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As temperatures reached 100 degrees at Arizona State's Karsten Golf Course, the eighth-ranked LSU women's golf team sizzled to an even-par round of 288 on Friday. The Lady Tigers moved from 12th to sixth in the NCAA West Regional.

The top eight teams after Saturday's third round will advance to the NCAA Championships.

Despite playing with only four golfers, LSU head coach Karen Bahnsen got a 3-under-par 69 from Megan McChrystal, and even-par rounds by Jacqueline Hedwall and Amalie Valle to get into the mix.

Freshman Tessa Teachman was forced to withdraw from today's round after suffering dehydration midway through her round.

American Ben Crane enjoyed a brilliant putting day to take the first-round lead at the 9.5 million dollar PGA Players Championship.

"This is definitely one of the best putting rounds of my career," Crane said after taking just 22 putts at the Sawgrass TPC.

He carded a seven-under-par 65 in perfect conditions to head compatriot John Mallinger, German Alex Cejka and Swede Richard Johnson by one stroke.

Jeev Milkha Singh headed the Asian challenge on four-under 68, while Tiger Woods finished the day equal 38th on one-under 71 after a frustrating performance on the greens.

Crane made his move with six birdies in eight holes mid-round, running up nine birdies altogether.

"I was able to put the ball in the right spots, give myself some opportunities and then all of a sudden some putts start going in and give you a little confidence," said the two-time PGA Tour winner.

Cejka, who has been battling injury, made a poor start with a bogey at his second hole, but it was smooth sailing thereafter as he added seven birdies.

His long game was simply brilliant, as he hit every fairway and all but one green in regulation.

"I really wasn't playing that aggressive today," he said. "Overall I played pretty solid and it?s nice to see my name up there."

Cejka's performance comes in the wake of a worrying health problem.

"In Masters week (last month) I woke up and had a numb arm. The last couple of weeks it was really, really bad and last week I had to get an epidural shot.

"The numbness is gone for most of it, but not 100 percent. The nerve healing is not so easy.

"I had surgery at the end of last year and maybe started too early to come back and hit balls. They told me (to take eight months off) but I was out there four weeks later hitting balls."

Singh, meanwhile, was out in the first group of the day, and he knew it was imperative to take advantage of his early tee time.

"I hit the ball really well and holed a few putts also," said the Indian No. 1.

"I'm pretty happy with 68 (but) it could have been much better. It's disappointing finishing with a bogey at the last, especially on a par-five."

Fifty-seven players broke par on a day when the course averaged just a shade over par, at 72.1 strokes.

Englishman Oliver Wilson withdrew before the round with a chest and neck injury.

Brazil is the confirmed host for 2014. Many countries are vying to host the 2018 and 2022 FIFA world cup. I know that Japan and South Korea are in the fray for co-hosting the event with the help of neighbouring countries. Do these counties have the infrastructure and backup to support a massive event like the FIFA World Cup?

The country was the only one bidding to host the tournament.

Arizona State and UCLA earn No. 1 seeds in the 2009 NCAA Women's Golf Championship after both teams finished in first place at their respective regionals.

Arizona State, competing in the West Regional at their home Karsten Golf Course, blew out the competition, finishing the tournament shooting a school-record 22-under 842. The Sun Devils bested the competition by 19 strokes.

Individually, ASU's Carlota Ciganda took medalist honors, shooting a 10-under 206 for the three-day tournament. Ciganda previously won the 2009 Pac-10 Individual Championship.

The Bruins also handily beat the competition, also finishing 19 strokes ahead of second-place Purdue. UCLA, competing in the Central Regional at the Ohio State University Scarlet Course, finished the tournament with a three-round score of 13-over 877.

Maria Jose Uribe of UCLA won individual medalist honors, shooting a 4-under 212 for the tournament.

Also qualifying for nationals are USC, who finished second at the West Regional and Arizona who made the cut by finishing in seventh, also at the West Regional. Oregon's Cathryn Bristow qualified as an individual.

David Feherty, the former European tour golfer who has become one of the most popular television golf presenters in the United States, has put his job – and his reputation as a humorist – under threat after suggesting in a magazine article that American soldiers would like to "shoot" Nancy Pelosi, one of the most powerful Democratic party politicians in the country.

Writing in a Dallas magazine, Feherty, who is heavily involved with the Troops First Foundation, a charity which aims to help soldiers returning from Iraq, relayed a "joke" about Pelosi being in a lift along with Harry Reid, the Democratic leader of the senate, and Osama bin Laden.

"From my own experience visiting the troops in the Middle East, I can tell you this. Despite how the conflict has been portrayed by our glorious media, if you gave any US soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Osama bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death," he wrote.

If the television presenter's aim was to be funny, then the humour was lost on many, most notably Keith Olbermann, host of an influential political talk show, who accused Feherty of peddling death fantasies and declared him "world's worst person" – a distinction he usually reserves for the more voluble members of the right-wing media.

More worryingly for Feherty, his current employer, the CBS network, was quick to distance itself from him. "While outside his work for CBS, David Feherty is a popular humorist, we want to be clear that this column for a Dallas magazine is an unacceptable attempt at humour and is not in any way condoned, endorsed or approved by CBS Sports."

Since giving up playing golf for a living, Feherty, who played for Europe in the 1991 Ryder Cup, has become one of the game's most popular commentators, principally because he ignores the rigid conventions of television golf coverage in the States, preferring cheek and irreverence over misplaced veneration. Only last week he called Tiger Woods a "loser" to his face three times in the space of a 20-second interview and managed to raise a laugh from the world No1.

It was notable, however, that no one was laughing around the world of golf yesterday, least of all the PGA Tour.

"David Feherty is an insightful and sometimes humorous commentator for CBS Sports' golf coverage," the PGA Tour said in a statement. "However, his attempt at humour in this instance went over the line and his comments were clearly inappropriate. We hope he will use better judgment in the future."

Despite the growing controversy over his words, Feherty, who recently gained American citizenship and lives in Dallas, has abandoned the habits of a lifetime and said nothing in response his critics. However, the feeling last night at Sawgrass, venue for the Players Championship, is that he may have to say something in order to stem the tide.

5 Reasons to wager at an online sportsbook rather than your local bookie:

1. Better Odds.
2. More Events. (You also have the option of many futures and propositions bets and let’s not forget halftime and quarter lines).
3. Referrals. – Most sportsbooks give players up to 10% of the money individuals they refer deposit.
4. Financial Security. (The money you deposit is done through an SSL secure transaction and can be withdrawn at any time).
5. All online sportsbooks offers online casino and poker.

An important skill in wagering is to always carefully manage your bankroll. It is important to never bet more than 5-10% of your bankroll on any given sporting event. No matter how strong you feel about your opinion anything can happen and that is the nature of gambling.😡

Regards! 😁

Four months away from tournament play might just be what John Daly needed to revive his golf fame.

Daly finished in a three-way tie for second place behind Daniel Vancsik at the Italian Open on Sunday, charging back from 11th place with a 5-under 66 in the final round.

Playing in his second tournament on the European Tour since the break, Daly shot a 31 on the back nine with birdies at the 11th, 14th, 16th and 17th holes, and was six strokes off the lead. The 66 was the fifth consecutive round in which Daly has broken 70.

He tied for 31st at the Spanish Open last weekend.

Daly has been playing on the European Tour since he was suspended six months by the PGA Tour last winter for conduct off the golf course, including one night in a North Carolina jail to get sober. The two-time major champion hopes to return in June to the PGA Tour, where he has not had full status on the last two years.

In his last tournament, the Australian Open in December, he lost his patience with a fan who put a camera in his face during the round, smashing the camera against a tree.

Vancsik had a 6-under 65 and was 17 under for the tournament, his second European Tour title.

Vancsik, of Argentina, led at the end of the second and third rounds. He made eight birdies and two bogeys in the final round.

“My putting was fantastic,” he said. “I played more aggressively and thought if I got to 6 or 7 under (on the day) the tournament was for me. Now my goal is to get into a major.”

Raphael Jacquelin (68) and Robert Rock (68) finished in a group with Daly. Thomas Aiken finished third with a score of 10-under after he was unable to match his performance in the first and third rounds, shooting a 1-under 70.

Alex Cejka began the final round of The Players Championship with the largest 54-hole lead in the tournament’s 36-year history.

It was gone in about an hour.

Cejka was 5 over through his first six holes Sunday, erasing his five-stroke lead and leaving him in a free-fall from atop the leaderboard.

He never got it turned around, either.

Cejka shot a 7-over 79 and finished eight strokes behind winner Henrik Stenson. Cejka finished at 4 under in a five-way tie for ninth.

“It was one of these days where nothing is going your way,” Cejka said.
His collapse started with his first tee shot. Playing alongside world No. 1 Tiger Woods and in front of some of the largest galleries of his career, the Czechoslovakia-born player pulled his drive into the left rough. His approach shot rolled through the green, then his delicate chip shot ended up 25 feet past the pin.

He two-putted from there, but it turned out to be a sign of things to come on the treacherous Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass.

His second shot on the par-4 fourth landed in the water in front of the green. He came up well short of the hole with his next shot and two-putted for double bogey.

With Ben Crane starting his round with consecutive birdies that got him to 8 under, Cejka’s big lead was gone in just four holes.

Cejka kept fading from contention, too.

He made three more bogeys on the front nine, yanking tee shots left on Nos. 5, 6 and 8 that made it considerably tougher to find the green. It must have been a strange feeling for someone who led the field in driving accuracy the first three days.

His precision off the tee helped him card 17 birdies in the first three rounds. On Sunday, though, he found trouble all over the course. Maybe it was the pressure of going for his first PGA Tour victory. Maybe it was all the extra attention from the large crowds following the final pairing. Maybe it playing with Woods.

“There was a little bit of pressure, but I wasn’t nervous at all,” Cejka said. “I was trying to do my thing. But it’s just a tough golf course. If I had a little bit better start. If I don’t make the double bogey on 4, it looks totally different. That’s sometimes golf.”

Even though Cejka was quick to point out Saturday that he beat Woods in their only round together on tour—the final 18 holes of the 1996 British Open — it also came when Woods was a 20-year-old amateur and without a major championship at stake (Cejka shot 67 and finished tied for 11th).

Cejka even planned to wear a red shirt Sunday, much like Woods does. But even that went awry. Cejka thought he had packed one, but when he dug through his suitcase, all he had left was an all-black ensemble that could have been a little uncomfortable in 90-degree weather.

“You’ve got to suffer a little bit out there,” he said before the round.

Cejka briefly ended his suffering with a birdie at the par-4 10th—his approach shot stopped about 5 feet from the pin—but he followed with consecutive bogeys on Nos. 12 and 13.

Cejka, who needed an epidural to restore feeling in his right arm about a week ago, must have felt like having another one to numb the pain.

“It could have been better, should have been better,” he said. “But it’s OK. I’m playing better, and it shows a little bit. Sometimes you’ve got to knock at the door a couple of times before you open it.”

Montgomery is back on top. After finishing second at state golf last year and breaking a 7-year win streak, the Montgomery girls golf team won the 4A state title on Tuesday with a two-day score of 622. Second place Magnolia finished with a 649.

Montgomery led by 20 strokes after the first day and put together another strong performance in the windy conditions on Tuesday to win the title.

“It’s amazing,” senior Karisma Smith said. “Last year we were definitely disappointed, but to be honest, not winning took a huge amount of pressure off us. This year, it was so much more enjoyable to not have that streak hanging over our heads.”

Last year, Montgomery lost two-time state title winner Lisa Montgomery. They returned three players to this year’s team and focused more on team chemistry.

“I know the kids felt pressure to win last year,” coach Rusty Herridge said. “Heck, I was even starting to feel it and I never feel pressure, so we focused on enjoying the game, working hard and gelling as a team.”

The competition with Magnolia also pushed Montgomery this season. Montgomery lost the district title for the first time in 18 years to Magnolia, then the two were neck-and-neck at regionals before Montgomery took over on the last day to win by two strokes.

“We are thrilled for Magnolia to come out here and get the silver medal,” Herridge said. “It speaks very highly of District 18-4A.”

Brazosport’s Bobby Ledesma had a much better showing at state this year too. The junior, who finished 26th overall last season had a two-day total of three under par 141, and a second place overall finish.

Ledesma said that at state this year, he just tried to have a good time.

“My father passed away in August and this whole year I have just tried to do all the things he always told me, like to go out and just have a good time,” Ledesma said. “I was taking myself a little too seriously before that.”

Ledesma said that the second place finish hadn’t sunk in yet.

“I have to process it,” he said. “It was a great tournament though with so many good players. I am really happy that I finished so much better than last year.”

Europe has changed its criteria for making the Ryder Cup team, giving Colin Montgomerie three captain’s picks and taking only four players from a points list based on world rankings.

Europe has had only two captain’s picks since 1995.

Previously, five players from a world points list and five players from what amounted to a European tour money list automatically earned a spot on the team. For 2010, only four players will make the team off the world points list.

The United States revamped its system for the 2008 matches, allowing four captain’s picks. The Americans ended its longest losing streak by winning at Valhalla.

The 2010 matches will be played Oct. 1-3 in Wales.

The state Senate approved a bill Tuesday that would authorize Delaware to become the only state east of the Mississippi River to offer sports betting, sending it to Gov. Jack Markell for his promised signature. The Senate passed the bill 17-2 without a committee hearing, suspending its rules before voting. The decision came on the first day back in session after hours of closed-door negotiations................


Read more: Sports betting bill approved in Delaware

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After playing consecutive tournaments for the first time in more than a year, Tiger Woods' left knee felt just fine.

His swing, though, wasn't quite right.

Woods, playing in the final pairing with third-round leader Alex Cejka, shot a 1-over 73 in the final round Sunday and finished eighth at The Players Championship.

``I just kept hitting those spinners up to the right,'' said Woods, who failed to win while in the final pairing for the first time since the 2007 U.S. Open at Oakmont. ``It was frustrating. If I aimed it down the right side, I would still spin it off to the right. And if I aimed it down the left side, I would still spin it off to the right.''

It started early, too. Woods bogeyed two of the first four holes while fading shots right on each of them. He pushed his approach shot well right of the pin on No. 1, found the water right with his second shot at the par-5 second, was off the green right at the par-3 third and then found the right rough off the tee at the fourth.

It was more of the same over his next six holes.

``I'll fix it, no problem,'' the world's No. 1 golfer said. ``It's just that when you're playing a golf course like this and you don't have it quite right and the greens are this fast, this hard, you can shoot some pretty high numbers. As you can see out there, some guys probably went pretty high.''

Only 20 of 70 players broke par Sunday, so Woods thought he still had a shot to get back in the mix until he failed to make birdie at Nos. 11 and 12, which played as two of the easiest holes during the final round.

Although he managed to birdie two of the final five holes, he didn't have a shot at winning the Players for the first time since 2001.

Now, he'll take three weeks off before returning to action at the Memorial.

As for his swing, he's not really that concerned.

``We know what it is,'' he said. ``It's just a matter of me doing it. Sometimes, as we all know playing the game, it's hard to do out on the golf course. I just need to do a little better job of it.''

Fairly or not, Poppy Hills has spent the last 18 years as the redheaded stepchild of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Not only did Poppy replace the beloved Cypress Point Golf Club in the tournament's course rotation in 1991 -- after the PGA Tour dropped Cypress because of its membership policies -- but the course quickly became known for a lack of seaside vistas, an abundance of doglegs, and too many six-hour rounds.

Now, according to KSBW Action News 8 in Northern California, Poppy may soon be replaced in the AT&T rotation by Monterey Peninsula Country Club's Shore course, a gem by the ocean that has more in common with AT&T tournament courses Pebble Beach and Spyglass Hill.

The report said that Monterey Peninsula's membership is currently considering the proposal to join the AT&T, though the membership did reject similar overtures in 2005. As the report points out, however, the economy is much different than it was four years ago, and the club may want the attention to try and lure new members.

As someone who has walked Poppy a half-dozen times and actually played Monterey Peninsula, it's no contest which course has the more memorable holes and stirring views. And another thing. Tiger Woods never did much like Poppy, and he wasn't the only one.

With the U.S. Open coming to Pebble Beach in 2010, and with Monterey Peninsula possibly joining Pebble and Spyglass in the rotation, expect Woods to return to the AT&T next year.

The 2009 Preakness Stakes will go down this coming Saturday, 4:30 p.m. at Pimlico Racetrack and the post positions have been drawn! And now, there are more ways to win in the Bodog Racebook. Right now, Bodog is offering a $50 match bonus to each new customer who will sign up and deposit $50 between now and May 16th 2009. Just deposit $50 get your $50 match bonus.

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The women's golf team at Nicholls State will disband after this season, one of at least two Division I college teams in Louisiana that will disappear as a result of the state's budget cuts affecting public universities.
Nicholls State spokeswoman Renee Piper confirmed on Thursday that members of the women's golf team had been told they would not have scholarships, or a team to play for, if they return to the university's Thibodaux campus to continue their education next fall.

Only two days earlier, Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond announced it was suspending its 10-player men's tennis squad.

There are seven members of the women's golf team at Nicholls, thought two are seniors, and Piper stressed that the university was trying to help the other five players transfer.

"I wouldn't want the impression to be that we're putting them out on the curb," Piper said. "We're working with the women's golf team to find a place for them to play."

Paul Goydos made eight birdies before his final drive sailed into a fairway bunker, blemishing what was almost an unmatched start in the Texas Open.

"I mean, you can't have everything good happen for every moment of your life," Goydos said.

Goydos, who publicly opened up this month about the death of his ex-wife in January and raising his two teenage daughters, shot a 7-under 63 on Thursday at La Cantera Golf Club for a share of the first-round lead with Justin Leonard. It's the first time since 1999 that Goydos has opened a tournament with at least a share of the lead.

Teeing off early in the morning, the 44-year-old Goydos had the lead for most of the day until Leonard birdied three of his last four holes in the afternoon. Leonard is pursuing a record fourth Texas Open championship, and hasn't been tied for first this early at La Cantera since his first win in 2000.

"When you tee off and you're seven shots back, I felt the need that I've got to make birdies because I don't want to have this huge deficit after one round," Leonard said. "I was able to get off to a great start. From then, being able to stay patient and give myself opportunities, I did a good job of that today."

Goydos shot a 29 on the front nine, a stroke shy of a personal tour best through nine holes. Leonard's 63 was his best round in 11 tournaments here.

Jeff Maggert, Marc Leishman and Ted Purdy opened with 64s, and Englishmen Brian Davis and Greg Owen shot 65s.

Major winners David Duval, Lee Janzen and Corey Pavin were three strokes back. Duval's 66 was his best round since January 2007.

Zach Johnson, trying to defend his tournament championship from October, shot a 68 in the first Texas Open to tee off in the spring since 1969.

Goydos surged ahead with six birdies before the turn, including a 60-yard pitch on No. 8 that set up a 3-foot putt. The last time Goydos held at least a share of a first-round lead was the U.S. Open a decade ago.

Goydos stepped away from the tour earlier this year after his ex-wife, Wendy, died unexpectedly. She had battled a drug addiction stemming from a bout with migraines.

He had kept private about Wendy and the girls, then gave his first interview for the May edition of Golf Digest. Others interviews have followed, and Goydos said he made "a conscious decision" to tell the story.

"We're all going to go through difficult times," Goydos said. "I've been on tour for 17 years. I'm sure there's plenty of other people who've been on tour for 17 years who have had difficult times."

Anthony Kim opened with a 69 after a dismal start and finish to his round. The 23-year-old Texan bogeyed two of his first three holes, them muffed his second shot from the rough on No. 18 before two-putting for a double bogey.

The Texas Open is the PGA Tour's third-oldest tournament, but had long been relegated to the tour's far less attractive fall calendar. The switch to May now makes it the first leg of a new Texas Swing, with stops at the Byron Nelson Championship and Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial still ahead.

The tournament is the final one at La Cantera before moving to a new, Greg Norman-designed TPC course nearby in San Antonio next year.

What is happening in Delaware could be the start of full scale sports gambling in the US. It starts small, but once a state opens the door and money is made, there is rarely ever any turning back.

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