This Week in Golf - June 17th through June 20th

Golf Betting Lines

06/14/2010 - Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - UNITED STATES GOLF ASSOCIATION - UNITED STATES OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Pebble Beach, California - The major championship season continues this week as the best players in the world head to Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open.

Lucas Glover closed with a three-over 73 last year, but it was enough for a two-stroke win over Phil Mickelson, David Duval and Ricky Barnes. For Glover, it was his first major championship title and just second win on the PGA Tour.

He became just the sixth qualifier since 1960 to win the title. Glover was one stroke behind Barnes after 36 holes, and posted an even-par 70 in the third round to remain one back.

Barnes, the 2002 U.S. Amateur champion, struggled to a six-over 76 in the final round to fall into a share of second.

That quick recap doesn't include the biggest story of the week -- rain. The first round did not finish until Friday afternoon and pushed back the remaining three rounds.

After several lengthy delays, the final round got underway late on Sunday, but Glover and Barnes were only able to complete one hole of the final round before players were taken off the course due to darkness.

They shared a five-stroke lead when play resumed Monday morning, but Glover was not alone in the lead until he birdied the 16th hole.

Mickelson had two bogeys in the last four holes to end two back. Duval gained a share of the lead with three straight birdies on the back nine, but was done in by a bogey on No. 17.

Barnes stumbled to six bogeys in an eight-hole span on Monday and posted 12 bogeys over the final 30 holes after making only one over the first 42.

Glover sealed the win with back-to-back pars.

Tiger Woods was a dominating winner at Pebble Beach in 2000. He won by a record 15 strokes and was the only player to break par for the week.

Woods and Rocco Mediate staged an epic battle the last time the Open was in California two years ago at Torrey Pines. Mediate was given the final spot in the field this week despite losing a six-for-five playoff at his qualifying spot. He had been the first alternate, but was given the final spot when no one else claimed it via winning an event this past weekend.

With the Open returning to the West Coast, there will be plenty of prime time television coverage on the East Coast. Coverage runs from 1-10 p.m. (et) on Thursday and Friday with ESPN and NBC showing the action. NBC will be on air from 4:30-11 p.m. on Saturday and 3-9 p.m. on Sunday.

The PGA Tour heads back to the East Coast next week for the Travelers Championship, where Kenny Perry won last year.

LPGA TOUR

SHOPRITE LPGA CLASSIC, Seaview Resort (Bay Course), Galloway, New Jersey - After three years off the schedule, the ShopRite Classic returns to the Jersey shore this weekend.

The event is the second tournament in a five-week run for the LPGA. The final three events after the ShopRite include two majors, the LPGA Championship and the U.S. Women's Open.

The 54-hole event returns to the same spot on the schedule -- the week before the LPGA Championship -- as it was before it was left off the tour's slate.

In 2006, Seon Hwa Lee ran away from the field as she closed with an eight- under 63 to win by three strokes over Jeong Jang, Sherri Steinhauer and the now-retired Annika Sorenstam.

Sorenstam owns the tournament scoring record of 196, which she posted 1998 and 2005. She also won this title in 2002.

The event gets a boost this week with the return of Paula Creamer. In the first event of the season, Creamer lasted just one round as she continued to battle an injured thumb that she first hurt last year.

Creamer finally had surgery a few weeks later and this will be her first start since that surgery.

Golf Channel will broadcast action of all three rounds starting at 3 p.m. (et) on Friday and Sunday and at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Next week, the tour heads to New York for the LPGA Championship, which will be contested at Locus Hill Country Club for the first time. Anna Nordqvist is slated to defend the title she won last year at Bulle Rock.

EUROPEAN TOUR

SAINT-OMER OPEN, Aa Saint Omer Golf Club, Lumbres, France - With the best players in the world at Pebble Beach this week, the European Tour offers a co- sanctioned event with its Challenge Tour.

The field is not completely without star power as former European Ryder Cuppers Peter Baker and Joakim Backstrom will tee it up this week, as will Raphael Jacquelin, the highest-ranked player in the field at world No. 154.

Christian Nilsson, who won the title last year and was the runner-up in 2008, is not in the field this week. However, five former champions -- David Dixon, Carl Suneson, Cesar Monasterio, Joakim Backstrom and Jose-Filipe Lima -- are competing.

Robert Dinwiddie, who sits atop the Challenge Tour money list, has made the cut in three of his five European Tour starts this season. His best finish came in his last start when he tied for 13th at the Iberdrola Open Cala Millor Mallorca.

There is no television coverage this week.

The European Tour returns to action in Munich, Germany, next week with the BMW International Open, where Nick Dougherty held off Rafa Echenique by a single stroke last year.

NATIONWIDE TOUR

FORT SMITH CLASSIC, Hardscrabble Country Club, Fort Smith, Arkansas - The Nationwide Tour gets a boost from local favorite John Daly this week.

The two-time major champion is making his first Nationwide Tour start since February 1991. Before joining the PGA Tour, Daly did win the 1990 Utah Classic, when the circuit was known as the Ben Hogan Tour.

Along with Daly, defending champion Jason Enloe will also be at Hardscrabble Country Club to defend his title. Enloe closed with a five-under 65 to join Chris Tidland at 15-under 265.

They headed to a playoff, where Enloe made par on the first extra hole to claim victory. No player on the Nationwide Tour has won the same event in back-to-back years.

The Nationwide Tour heads south of the border next week for the Mexico Open, where Troy Merritt was victorious last year.