Munoz leads by one in Alabama

Golf Betting Lines

05/13/2010 - Mobile, AL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Azahara Munoz fired a seven-under 65 Thursday to grab a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the Bell Micro LPGA Classic.

Munoz, a tour rookie, is not only looking for her first win, but also her first top-25 finish on the LPGA Tour. In two previous professional starts, her best finish is a tie for 27th.

Katherine Hull and Jee Young Lee share second place at minus-six. Cristie Kerr opened with a five-under 67 and she was joined in fourth place by Janice Moodie, Hye Jung Choi and Meena Lee.

This is the first event since the passing of tour player Erica Blasberg. Many players sported black ribbons in her honor.

Munoz started on the back nine Thursday and holed out from a greenside bunker for birdie on the 11th to get her round going. She then birdied the two par- fives on the back nine, Nos. 13 and 16, to move to three-under.

Around the turn, Munoz birdied the third on the Crossings Course at Magnolia Grove, which is part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail.

Munoz converted back-to-back birdie efforts from the fifth to move to six- under. She closed her round with a birdie on the ninth, her last, to post minus-seven.

"The course is playing tough, but I just hit every fairway and pretty much every green," said Munoz, who was in the first group out off the 10th tee. "The only green I missed I made a bunker shot, so that was nice. I was playing really well. Actually, a lot of putts didn't go in, but like every putt I hit had a chance. So that was good today."

Munoz had a similar start in Mexico two weeks ago, opening with an eight-under 65, but she struggled the next two rounds to fall out of contention.

"Obviously I was disappointed after a great first round, but I think I learned a lot," admitted Munoz. "I have to stay in the present, one shot at a time. Hopefully I can do that this week."

Hull also played the back nine first and she dropped a shot on the 11th. She posted four birdies over the next seven holes to turn in three-under.

The Australian, who won the 2008 Canadian Women's Open, connected on back-to- back birdie efforts from the fourth. Hull notched her final birdie on the par- three eighth.

"I made a really stupid bogey on 11 so it kind of ticked me off," admitted Hull. "It got me fired up. I just played pretty solid from there on in. Seven birdies and no other bogeys, which was nice."

Lee also played the back nine first and she carded eight pars and an eagle on the par-five 16th over her opening nine. On the front side, she birdied the fourth and sixth before closing in style with birdies on eight and nine.

NOTES: New women's world No. 1 Jiyai Shin opened with a two-under 70 as did Angela Stanford, who is defending her title from 2008. This event was not played last year...Michelle Wie and Natalie Gulbis are tied for 55th at even- par 72, while Sherri Steinhauer, recently named as an assistant captain for the U.S. Solheim Cup team, struggled to a two-over 74.

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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million

Football Betting

In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.

And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.

Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.

So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.

Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)

The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.

As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.

The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.

In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.

Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.

And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.

So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.

There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.

So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.

And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.

There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)

Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.

Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.

Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.

So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.

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