said more details could come from the 911 call. The Associated Press filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act to get the contents of the call.

"Let's just look at the tape, review the tape," Lavender said. "I'll give you an honest answer once I know something."

At the police news conference, Watson released a version of the police narrative with certain sections blacked out. The full report was obtained by several news outlets and reported first by WFAA. The AP received the full version from WFAA.

According to the police report, Dallas Fire and Rescue was called regarding someone "attempting suicide by prescription pain medication." Officers arrived to find Owens being stabilized by ambulance workers, who then took him to Baylor University Medical Center.

Owens was hospitalized late Tuesday because of what his publicist said was an allergic reaction to pain medicine he was taking for a broken hand. Doctors reportedly tried to induce vomiting.

Owens, one of the league's top receivers during his 11-year NFL career, is best known for wild stunts on the field and other publicity-seeking antics off it.

When the Cowboys signed him to a $25 million, three-year deal in March, they said their background checks indicated no red flags. In fact, team consultant Calvin Hill -- who mostly deals with troubled players -- said during training camp that his department was not involved with Owens because he didn't have a history of those kinds of problems.

He missed most of training camp, and three of four preseason games, because of a hamstring injury. He was late for work during his recovery and was fined for it, but Owens laughed it off, saying he overslept. He said it had happened before, though not with Dallas, and would probably happen again.

Owens broke the bone leading to his right ring finger during a game a week ago Sunday. The next day, doctors screwed in a plate so the bone could heal without fear of further damage. Cowboys coach Bill Parcells said last week that the pain medicine made Owens ill.

Owens had not practiced since the injury, but because Dallas had a bye this past weekend he did not miss a game. He was expected to practice Wednesday, and Parcells had said there was a chance Owens could play Sunday against Tennessee.

Owens had been especially looking forward to the Cowboys' game after that -- Oct. 8, in Philadelphia, against the team that dumped him midway through last season only months after he helped them nearly win the Super Bowl.

Owens was seen laughing and joking on the practice field Tuesday morning. He chatted briefly with reporters in the locker room in the afternoon and seemed fine. A 2-inch scar on the top of his hand was puffy but not wrapped, and he said the swelling was doing down.

While in the locker room, he took a pill from a white paper bag and looked at another medicine bottle that was in the bag. He also called a business partner about a towel-wrap venture they're starting and joked to TV cameras that he wasn't talking until Wednesday and it was only Tuesday.

"My little boy knows better than that," he said, laughing, as he plopped onto a sofa in the middle of the locker room.

Also Tuesday, Owens was involved in launching a national campaign for the National Alliance to End Abuse, an organization aimed at helping at-risk youngsters. He appeared at a high school Tuesday morning and was scheduled to visit others but had to cancel because of changes in the team's practice schedule.

Owens has played two games for the Cowboys, catching nine passes for 99 yards and a touchdown. For updated football betting lines and Dallas Cowboy Superbowl odds visit online sportsbook MySportsbook.com

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