Ryu grabs lead at Women's Australian Open
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02/10/2012 - Victoria, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Reigning U.S. Women's Open champion So Yeon Ryu fired a four-under 69 on Friday to climb into the lead after two rounds of the Women's Australian Open, while Hee Kyung Seo used a big round to get into contention.
Ryu sits at six-under-par 140, one shot in front of Seo, whose seven-under 66 on Friday turned her chances around after she began the LPGA season-opener with a 75.
The two are in a familiar spot, competing at the top of the leaderboard. Ryu beat Seo in a three-hole playoff to win the U.S. Women's Open title last July. Seo then went on to win rookie of the year, the same honor Ryu is aiming for in 2012.
"It is still the start of the season," Ryu, who was a member of the Korean LPGA last year, said. "I don't know how I can win the tournament. But the goal is rookie of the year."
First-round co-leaders Stacy Lewis and Sarah Kemp both struggled Friday. Kemp shot a six-over 79 and dropped into a tie for 19th at plus-two, while Lewis persevered through an eventful back nine to post an even-par 73.
During a seven-hole stretch, Lewis posted three bogeys, a triple-bogey, two birdies and an eagle. She reached seven-under, then fell to two-under, and needed the eagle at No. 17 just to make par for the round.
She sits in third at four-under-par 142, tied with Jessica Korda (70), Julieta Granada (72) and Melissa Reid (71).
Yani Tseng, the two-time defending champion, posted a quadruple-bogey at No. 7 and finished with a 76 to drop to even-par overall. Only nine players have been able to stay below par through two rounds.
Seo's round was all the more impressive because she bogeyed two holes, including her first, No. 10. But after that, she ran off three consecutive birdies -- and six in her next eight holes overall -- to make the turn at three-under.
She was cruising until a bogey at the par-four No. 4, but again rebounded immediately. Seo drained consecutive birdies at five and six before adding another at the eighth, ending her ascent. The 66 is the best round of the tournament so far.
"Sometimes when I play this kind of course, I am afraid too much about the course and can't play my game and can't make my own swing," Seo said. "But today I was thinking about routine process and coming on the target and that worked really good."
Ryu didn't have as far to go to get to the top of the leaderboard, having posted a two-under 71 on Thursday.
She didn't get off to the best start Friday, with a bogey on her second hole. But, like Seo, she used a string of birdies to rebound.
A birdie at the par-four 13th got the stroke back, and consecutive birdies from the 16th put Ryu at minus-four heading around the turn. She birdied three of her first six holes on the front nine, but a bogey at the seventh bumped her back to six-under.
Still, that was good enough to hold the lead when many players couldn't stay near the top of the leaderboard.
Lewis' fall was extremely abrupt. After a birdie at No. 13 put her at seven- under, she triple-bogeyed the 14th and bogeyed the next two holes to lose whatever grasp of the lead she had.
Tseng was one shot behind the leaders after the first round, and started to make a charge with birdies at the second and third. But the world's top-ranked player, who won seven times on the LPGA Tour and 12 times worldwide last season, also fell quickly.
In addition to the quadruple-bogey, Tseng bogeyed Nos. five, eight and nine, and made the turn at plus-two. She played a bogey-free back nine, but couldn't make up for the 41-stroke front nine.
American teenage sensation Lexi Thompson, who turned 17 years old on Friday, shot another 74 and is tied for 19th at plus-two. She is the youngest winner in LPGA and Ladies European Tour history, having won the LPGA Classic in September and Dubai Ladies Masters in December.
NOTES: The cut is expected to fall at seven-over-par 153. Among those who missed it was Laura Davies (159), the 2004 and 2009 champion of this event. She was also runner-up to Tseng in 2010...Second-ranked Suzann Pettersen posted a two-under 71 on Friday. She had stumbled to an 80 for her first round...Fourth-ranked Cristie Kerr just made the cut, despite shooting a five- over 78 on Friday.
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NFL owners, already life's biggest winners, want to try their luck with the lottery.
That was the news out of their meetings last week, where team bosses voted unanimously to allow stamping state and local lottery tickets with franchise logos, if, ahem, any governments wanted to do a deal.
A shocker: Within days the Pats announced they'd be sponsoring the Massachusetts state lottery, the Skins said they'd slap their sticker on Virginia scratch-offs and the Ravens admitted they were talking to Maryland lottery bosses. In all likelihood, it won't be long before every team is a presenting sponsor of scratch-offs or just plain old pick fives. "The change in policy was approved 32-0," said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. "So you can expect to see more deals soon."
It's a branding opportunity too big for the owners to ignore, and one a couple of dozen baseball franchises have enjoyed for years. The fact the NFL has been slower to act than those slack-brained Seligites is indicative of its complicated relationship with all forms of gambling. Consider this: Last Thursday, as the Pats and the Redskins finalized their new lottery deals, a lawyer representing the NFL argued before Delaware's Supreme Court that the state's newly signed sports betting law should be repealed.
The NFL betting is the face of opposition to sports gambling . And as much as it would like to share that responsibility with other leagues, that's not going to happen as long as more than 40% of all money legally wagered on games is bet on football. That's why the Brewers can do a multi-million dollar deal with a local casino, or the Celtics can make their own pact with the Mass lottery, and the response is, "Sweet, let's play." But when the NFL does it the stakes are higher, and everyone from NPR's Frank Deford to the Associated Press to the guys blogging at Deadspin will line up to play gotcha.
So I asked Aiello, who surely knew there'd be piling on, how the league can rail against being bait for sports bettors, then allow its franchises to be just that for lotteries, the most insidious and addictive form of gambling around. He emailed me this response: "We are not moral crusaders. NFL personnel are permitted to engage in legal forms of gambling, except for betting on NFL games. We are making a distinction here between the spread of gambling on the outcome of our games and supporting state lottery scratch-off games, that have nothing to do with the outcome of our games."
Here's where I should rip him. But, the thing is, he's right. Not to get Obama on you, but this is a complicated, nuanced issue. As much as lotteries are considered a tax on the poor, the NFL isn't a socially obligated government program -- it's just a business. Scratch-off's help the bottom line, sports betting doesn't. Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors … But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal.
Now, it's okay to call the league hypocritical when it releases injury reports, which players have told me only helps bettors. And it's okay to mutter something obscene when the league pretends gambling doesn't help drive TV ratings and fan interest and put money in owners' pockets. But when it supports other forms of gaming? Big Deal. The Bears should put an orange "C" on every deck of cards dealt at Harrah's in Joliet; the Eagles should slap their logo on roulette wheels at the Borgata in Atlantic City; the Dolphins should hold training camp at the El San Juan in Puerto Rico.
Seriously.
The NFL's problem, when it comes to the gambling world, isn't hypocrisy, it's worse: The bosses lack vision. That's why the league is picking unwinnable fights in Delaware and taking pot shots from critics after making smart sponsorship deals. Roger Goodell and his gang are acting and thinking locally rather than globally, which is rare for them, especially compared to their professional (and amateur) counterparts.
The NBA held its All Star game in Las Vegas and David Stern's kingdom didn't crumble (although the town did bring plenty of players to their knees.) I'd say it's 6 to 5 and pick 'em that Lebron will make a road swing through Sin City before his career is over.
Even the NCAA College Football Betting is more progressive on this issue than the NFL. Several years ago Rachel Newman Baker, college sports' gambling czar, opened a dialogue with Vegas bookmakers to learn about how they do business. She's visited Nevada sports books, studied their operations and listened to how they regulate action. Now she knows she can expect a call from bookmakers, who lose money when sports are fixed, if they think something sketchy is going on in NCAA games. She's not in favor of sports betting, but, as she once told me, "I know it's not going away, either."
The NFL can't seem to accept that. And until it can find peace with the idea, it'll get flack, even when it's right.
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