Diaz leads Canadian Women's Open

Golf Betting Lines

08/17/2007 - Edmonton, AB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Laura Diaz shot a six-under 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead of the Canadian Women's Open at Royal Mayfair Golf & Country Club.

Kelli Kuehne and Kyeong Bae are knotted in second place at five-under 66.

Lorena Ochoa, who won her first major title two weeks ago at the Women's British Open, posted a one-under-par 70 and is part of a group tied for 17th place.

"It was kind of an up-and-down round, but I'm pleased I finished in the red numbers," said the world No. 1. "And I think that's all that matters, to be in a good position for the rest of the tournament."

Michelle Wie is also in the field this week, but did not fare as well as Ochoa on Thursday. Her struggles continued in the first round with a four-over 75 as she is part of a group tied for 106th.

"I was very frustrated because I felt like I had two bad holes," said Wie, who double-bogeyed nine and 12. "I played very consistently aside from that and made a lot of good par saves. I've just got to go out tomorrow and shoot a really low score."

She will need one to catch Diaz, who finished shared second last week at the Scandinavian TPC.

Diaz began on the back nine Thursday and immediately rolled in a 12-footer for birdie at 10. She parred her next five, but got to two-under with a great six- iron approach to nine feet at the 16th.

Diaz continued to play solid, but unspectacular golf around the turn. She played a nine-iron to 35 feet at the first, but made the unlikely birdie opportunity.

It was late on her second nine that Diaz moved atop the leaderboard.

At the par-four sixth, Diaz hit a pitching-wedge to nine feet to set up birdie. One hole later, she used an eight-iron from 158 yards out to knock it to 15 feet. Diaz made that birdie putt then hit a spectacular four-iron to six feet to polish off three birdies in a row.

"I had a lot of opportunities," said Diaz. "I had a lot of putts that were about 15 feet, and I managed to make the majority of them. And then I had a couple six-footers that I was able to make, as well."

Diaz took time off to become a mother and her game took a while to return to form. Recently, her play has been solid with a tie for third at the Jamie Farr, a tie for ninth at the Match Play and a tie for 12th at the Evian Masters.

Diaz led for two rounds last week at Annika Sorenstam's event before finishing behind Catriona Matthew.

"I'm happy with how I'm playing right now," said Diaz. "I didn't play well at the British. Even though I didn't play well there, I didn't leave there saying, well, I'm playing awful. I still left there saying, I'm hitting it good, I'm putting it good."

Heather Young, Jeong Jang, Meena Lee, Shi Hyun Ahn, Ya-Ni Tseng and Jill McGill are tied for fourth place at minus-four. Paula Creamer, Juli Inkster, Wendy Ward and Kim Hall are knotted in 10th at three-under 68.

Defending champion and reigning U.S. Women's Open winner Cristie Kerr shot a two-under 69 and is tied for 14th.

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The NFL preseason is approaching. Time for players, coaches and teams to turn over a new leaf. General managers have hired some new coaches, while coaches have added some offensive and defensive assistants to try and improve things. Here’s a look at some changes to look for in the preseason.

New York Jets: The Jets were one of the surprise teams in the NFL last season, making the playoffs under hard-driving first-year coach Eric Mangini. Mangini rebuilt the offensive line with rookies D'Brickashaw Ferguson (the No. 4 pick in the 2007 Draft) and Ohio State center (the 29th pick in the first round). This season he upgraded the defense with rookie linebacker David Harris (Michigan) while the secondary picked up a much needed top-notch corner in Pitt CB Darrelle Revis (No. 14 overall).

The Jets have added balance to the offense for QB Chad Pennington with RB Thomas Jones, essentially stolen from the Bears. He will upgrade a New York ground game that was 20th in rushing with a weak 3.5 yards per carry. They have their first true feature back since Curtis Martin. Offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer prefers ball control, like his father Marty. In preseason, behind Pennington you’ll see second-year QB Kellen Clemens and mobile newcomer QB Marques Tuiasosopo.

Jacksonville Jaguars: The heat is on Jack Del Rio in Jacksonville as the Jaguars flopped last season despite a ton of talent. Keep in mind that under Del Rio the Jaguars have been outstanding in preseason with a 12-4 SU, 11-5 ATS August mark. online football betting Their defense is loaded, it’s the offense that has been stuck in first gear the last few years.

Enter a new offensive coordinator in Dirk Koetter, the former Boise State and Arizona State pass-happy coach. He will try and upgrade a passing game that ranked 24th last season. Del Rio has criticized wide receivers and Matt Jones this summer, both of whom have battled injuries. It will be interesting to watch the “new” Jaguars passing game in preseason.

Arizona Cardinals: Word out of Arizona is that the players like new coach Ken Whisenhunt, who was the Steelers offensive coordinator last year. We think of Arizona as all-passing because their running game has been awful of late because of a poor offensive line. However, keep an eye on the running game in preseason as they’ve made a lot of changes.

The new coach brings in Russ Grimm to coach the offensive line (Grimm did a marvelous job building the Steelers line). They took Penn State OT Levi Jones in the first round and signed two offensive linemen, Mike Gandy and Al Johnson, to provide depth. Reggie Wells was moved from right tackle to left guard and they want more speed out of the offensive line for pulling and traps, a Pittsburgh staple under Bill Cowher.

Atlanta Falcons: While all the attention has been focused on QB Mike Vick’s off-field problems, new coach Bobby Petrino is revamping the Falcons from an all-running team to a more balanced one. Petrino likes the experience of backup QB Joey Harrington and he has veteran backup Chris Redman, who used to play for Petrino at Louisville and knows his offenses better than anyone. Petrino wants Vick to be more of a pocket passer.

The addition of FB Ovie Mughelli is a sign Petrino wants a power rushing attack behind a physical fullback and newcomer WR Joe Horn should upgrade what was a below average wideout corps. Petrino is changing their old zone-blocking scheme to a more traditional in-line blocking scheme and the offensive line is bigger. Rookie DE Jamaal Anderson was grabbed in the first round and the secondary got younger with former Auburn cornerback David Irons, who the Falcons think was a steal as a sixth-round pick.

Cleveland Browns: The 2007 Browns look like a double-edged sword. There was the excitement of the offseason, trading for RB Jamel Lewis, upgrading the offensive line with Wisconsin’s Joe Thomas (the No. 2 pick in the draft) and free agent LG Eric Steinbach, then trading for Notre Dame QB Brady Quinn when he fell to No. 22. GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel feel they have a talented, balanced offense with these new pieces, plus TE >Kellen Winslow and WR Braylon Edwards.

However, were these moves made in desperation? And were they foolish ones? The Browns gave up their 2008 first-round pick for Quinn and we all know QBs take time to develop. And even first-round QBs can be busts (Joey Harrington, Akili Smith). We also don’t know if the offensive line is that much improved (31st in rushing in 2007) and they did nothing to improve a defense that was awful against the run (142 yds pg allowed).

The Browns have a new offensive coordinator in Rob Chudzinski. This is a young offense and Quinn looked tentative, indecisive and inaccurate early in camp. Crennel will play Charlie Frye, Quinn and Derek Anderson in preseason. And there is a mixed bag for rookie QBs receiving significant starts: Tim Couch (14), Kerry Collins (13), Ben Roethlisberger (13), Vince Young (13), Joey Harrington (12), Matt Leinart (11) and Kyle Boller (nine). While all the focus will be on the Browns new-look offense, I’m more concerned with the defense.

Carolina Panthers: Coach Jon Fox loves the ground game, but Carolina has made some interesting changes for 2007. Fox fired offensive coordinator Dan Henning and brings in Jeff Davidson to run the offense. Davidson has brought in zone-blocking schemes to the Panther offense, a dramatic change for a system that's been built around a power-running style.

In zone-blocking, offensive linemen are responsible for blocking any defender who appears in their zone, instead of focusing on one defender. The Broncos and Falcons have had success with the system, which features smaller, more athletic offensive linemen and can create running lanes on the inside and outside. Keep an eye in preseason on how Carolina adjusts as it will take time to learn the system. Fox has been one of the top coaches in preseason, with a 15-5 SU, 12-7-1 ATS August record.

Dallas Cowboys: WR Terrell Owens is still here, but QB Drew Bledsoe and Bill Parcells are gone. New head coach Wade Phillips takes over, replacing Parcells. He ran the Chargers defense last season. Phillips was chosen by teary-eyed owner Jerry Jones partly because he is one of the best 3-4 coaches in football and the Cowboys have loaded up on players for that scheme.

Remember that Phillips was blitz-happy with the Chargers last season and early reports out of the Dallas camp have mentioned how the Cowboys have been blitzing a lot, a departure from Parcells. The theme of the 2007 Dallas defense appears to be one of attack.

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