Detroit, MI
Charlie Woods can’t measure up as U.S. Junior Amateur shifts to match play
Bloomfield Township — Charlie Woods’ round was long, and his exit was fast.
Woods, the 15-year-old son of Tiger Woods, struggled again Tuesday at Oakland Hills Country Club and missed the cut by a wide margin in his biggest tournament to date, the U.S. Junior Amateur.
Woods made two double-bogeys and a triple-bogey on his opening nine holes on the historic South Course, and posted a second-round 80 to finish the stroke-play portion of the United States Golf Association championship at 22 over par. He beat just 17 players in the 264-player field. Playing in front of the largest galleries on the course over his two days, including his famous father, who walked every step of the way over 36 holes, Woods missed the cut by 14 strokes. Tuesday’s round lasted more than 6 hours, because of a lengthy thunderstorm delay.
Following his round, Charlie Woods signed his scorecard and took photos with his playing partners, before jumping on the back of a waiting security cart, with Tiger Woods seated in the front. The cart, surrounding by more than a half-dozen police officers, peeled away and whisked the duo to their waiting SUV, which departed the parking lot within moments. Neither signed autographs nor spoke to the media, though they brought a lot of buzz to the tournament.
The tournament now moves into the match-play portion, starting Wednesday — though there’s work to do first. There will be a playoff in the morning, with 13 players competing for the final nine spots in the 64-player bracket. One of those players at 4 over par is Ann Arbor Skyline golfer Ieaun Jones.
Jones, 18, shot consecutive 72s, including Tuesday’s on the North Course, where he struck the well, but struggled on the greens. Jones missed a short birdie putt on No. 7, his 16th hole, but made a long one on No. 8, his 17th hole, to get inside the cut line for the playoff. The birdie on No. 8 snapped a string of nine consecutive pars.
“It was pretty frustrating, to be honest,” Jones said. “I had a lot of looks. I was hitting the ball great today. There’s not much you can do on the greens other than make the best strokes.
“I can definitely compete with the best. I hit it so good. And I was able to putt really poorly and still have a chance to make it tomorrow.
“We’ll see what happens.”
Making match play is most players’ goals entering the U.S. Junior Amateur, because from there, anything can happen.
The bracket will be finalized at the conclusion of the playoff, with the first round of match play set for Wednesday, two rounds Thursday, the quarterfinals and semifinals Friday, and the 36-hole championship match Saturday. The South Course will be used exclusively from here on out.
Jones is one of three Michigan men in the field, and the only one who can make mach play.
Lake Orion’s Connor Fox, 17, who go in by winning the Michigan Junior Amateur, finished 18 over par after a second-round 83 on the North Course that included a quadruple-bogey 9 on his second nine. With a dozen or more family members and friends watching, Fox didn’t play nearly as well as he wanted, but the Michigan State commitment learned a lot about what it takes to compete on his stage.
He also gets the memory of hitting the tournament’s first tee shot, Monday morning.
“I’ll remember that forever. I’ll never forget,” Fox said. “I’ve got four different angles of the video saved on my phone.”
Coldwater’s Ryker Ferguson, 18, who got into this week’s tournament as an alternate out of the qualifier at the Country Club of Lansing when another participant had to pull out because of the global travel issues, finished 30 over after a second-round 81 on the North Course.
To start the week, there were seven players in the field who were ranked in the top 120 of the world golf amateur rankings, and six of them advanced to match play.
That includes medalist Blades Brown (No. 103), a 16-year-old from Tennessee who was 6 under in stroke play, shooting a 2-under 68 on the South Course on Tuesday. Runner-up was Tyler Watts (No. 119), a 15-year-old from Alabama, who was at 5 under after a par-70 on the South. Also making the cut was 15-year-old Florida phenom Miles Russell (No. 116), the little left-hander who competed in last month’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, the PGA Tour stop in Detroit. Russell was 1 under after a 1-over 71 on the South Course, where he began his round with four birdies in his first five holes.
Not ranked is Mack Edwards, who tied for third in stroke play at 4 under, after a 70 on the North Course on Tuesday. The North Carolina 17-year-old, who opened Tuesday’s round with a bogey and double-bogey before righting the ship, might’ve surprised everyone but himself.
“Look, sure, I haven’t had the resume of Blades Brown and Tyler Watts, but hopefully this is the start of something good,” said Edwards, who walked off his final hole Tuesday afternoon with a big fist-pump after making a 5-footer for par. “I feel like I’ve played some pretty solid golf in the recent months, and it’s feeling good now. And if I can go out and play like this on these golf courses, it’s definitely a confidence boost.”
Edwards tied for third at 4 under with New Zealand’s Joshua Bai, 18, who was last year’s runner-up.
Also at 4 under was Lev Grinberg, a 16-year-old who was born in Ukraine, and Chase Kyes, an 18-year-old from Alabama who made the Sweet 16 in last year’s U.S. Amateur, before losing to eventual champion Bryan Kim.
The 2023 experience or Kyes certainly helped prepare him for the pressure cooker that is major-championship golf, but it probably still didn’t prepare him for what he’s experienced this week. He made match play while playing his stroke-play rounds with Charlie Woods, and in front of Tiger Woods and a big, old gallery.
“I’ve never played in front of a crowd like that before,” said Kyes, whose dad, Ryan, was Mr. Baseball in Michigan in 1997, posing a .551 career batting average at Detroit Country Day. “But it was a great experience. Good for my future.”
tpaul@detroitnews.com
@tonypaul1984
Detroit, MI
‘We hate the Lions’: Why sportsbooks are scared of a Detroit Super Bowl win
The Detroit Lions’ Week 11 52-6 dismantling of the Jacksonville Jaguars, combined with the Kansas City Chiefs’ 30-21 loss to the Buffalo Bills, vaulted the Lions into a unique position. For one of the few times in the history of the franchise, they became the consensus Super Bowl favorite at around +325 odds. In fact, by the account of several oddsmakers, it’s likely the first time the team has been favored to win the Super Bowl in 70 years. After all, the Lions have only made the playoffs 18 times since 1935.
That status has also positioned the Lions as the team most likely to keep those oddsmakers up at night after roaring to a 9-1 start this season. After last season’s inspiring run to the NFC Championship Game, the money has poured in on Detroit, which could cost sportsbooks significantly in payouts to bettors if the Lions were to win Super Bowl LIX.
“They’re by far our biggest Super Bowl liability and pretty much our only one at this point,” BetMGM trader Christian Cipollini told The Athletic. “Anything inside of 10-1 [odds] we don’t tend to build crazy liability that we’re worried about, but everybody has been on them. At this point, the Lions winning the Super Bowl would be a huge problem for us. If I could remove them from futures, I would.”
Adding to the growing liability on Detroit, fans tend to favor their home team with their wagers, and Michigan is one of the 38 states with legal sports betting (and the 10th-largest by population). The Lions opened the offseason in the 12-1 range to win the Super Bowl, but those odds have dropped significantly to just over 3-1 since. The betting money has followed that success.
“The betting momentum in favor of Detroit started prior to the season as they attracted a large number of Super Bowl future wagers,” said Brad Bryant, general manager at Mohegan Sun FanDuel Sportsbook, noting the Lions have been one of the Mohegan Sun’s “top-wagered teams on a weekly basis.”
At DraftKings Sportsbook, 31 percent of bets (No. 1 among NFL teams) and 31 percent of total dollars wagered (also No. 1) were on Detroit to win the Super Bowl earlier this week. The Lions are third in ticket count for Super Bowl futures at The Borgata in Atlantic City, where sportsbook director Thomas Gable noted Detroit has the most total dollars wagered to win the Super Bowl “by a pretty good stretch.”
“We hate the Lions,” Cipollini said, adding that the number of bets on the Lions is the first thing that he looks at every week. “I haven’t seen something like this in my time at BetMGM. Every single week, they’re our worst team. I think something like 95 percent of the bets last week [vs. the Jaguars] were on Detroit.”
With an NFC-best 9-1 record and winners of eight straight games, the Lions have vaulted from a top-five preseason power rating among oddsmakers to the consensus No. 1 team in the league. Out of 10 oddsmakers The Athletic polled, nine of them had the Lions as their highest power-rated team. (One had the Baltimore Ravens slightly above Detroit.)
The Lions also have the NFL’s best record at 8-2 against the spread, and bettors placing a moneyline wager or standard six-point teaser on Detroit have cashed that ticket in nine of 10 weeks.
And the action isn’t only in Michigan. Bookmakers noted the increased interest in betting the Lions at several sportsbooks from Mississippi to Las Vegas.
“That’s 100 percent true,” Ed Salmons, vice president of risk at The Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, said. “Weekly bets on Lions point spread, moneyline, teasers and game over and Lions team total over.”
Several other oddsmakers agreed, noting they’d seen an increase in betting on the Lions compared to previous seasons and that the public was regularly tossing Detroit in moneyline parlays and teasers. In the upcoming Week 12, Lions at -7.5 is currently the most-bet Week 12 side by both total money and tickets at BetMGM and DraftKings.
“[The public] will include Detroit in parlays and tease the spread down,” The Borgata’s Gable noted. “We opened [with] the Lions -8 against the Colts [in Week 12] and took respected money right away against the Colts. Now it’s 7.5.”
It’s easy to see why the public is in love: The Lions are a ridiculous 41-16 ATS (72 percent) in their past 57 games since the middle of the 2021 season. That includes a 22-8 ATS mark in the first half since the start of last season. Double-digit favorites in the NFL are 5-0 ATS this season, and the Lions are responsible for two of those covers — the 52-6 laugher vs. Jacksonville as a 14-point favorite and a 52-14 demolition of the Tennessee Titans as a 13-point favorite. It’s one thing to cover a 14-point spread; it’s another to have it be a rocking-chair win.
Looking ahead to a potential title matchup, when six oddsmakers were asked to make a spread on a Chiefs-Lions matchup on a neutral field, their responses were:
Lions -4.5
Lions -2.5
Lions -2
Lions -1.5
Lions -1
And one pick-em
The oddsmaker framing the matchup as a pick-em explained, “One concern I have is the coach. When you talk about Detroit vs. the Chiefs and Andy Reid, there’s a big difference there. And the Lions haven’t gotten [to the Super Bowl] yet. The Chiefs have been there.”
As the Lions keep steamrolling through teams, oddsmakers are certainly rooting against a Detroit Super Bowl victory. And history might be on their side.
Several of the oddsmakers contacted by The Athletic, who have worked in sports betting since the 1970s, could not recall a time when Detroit had been favored to win pro football’s championship. Per Pro Football Reference, however, the Lions were favored by three points 70 years ago in the 1954 championship game against the Cleveland Browns … who obliterated the favorites by a score of 56-10.
(Top Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
Detroit, MI
Downtown Detroit puts final touches on Christmas tree lighting ceremony
(CBS DETROIT) – Downtown Detroit will begin to be a lot brighter just in time for the Christmas season. The city will host its 21st annual Christmas tree lighting ceremony on Friday.
“A lot of what we’re focused on is making sure is not only is it a great family event for all ages, but truly a safe event,” said Eric Larson, CEO of Downtown Detroit Partnership.
The countdown is on, and the final decorations are being staged. The city expects at least 50,000 people to travel downtown to witness the spectacle.
“Pack your patience because, as you see, streets are blocked off now, they’ll be blocked off then, so you’re going to park out a little way,” Wayne County Sheriff Raphael Washington said.
Safety is a big priority and over 100 officers will be out and about. In past years, city leaders say minors have had habits of attending, and this year, they plan to crack down and even ticket parents who aren’t supervising their kids.
“Minors that are 15 and under. They need supervision at 8 p.m.; if you are 16 or 17 years old, your supervision starts at 11 pm,” Interim Police Chief Todd Bettison said.
This will mark Bettision’s first time hosting a major event since becoming interim chief. He says he’s ready, and although many officers will be downtown, other parts of the city won’t be neglected.
“We ensure that the neighborhoods are covered and that its adequate officers are still in the neighborhood of the city so that those runs are being answered. I’m not neglecting anything we have it all covered,” Bettison said.
Campus Martius and all surrounding areas will be packed. With an event of such size. CBS News Detroit learned that DPD, the Wayne County Sheriff’s Office and Michigan State Police partnered to keep the area safe.
“Everyone in law enforcement agencies are short in manpower. It’s important that we come together as one band,” Washington said.
Authorities say it’s a gun-free zone, and metal detectors will be out checking people. By the night’s end, Downtown Detroit will be lit up with nearly 1 million Christmas lights.
Detroit, MI
Michigan football flips Belleville QB Bryce Underwood from LSU
(CBS DETROIT) – The Michigan Wolverines are bringing in a new force to the football team after flipping Belleville High School quarterback Bryce Underwood from LSU.
Coach Sherrone Moore confirmed the news on X, saying, “YES SIR! The Best players in Michigan go to Michigan.” The Wolverines reshared Moore’s post with a GIF of the coach celebrating at a game.
The No.1 recruit in the class of 2025 had been committed to the LSU Tigers since January 2024.
The flip comes as the Wolverines struggled to maintain a leading quarterback. In October, quarterback Jack Tuttle announced he was retiring to focus on his health.
This story is developing.
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