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06/03/2010 - Newport, Wales (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - England's Chris Wood shot a six-under 65 to take the first-round lead Thursday at the Wales Open.
Wood collected six birdies in a bogey-free round on the Celtic Manor course to finish with a one-shot lead over Welshman Bradley Dredge and Australia's Andrew Dodt.
Edoardo Molinari, Richard McEvoy, Rhys Davies and Raphael Jacquelin were another stroke further back at four-under 67, while former U.S. Amateur champion Richie Ramsay led a large group at 68.
Wood rebounded nicely from his last round on the European Tour -- a 77 in the final round of the BMW PGA Championship two weeks ago. He held the 54-hole lead at the tour's flagship event, but finished four shots behind winner Simon Khan.
"It was just a really tough day for me," Wood said of his Sunday at Wentworth. "I thought the course played a lot harder than it did the previous three days. It was a new experience for me -- leading on Saturday night by a couple of shots."
At 22 years old and playing just his second full season as a professional, Wood has already made a name for himself as a rising star on tour.
He turned pro after tying for fifth place at the 2008 British Open, then shared third place at the '09 Open -- one shot out of the playoff between winner Stewart Cink and Tom Watson.
While he has yet to win, Wood continues to come close. He has three top-10 finishes in his last three starts, including a tie for third place at the Italian Open and a share of fifth in Mallorca.
Wood birdied just one par-five hole on Thursday -- the 562-yard 11th, which is the shortest of the four par fives at Celtic Manor.
Nevertheless, he felt like he put himself in position to shoot a good score by driving the ball so strongly.
"If you can set it up off the tee, it makes it a hell of a lot easier on the next few shots," he said.
The birdies that Wood made -- three on both sides of the course -- were set up by good approach shots, and he rarely found himself needing to make long putts.
"I struggled a little bit with the pace of uphill putts, but I had some really good shots and gave myself quite a lot of chances," he said.
"No bogeys is always pleasing," he said.
With Celtic Manor set to host the Ryder Cup in October, European captain Colin Montgomerie had his eye on several players in the field. Among them was Spain's Alvaro Quiros, who had a hole-in-one Thursday at the 189-yard third hole.
The long-hitting Spaniard, who captured a win earlier this season in his home country, opened with a 71 and was tied for 40th place.
"Someone who hits the ball that far, what an asset that is," said Montgomerie, who had a 70.
NOTES: Defending champion Jeppe Huldahl of Denmark opened with a 72...Khan (71), Paul Lawrie (72), Paul McGinley (72) and Scott Strange (79) are the other former Wales Open champions in the field this week...Richard Green and Paul Waring withdrew from the tournament.
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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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