Former PGA Tour winner Pate leads Bogota Open

Golf Betting Lines

03/06/2010 - Bogota, Colombia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Former PGA Tour winner Steve Pate had a five-under 66 Saturday to take a two-shot lead after three rounds of the Nationwide Tour's Bogota Open.

The 48-year-old Pate birdied five of his last 11 holes to post an 11-under 202 and distance himself from a pack of players at the top of the leaderboard.

Tag Ridings, a leader after both of the first two rounds, had a one-under 70 and dropped into second place at nine-under 204.

Three players shared third place at eight-under 205, including Zack Miller, who produced the low round of the day with a six-under 65. Aaron Watkins (67) and William McGirt (70) were also at 205.

McGirt held sway over the field for much of the day. He took a two-shot lead with a pair of early birdies and remained on top of the leaderboard until a bogey at the 13th.

While McGirt fizzled on the back nine, Pate thrived.

Back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth holes got him within a shot of the lead, but he didn't grab a piece of first place until a birdie at the 13th.

Pate added two more birdies -- at the 16th and 18th holes -- to secure his two-shot lead.

If he can hold on through Sunday's final round, Pate will taste winning for the first time in more than a decade.

The two-time Ryder Cup selection won six times on the PGA Tour between 1987 and 1998. He might also have won the 1999 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic if not for David Duval's final-round 59.

"I have no idea what's going on," Pate joked. "I'm hitting it well. I'm not doing anything stupid."

Basically, Pate is playing it safe.

"Even though I have wedges in my hand I'm making sure it's on the green, short of the hole and trying to putt uphill as much as possible," he said. "It seems to be working out."

Pate made only one cut in four starts on the PGA Tour last year. He also missed the cut in most of his starts on the Nationwide Tour. In fact, he hasn't made more cuts than he's missed in any season since 2005, when he was 5-for-9 on the Nationwide Tour.

No one has to tell Pate he's in rare form. He knows how long it's been since he's had an opportunity this good. Now it's just a matter of holding on for the ride.

"I may go out and vomit all over myself tomorrow," Pate said, "but it's fun to be in this position."

NOTES: Pate shot a bogey-free 66 for the second day in a row...This is the first PGA Tour-sanctioned event in South America...Pate's best finish on the Nationwide Tour is a tie for fifth at the 2008 Mexico Open.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

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