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06/04/2007 - Mt. Pleasant, SC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicole Castrale collected her first LPGA Tour title on Sunday by winning the Ginn Tribute Hosted by Annika.
All she had to do was top the No. 1 player in the game in a playoff.
Castrale parred the first playoff hole to defeat Lorena Ochoa, who fell to 0-4 on the LPGA Tour in sudden death playoffs.
Castrale managed a one-under 71 on Sunday while Ochoa could do no better than a two-over 74. The pair finished regulation at nine-under-par 279 and headed back to the 18th at RiverTowne Country Club for the playoff.
Ochoa went first and badly pulled her tee shot into a hazard. Castrale split the fairway, then conservatively played to the center of the green, some 30 feet from the hole. Ochoa had to take a penalty drop, but hit a spectacular third shot 18 feet short of the stick.
Castrale cozied her birdie putt just right of the hole, then tapped in for par. Ochoa needed to hole her putt to extend the playoff, but the ball skimmed the left edge, but stayed above ground.
The title was Castrale's first and as is customary on the LPGA Tour, the beer and champagne shower followed thanks to Laura Diaz and Cristie Kerr.
"I don't know if it's quite hit me yet," admitted Castrale, who pocketed $390,000 for the win. "It was fun out there. I stayed patient and it worked out."
Kerr was in the mix until a disastrous double-bogey at the 17th. She shot a one-over 73 for third place at minus-six.
Paula Creamer and Sarah Lee both shot rounds of one-under 71 on Sunday to tie for fourth place at five-under-par 283. Tour rookie Angela Park struggled to a four-over 76 and took sixth at minus-three.
Castrale and Ochoa reached the playoff due to a combination of clutch putting from Castrale and some poor work by the No. 1 ranked player in the Rolex Rankings.
Castrale was solid throughout Sunday's final round with a bogey at the second and a 40-foot birdie putt at the sixth. Her only other birdie came at the par-five 11th until an important one later in the round.
Ochoa, who started the round with a three-shot lead, parred her first six holes before a bogey at the seventh. She rebounded with a 10-foot birdie putt at the eighth, which reclaimed her three-shot edge.
Ochoa lost a stroke with a bogey at the par-five 11th. It became a two-shot swing thanks to Castrale's birdie at the same hole, but Ochoa, now only one in front, gave herself some more chances.
She missed a five-foot birdie putt at the 14th, but rolled in a birdie putt at the 15th from 12 feet.
Both players bogeyed the par-five 16th, so Ochoa walked to the 17th tee with a two-shot lead. Ochoa's nine-iron tee ball landed on the back fringe and she hammered her second seven feet past.
Castrale spun her tee ball back to 12 feet and canned the birdie try to get within one. Ochoa missed her par putt and now the pair was tied with one to play.
"I knew I had to make that," acknowledged Castrale. "I expected Lorena to make par from there. Unfortunately she hit a good putt and it didn't go in. I made birdie."
The two made somewhat tricky par saves at the 18th in regulation, then Castrale walked off with the victory.
Christina Kim (70), Heather Young (71), Mi Hyun Kim (73) and Angela Stanford (75) tied for seventh place at two-under-par 286.
Tournament host Annika Sorenstam, who returned to action this week after missing time with a neck and back injury, shot a four-over 76 on Sunday and tied for 36th place at plus-five.
<< Ellis, Athletics down Twins
Oakland, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Mark Ellis went 2-for-4 with a double and run
scored, as the Oakland Athletics edged the Minnesota Twins, 4-2, at McAfee
Coliseum.
Nick Swisher, Eric Chavez and Bobby Crosby each knocked in a run fo
<< Roberts gets first Champions Tour win this season
Destin, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Loren Roberts fired a six-under 65 on Sunday to
cruise to victory at the Boeing Championship at Sandestin. He finished at 16-
under-par 197, which was good for a three-shot victory.
The win was Roberts' firs
<< Kanaan wins by wing and a prayer
West Allis, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - When Helio Castroneves' rear wing collapsed
on lap 201, Tony Kanaan inherited the lead and went on to win Sunday's ABC
Supply/A.J. Foyt Indy 225 at the historic Milwaukee Mile. The No.11 Andretti
Green
<< Vlad's homer in ninth lifts Angels over O's
Anaheim, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Vladimir Guerrero belted a two-run home run in
the bottom of the ninth inning, as the LA Angels of Anaheim closed out a four-
game set against the Baltimore Orioles with a 4-3 victory.
Chris Ray (3-4) replac
Tigers release Mesa >>
Cleveland, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The Detroit Tigers released relief pitcher
Jose Mesa following Sunday's victory over the Cleveland Indians.
After signing with the Tigers as a free agent in the offseason, Mesa struggled
with Detroit, goi
Houston tops Dallas to end three-game losing streak >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ricardo Clark and Joseph Ngwenya scored in the
second half as Houston rallied for a 2-1 win over FC Dallas on Sunday to end
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Houston had scored just five goals all season, but
Andersson wins Aurora Health Care Championship >>
Lake Geneva, WI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sofie Andersson of Sweden shot a two-under
70 on Sunday to come from behind and win the Aurora Health Care Championship
on the Duramed Futures Tour.
She finished at four-under-par 212 for her first win
Bengals' Joseph sidelined until training camp >>
Cincinnati, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Johnathan
Joseph suffered an apparent left foot fracture in the team's minicamp on
Saturday.
Joseph is expected to undergo surgery in the near future and be ready fo
My fellow Americans, as tempting as it may be to don the coat and HD-ready tie in order to deliver this State of the Game address before the cameras, I know better. As Brad Paisley sings on his latest album, "I'm so much cooler online."
The ideas for this annual essay to kick off the MySportsbook.com college football betting preview flowed like frat-house beer, which is to say they were cheap and spilled all over the floor. The 2007 season will be better than 2007, if only because there will be more of it. A year ago, the NCAA Football Rules Committee made two rule changes in the interest of speeding up the game. These changes went over like Kobe burgers at a vegan banquet.
To its credit, the rules committee rectified its mistakes. This season the clock once again will start when a kickoff is received, rather than when it is kicked, and the clock will not start so quickly on a change of possession.
However, kickoffs have been moved back five yards, to the 30, which will force more returns. (Thus forcing the clock to run. Clever, huh?) Special teams might decide a lot of games, because coaching strategy will come straight out of another new Paisley lyric (almost), I'd like to check you for kicks.
Paisley sings with a twang, which is why he's appropriate for this college football season. The sun coming up over the 2007 college football betting lines season rises from the south. It's a Southern football world. As the Southeastern Conference begins its 75th year, the power shift is noticeable.
Eight-figure budgets, glamorous settings -- and that's just for the head coaches. The SEC has four coaches who have won national championships -- the greatest aggregation of coaching know-how since Eddie Robinson dined alone.
Steve Spurrier, Phil Fulmer, Nick Saban and Urban Meyer have given lie to the idea that a conference championship game is too daunting a hurdle on the road to No. 1. In six of the past 10 seasons, the national champions played and won a conference championship game -- three of the six (Tennessee, 1998; LSU, 2003; Florida, 2007) from the SEC.
There will be more of the same this season, if the preseason prognostications are correct. Six SEC teams are in the preseason coaches' poll, more than from any other conference. Only one conference has talent so deep that a team with 15 returning starters, including the best quarterback in the league, from an eight-win season is considered an afterthought. That may speak more to Kentucky's losing legacy than to the wisdom of the predictions, but there you have it. And seriously, keep an eye on Wildcats QB Andre' Woodson.
The reach of the South extends all the way to No. 1. Take a look at the team that is a consensus pick to win the national championship. The quarterback is from Shreveport. The best wide receiver is from Nashville. The top recruit is from New Orleans.
So what's the campus doing in Los Angeles? Hey, it is the University of Southern California.
USC lost two Pacific-10 Conference games a year ago, the first time that had happened in five seasons, and university officials withstood the urge to form blue-ribbon panels to unearth the cause of such a disaster. Instead, the Trojans gathered themselves and routed Michigan, 32-18, in the Rose Bowl.
USC's losses at Oregon State and at UCLA last year should have given pause to those who question the Pac-10's football prowess (such as, without naming names, L.M. from Baton Rouge). The league only got deeper this season; Dennis Erickson is taking over an Arizona State team that never quite got out of its own way under his predecessor, Dirk Koetter.
Erickson will resume his quest to become the first coach to win a national championship at two schools. Both he and Spurrier, now in his third season at South Carolina, returned to college football at schools with lower profiles than where they won their titles.
That isn't the case for the third coach looking for the national championship double. You may have missed this, but NASA reported the astronauts on the space shuttle last spring made contact with what can only be described as beings from another galaxy.
The leader of the aliens said, "We come in peace," followed by, "So how do you think Nick Saban will do at Alabama?"
The public is reacting to the new Crimson Tide coach as if he is the Barry Bonds of college football -- beloved at home for what his fans believe he is going to do, hated on the road for his intimidating attitude and for what his detractors believe he did (bend NCAA recruiting rules). I made this comparison from the dais at a charity dinner in Mobile, Ala., last month, and the chill that washed over me didn't come from the air conditioning.
Saban will attempt to prove that he can remake in Tuscaloosa what he built in Baton Rouge, much like another member of the national championship fraternity. Bobby Bowden is attempting to remake at Florida State what he built at, um, Florida State. Bowden rebuilt his offensive staff, bringing in four new coaches led by Saban's former offensive coordinator, Jimbo Fisher, to jump-start an offense that has been dead for a couple of years.
The Atlantic Coast Conference is expected to show new signs of life, too. That is said with no disrespect toward last season's champion, Wake Forest, which provided one of the best story lines of 2007. The Demon Deacons begin this season in their customary position, overshadowed by the Virginia Techs, Miamis and Florida States.
It's not that Wake will find it difficult to duplicate its success in 2007 as much as the feeling that success engendered. Surprising success is the narcotic of sport. It never feels quite so euphoric the next time. Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese has figured this out. He refers to 2007, when a league looked down upon by fans and foes alike took three undefeated teams into November, as "Cinderella."
The fairy tale may be over, but the Big East has four genuine Heisman Trophy candidates in Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm, West Virginia tailback Steve Slaton and quarterback Pat White, and Rutgers tailback Ray Rice. Rutgers, as did Wake Forest and, of course, Boise State, proved last season that the have-nots in college football occasionally have quite a lot.
The Broncos' rousing 43-42 overtime victory over Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl has raised the profile of all schools in conferences that don't get automatic BCS bids. This season, TCU and Hawaii are the preseason favorites to burst through the BCS doors and earn an at-large bid. The Warriors return 14 starters from an 11-3 team, including quarterback Colt Brennan.
Brennan not only broke the single-season record with 58 touchdown passes in 2007, but he also led Division I-A in passing efficiency (186.0). The senior is expected to contend for the Heisman Trophy, and neither his success nor the rise of his team should come as any surprise in the 2007 season.
After all, Hawaii is the southernmost team in the country.
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