That was the weekend that was

Football: three of big four win
Premier League football returned with William Hill predicting over £2.5 billion would be gambled this season. A slice of that money would have been riding on a Manchester United home win but punters were left disappointed as they failed to beat 10-man Reading and lost Wayne Rooney to a broken foot in the process. Elsewhere Arsenal angered Fulham boss Lawrie Sanchez with their 'diving' but won courtesy of two late goals. Also scoring late was Steven Gerrard as Liverpool beat Aston Villa 2-1 and Chelsea showed an attacking spirit that had been lacking last season to see off  Birmingham 3-2. Sunderland produced the shock of the day to beat Spurs and there were also wins for Newcastle, Blackburn and Manchester City.

Golf: Lucky 13th for Woods
The world's No 1 golfer preserved his record of always winning when leading going into the final round when he took the last major of the year - the USPGA - at Southern Hills. Woods led by three shots at the start of day four and despite strong challenges from Ernie Els and Woody Austin he held on to win by two shots to take his 13th Major and first since becoming a dad.

Rugby Union: French kiss goodbye to England's hopes
Brian Ashton's side managed to dominate possession with 65% but highlighted bigger problems by failing to know what to do with the ball. All attacks were snuffed out by a disciplined French defence meaning England relied on the boot of Olly Barkley and a drop goal from Andy Gomarsall for their points. The visitors meanwhile gave a masterclass in taking their chances and scored two tries, the last a fine solo effort from No 8 Sebastien Chabal, to win 21-15. 

Our bets
The good: Our editor needed to do something to restore our faith in his rugby knowledge and he made a 5.5 point gain by backing les bleus to win at Twickenham by 6-10 points.

We were on target again to the tune of a 3.75 point gain when we predicted that the opening game of the Premier League season between Sunderland and Spurs would be a close affair with 0 or 1 goals in the match.

The bad: Not a good day to back Wayne Rooney to be the first goalscorer as although he went close we ended up losing 1pt as he limped off at half-time.

The ugly: here at bettingchoice we are very fair - when things go right we offer praise but when they go wrong, as they did for golf tipster Richard Aikman with his USPGA tips, we feel duty bound to highlight them. Rich was searching for a hat-trick after backing winners at the Bridgestone Invitational and the European Open but he was left empty-handed after both his tips - Jim Furyk and Justin Rose - failed to challenge Woods for the title. In fact Furyk had the weekend off after missing the cut...

The week ahead
Football: Look out for our betting advice this week on all things football as Liverpool and Arsenal compete in Champions League qualifiers and the Premier League reaches its second week.

Golf: Some big names make up the field at the Scandinavian Masters as the battle for Order of Merit points resumes.

Rugby: England travel to Marseilles to take on France in their last warm-up game ahead of the World Cup. Can they avenge their defeat at Twickenham as the squad play for a starting place against USA in September's tournament?

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