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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Advertisement Email Story to a Friend April 28, 2006 Diaz gets handle on motherhood in emotional LPGA event The Associated Press REUNION, Fla. — Laura Diaz’s birthday started with 31 roses, four cards and some clothes from her husband. It got better. Diaz shot a 5-under 67 in the opening round of the Ginn Clubs & Resorts Open on Thursday, her first round under par this year and a good indicator that she has learned to cope with being away from her newborn son. Diaz was tied for second with Lorena Ochoa, two strokes behind leader Cristie Kerr after a windy day near Orlando. "I feel like I’ve been gone a year," said Diaz, playing in her fourth event since returning to the LPGA Tour last month. Diaz may have been on the leaderboard Thursday, but she was somewhat off the radar screen. Dakoda Dowd, a 13-year-old playing the event to fulfill her cancer-stricken mother’s dying wish, shot a 74 while being tailed by television cameras, photographers, reporters and well-wishers. Advertisement Dowd birdied her first hole, the par-5 10th, after hitting her tee shot down the left-center part of the fairway and then knocking her third shot to 2 feet. "It made everything go a lot easier," she said. "It just made me a little bit more confident and made me breathe a little bit easier." Andia Winslow, the 23-year-old niece of Hall of Fame tight end Kellen Winslow, had much less fanfare in her tour debut. The first black golfer to play in an LPGA event since 2001, Andia Winslow was 10- over through 14 holes when play was halted because of darkness at 7:58 p.m.; 21 players will resume the first round today at 7 a.m. local time. Annika Sorenstam had the largest gallery and may have been the biggest disappointment. The world’s No. 1 player shot a 72 — her second consecutive round without breaking par. PGA — At New Orleans, Graeme McDowell finished off a flawless round in easy conditions at English Turn by one-hopping a wedge from 116 yards into the cup for eagle on the ninth hole, giving him an 8-under 64 for a one-shot lead over Stuart Appleby. It took just that to keep Appleby from leading a PGA Tour event for the fifth consecutive round. Coming off a wire-to-wire victory last week in the Houston Open, he again made it look easy by never coming seriously close to bogey and hitting a wedge into 4 feet for birdie on the 18th hole for a 65. And it took an eagle from McDowell to get a small measure of separation from a jam-packed leaderboard, brought on by soft, slow conditions on a course that played so easy that McDowell found himself reaching for a wedge on nearly every hole. Among par-72 courses used by the PGA Tour, the 7,116-yard English Turn is the third-shortest behind only the cleverly designed TPC at Sawgrass for The Players Championship and the course used for the B.C. Open. Throw in heavy rain Wednesday that made the greens soft, and wind that disappeared after the first few hours of a sunny morning, and this was a friendly day of golf. NATIONWIDE — At Greenville, S.C., Jason Allred shot a 4-under-par 68 to finish in a five-way tie for ninth after the opening round of the BMW Charity Pro-Am at The Cliffs. Tripp Isenhour, Bryce Molder and Chris Stroud tied for the lead with a 6-under 66. Allred, an Ashland native, had eight birdies and two bogeys during the round. He birdied five of the first six holes before shooting a seven on the par 4 eighth hole. Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback www.bingo.com Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker Custom Build Computers Discount Hotel Reservations online casinos news Ashley Furniture HomeStore Send Flowers California Casinos GMAT Prep Windermere Van Vleet Deep Muscle Stimulator Sports Equipment Online Casino Reviews Online Bingo Entertainment Guide Online Casino Fundraisers Sudoku Online Casinos Canada Online Pharmacy Advertisement s