Sabbatini and Marino Tied After Round 1 of BMW Championship

Sports Betting News - September 11th, 2009 - Written by Scott

Yesterday's first round of the BMW Championship could possibly make Greg Norman's decision of leaving Rory Sabbatini off of the President Cup team seem even more unusual. Sabbatini appeared to be a lock to make the team after winning the Byron Nelson in the spring. This all changed after Y.E. Yang came back from behind to beat Tiger Woods in the PGA Championship and knock Sabbatini out of the Top 10.

"If I'd been playing well over the past couple weeks and didn't get picked, I might have something to complain about," said Sabbatini, who has missed four cuts in his last eight starts and has not finished in the top 30 since winning in Dallas. "But you know what? The situation is such ... I'm here this week. I'm going to focus on this."

After the first round of the BMW Championship, Sabbatini is tied for the lead with Steve Marino where they both shot a 5-under 66 on Thursday. Sabbatini had seven birdies on the day. Bo Van Pelt and Marc Leishman both shot 4-under 67 rounds to put them tied at second. Woods, is at 3-under is tied for third with five others. The winner of last week's Deutsche Bank Championship and the leader in FedEx Cup points, Steve Stricker, finished 1-over for the day with a round of 72. Heath Slocum, who is in third place in FedEx Cup points behind Tiger, shot a 1-under 70. Only 30 players out of the 70 in this weekend's field will advance to the Tour Championship in 2 weeks to compete for the $10 million prize.

The weather was very welcoming to the players on Thursday with mostly sunny skies and a light wind. It was not so friendly when this tournament was played at Cog Hill two years ago, where golfers played in rainy conditions and a soggy course. Despite those conditions, Woods won the tournament with a score of 22-under. As usual, Woods is right where he needs to be after a few par saving and close birdie putts.

"I think anything under par is a really good score," Woods said. "Usually, it takes a little bit before the guys get accustomed to what the scoring is going to be. The whole idea is, I think more than anything, the guys are trying to get accustomed to where to miss the golf ball, because the misses are so different than what they used to be."

The scoring should remain low this weekend in comparison to the last time the BMW Championship was played here two years ago. The course was remodeled last year and now plays much tougher. It is quite a bit longer and the bunkers are much deeper so scores like Woods' two years ago will not be seen this year.

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