Dougherty leads U.S. Open; Woods lurks

Golf Betting Lines

06/15/2007 - Oakmont, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Englishman Nick Dougherty shot a two-under 68 Thursday to take the first-round lead at the U.S. Open.

His red number barely had any company.

Angel Cabrera was the only other player under-par following a tough round at Oakmont where the scoring average soared over 75. The Argentine was sitting one shot behind at one-under 69.

Jose Maria Olazabal and Bubba Watson were another stroke further back at even- par 70.

"The U.S. Open is brutal, it tests every aspect of your game," said Dougherty, whose early 68 held up through the afternoon tee times of Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Jim Furyk.

Tiger Woods played in the morning and opened with a one-over 71 to lead a group of 16 players who were tied for fifth place. Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy, Furyk, Singh and 51-year-old Fred Funk were among those at 71.

"The golf course is playing hard, and this is with pretty benign conditions and pretty favorable pin positions," said Woods, who had four bogeys and three birdies.

Woods made those comments early in the afternoon, when it looked like Oakmont might still yield some lower scores. The course was softened by rain that fell Wednesday, allowing for slower greens for the first dozen or so groups.

"Oakmont probably will never play easier than we had it in the first nine holes," said Ogilvy, who won his first major at Winged Foot last year.

Dougherty admitted the previous day's rain helped the early groups. His number was one shot better than the leading 18-hole score last year, when Colin Montgomerie's 69 was the highest first-round score to lead a U.S. Open in 20 years.

"You can get putts to stop relatively close to the hole," Dougherty said.

Some weren't so lucky, even those who played in the more favorable morning conditions.

Adam Scott (76), Henrik Stenson (79), Sergio Garcia (79), Paul Casey (77) and K.J. Choi (77) were among those who couldn't do enough to avoid the mistakes that can potentially end a player's U.S. Open on the first day.

Mickelson played with a black brace on his injured left wrist and opened with a four-over 74, a number that looked just good enough to keep him in the mix a year after his 72nd-hole collapse at Winged Foot.

He removed the brace to putt, revealing a bandage underneath. It's the same injury that forced his withdrawal from the Memorial two weeks ago and caused him to miss a start last week in Memphis.

"I'm not overly disappointed. It could have been a round that got away from me," Mickelson said.

Especially at Oakmont, where Mickelson said he may have originally suffered the injury while chipping from the long rough during a practice round a few weeks ago.

At its longest, the rough is around six inches deep -- same as it was at Winged Foot last year. Mickelson's toughest test may have come from a bunker shot on the back nine, which he blasted within inches to save par.

"I feel like I hung in there, and I'm excited to still be in it," he said.

Dougherty had four birdies to go along with back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8. His last birdie was set up by a 54-degree wedge shot to six feet at the 17th, a 313-yard par four.

The 25-year-old Englishman, who is still looking for his first PGA Tour victory, said he thought the course was playing "easy." Not that he wanted everyone to know that.

"I hate saying it ... Especially if a USGA official picks up on that," he said. "It's still frightfully tough out there."

Indeed, Oakmont was showing its teeth.

Woods hit his first drive at No. 1 into one of the course's 210 bunkers and opened with a bogey. He came right back with a 15-foot birdie at the second hole to get back to even par.

"I hit enough fairways to at least give myself a chance," said Woods, who has won two U.S. Opens and 12 majors overall. "When I didn't, I just put it back in play."

Woods found bunkers again at the third and fourth holes, but made par, then rolled in another 15-foot putt for birdie at the sixth.

He was even-par around the turn, though, after making a bogey from a bunker at 288-yard, par-three eighth. Woods slipped to one-over with a two-putt bogey at the 10th.

Hitting into another bunker at the 12th, Woods made bogey and fell to two- over. But he made a good par after hitting into a bowl-like scoop in the green at the 13th, then later moved back to one-over with a three-foot birdie at the 17th.

It was a grinder's round from the world's top player -- and a far cry from his start at Winged Foot, where Woods missed the cut with two rounds of 76 not long after the death of his father.

"You know the U.S. Open is going to be a grind," Woods said.

In the other majors, he added, there are shots where you can take off. There are easy shots where you can "close your eyes" and hit it on the fairways and greens.

"On this golf course, there are none," Woods said.

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Michael Vick is back, Brett Favre isn't and the NFC East remains the best division in the NFC, maybe in all of football.

As players start to gather for the start of another season, some things change and some stay the same in the world of the NFL.

Bet 2010 Super Bowl Odds

The NFC East has been the dominant division in the National Conference for a while, despite limited playoff success, save for the New York Giants surprise Super Bowl win two seasons ago.

Hell, there's a generation of kids in Texas who have never seen the Cowboys win a playoff game (last win was in 1996).

But collectively, the Giants, Eagles, Cowboys and Redskins (well, maybe not so much the Redskins) are as good as a division gets in an NFC conference that has struggled to stay competitive with the AFC side.

Sports bettors have both acknowledged the NFC East's dominance, as one glance at the NFL future odds menu will show.

Looking over the NFL betting odds at online sports book MySportsbook.com we see the top three teams listed to win the NFC Championship are all from the NFC East:

Dallas Cowboys - 7 - 1

Philadelphia Eagles - 13 - 2

New York Giants - 9 - 2

Slotting in behind these three are two teams from the NFC North: the Minnesota Vikings (15-2) and the Chicago Bears (10-1).

Again, despite the lack of recent playoff success, the Dallas Cowboys are popular with the sports betting community, as they hold 14% of all the money wagered on who will win the NFC Championship.

So far, the New York Giants are the bettors' favorite to represent their conference in the Super Bowl, as they have 24% of the overall NFC Championship betting volume.

And what about the Philadelphia Eagles? For the most part, the Eagles had a very productive offseason, the kind that could bring them back to the top.

They had a good draft adding the likes of WR Jeremy Maclin and RB LeSean McCoy.

Unfortunately, the team received a blow when long-time defensive coordinator Jim Johnson passed away on Tuesday.

But this team will make a real run at the division title this year. Going into the regular season, Philly is listed at +240 to win the division.

Last season the Eagles were 9-6-1 SU and 10-6 ATS.

Teams from the NFC East will play teams from the AFC West in the regular season and the Eagles haven't really been a good bet in the last 20 games against the likes of San Diego, Oakland, K.C. and Denver, only going 8-12 ATS.

Two seasons removed from that Super Bowl title, the New York Giants see themselves listed as the odds-on favorite in NFC East championship futures at +162.

Plaxico Burress is gone and with him all the bad publicity surrounding the gun in the sweatpants incident, but can they replace him in the offense?

Last season the Giants were a very reliable bet going 12-4 ATS.

In the Giants' last 20 games against fellow teams from the NFC East; they are 13-7 ATS.

Dallas is listed at +240 to win the division.

Dallas went 9-7 SU and 7-9 ATS last season and with the amount of talent the Cowboys have, a similar performance won't do.

The Cowboys have been atrocious against divisional rivals, going 6-14 ATS in their last 20.

The Washington Redskins are longshots to win the division at +550.

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