British Open Second Round News & Notes

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07/21/2007 - Carnoustie, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It has been quite a golfing week for Spain.

On Monday, Seve Ballesteros, a three-time champion, and Spain's greatest golfer in history, announced his retirement from competitive golf. He had been hampered for years by a bad back, but his statement at Carnoustie brought an end to an era in Spanish golf.

Then, one day later, Jose Maria Olazabal, a two-time Masters winner and Ballesteros' long-time Ryder Cup partner, withdrew from the British Open Championship with a knee injury

Things did not look good for Spanish golf.

By Friday afternoon, that country became the toast of Scotland.

Sergio Garcia, who recently re-formed the Spanish Armada with Olazabal at last year's Ryder Cup, shot a wonderful 65 in round one, then put together a steady 71 on Friday to sit atop the leaderboard.

Just below him on the leaderboard, three shots back is Miguel Angel Jimenez. "The Mechanic" nearly aced the 16th hole on Friday and hit the best approach of the week at Carnoustie's closing hole. Unfortunately, Jimenez missed the six-footer for birdie, but is in at minus-three.

As expected, the "younger" generation gave thanks to Ballesteros.

"For me when I look at myself and I believe so many players think the same thing," said Jimenez. "We feel proud for what he did for us."

If it was going to be a "Win one for Seve Week," the pressure should be on Garcia and Jimenez. They are the only Spaniards left in the field after Olazabal withdrew.

"The odds are not huge," Garcia admitted after his opening round. "It would be amazing. It would be something out of, how do you call it, a fairy tale or something like that."

OTHER FORMS OF ENHANCERS

In the wake of Gary Player's bizarre accusation on Wednesday that he knows at least one player in the world on some form of steroids, most players have come out swinging.

But on Friday, Jim Furyk, who is tied for fifth place after a pair of 70s, admitted that some elements most athletes don't employ might have aided in his strong play this week.

"My wife and I were looking for a place to eat last night," said Furyk. "We ended up grabbing a couple of pizzas...and on our way carrying them back to the hotel we saw Justin Leonard, Scott Verplank and a couple of the other large American contingent and they talked us into one pint up there at the Kinloch."

Maybe the pizza and beer are helping Furyk, the No. 3 player in the world, but last year is what got him started. After missing five straight cuts at the British Open, he took fourth place at Royal Liverpool.

With conditions expected to get even windier over the weekend, Furyk likes his chances. He actually likes them just fine right now.

"If the weather keeps up the way it is right now, I'm not ill-willing anyone like that, but if the weather keeps up the way it is, I should be within respectable distance of the leaders," he said.

AMATEUR RECAP

In case you forgot, 18-year-old amateur Rory McIlroy went through Thursday's first round as the only player in the field without a bogey.

He more than made up for that on Friday.

McIlroy collected two birdies, a double-bogey and five bogeys en route to a five-over 76 and a share of 31st place at two-over-par 144.

"It was a bit of a struggle, but I managed to steady the ship on the last six holes and played that in level par which is always good on a course like this," said McIlroy. "I'm just happy to be here for the weekend."

McIlroy basically has a free weekend among amateurs. The Silver Medal is his since no other amateur made the cut, but one, with perhaps a more compelling story gave it his all.

Drew Weaver, the British Amateur Champion, only managed a one-over 72 on Friday and missed the cut at plus-six. He had 20 feet for birdie on the last with a chance to get to five-over. There was an outside chance the cut would fall to plus-five, but it hardly mattered as Weaver missed the putt.

This has been a remarkable week for Weaver. He will be a junior at Virginia Tech and was only a few 100 yards away from the tragedy in April.

"I have had a fantastic week," said Weaver. "I had a wonderful time, but it's a tough feeling to have come so close to making the cut. I played my heart out today, and it's a tough realization that I won't be playing through the weekend".

* The group of leader Sergio Garcia, Johan Edfors and Chad Campbell were put on the clock for slow play on the 14th hole. They were not assessed any penalty.

* If Garcia wins this event, he will be the first Spaniard since Seve Ballesteros in 1988 and the first European to win a major of any kind since Paul Lawrie here in 1999. He has never held a 36-hole lead in a major championship.

* The weather is supposed to get significantly worse on the weekend. Rain is forecast, although the amount predicted has fluctuated throughout Friday. The wind is supposed to pick up on Saturday.

* John Daly and Achi Sato both shared the lead during Thursday's first round, but both missed the cut.

* Daly, Justin Leonard, Nick Faldo, Todd Hamilton, Tony Jacklin and Paul Lawrie, who won the last British Open Championship at Carnoustie in 1999, were the former champions who missed the cut.

* Paul McGinley was alone in second place after Thursday's first round, but struggled to a four-over 75 on Friday. He is tied for 13th place at even-par 142.

* The easiest hole for round two was the par-five 14th with an average of 4.61. The most difficult hole on Friday was once again the par-four 18th with an average of 4.71.

* The 14th has been the easiest for the week with a 4.65 average. The 18th has played harder than the par-five 14th with an average of 4.72.

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NCAA Football Betting : USC's reward: Top spot in Top 25

NEW YORK (AP) -By staying away from the cupcakes, Southern California earned itself a slim new ranking.

No. 1 always seems to fit USC.

Southern California jumped two spots to No. 1 in The Associated Press Top 25 on Tuesday, rewarded by voters for opening the season with a dominant performance on the road against a BCS conference opponent.

Georgia and Ohio State, the preseason Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, started their seasons with glorified scrimmages at home against FCS (formerly I-AA) teams. USC, however, traveled across country to face Virginia and could not have been more impressive in a 52-7 victory.

Georgia fell to No. 2 and Ohio State to No 3.

"We realize that rankings so early in a season are certainly fluid. But rankings do help establish a pecking order for things later in the season," USC coach Pete Carroll said in a statement. "As for moving into the No. 1 spot, it's nice to know that people think highly of our team."

Since reaching No. 1 on Dec. 7, 2003, the final-regular season AP poll of that season, USC has been No. 1 in 39 polls, by far the most of any team during that time.

"Some have said the voters are taking our schedule into consideration," Carroll said. "Our philosophy has always been to schedule outstanding opponents. We need to play challenging games like we just did, traveling across the country to open the season at Virginia. Games like that bring out our best and make us stronger as a team."

The latest voting was close. USC received 21 first-place votes and 1,539 points from the 65-member media panel. Georgia had 20 first-place votes and 1,506 points. Ohio State got 15 first-place votes and 1,497 points.

"I'd say we've evolved as pollsters," said Stewart Mandel of SI.com, who moved USC up to No. 1. "In the past, voters just kind of automatically moved teams up and kept teams where they were if they won."

Georgia beat Georgia Southern 45-21 on Saturday and Ohio State opened with a 43-0 win over Youngstown State.

"There's a bit of a growing backlash for the amount of teams that open with I-AA cupcakes," said Mandel, whose book "Bowls, Polls and Tattered Souls" chronicles college football's controversies. "To see a team [USC] go on the road and play a New Year's Day bowl team from last season, and not only play them but destroy them, how could you not reward that team?"

USC also jumped past Georgia to No. 1 in the USA Today coaches' poll, which has the same top five as the AP poll.

"It's definitely a privilege to be No. 1. But it's not heartbreaking to me if we drop," Georgia offensive lineman Josh Davis said. "It doesn't matter right now what we're ranked. What matters is our next game and right now, that's Central Michigan. The only time the polls matter is in December. That's when the polls matter."

While the Bulldogs opened easy, their schedule ultimately should be as difficult as any team's. Georgia's big nonconference test is at No. 15 Arizona State on Sept. 20. The Bulldogs also face six Southeastern Conference rivals that've been ranked in the first two polls.

As for Ohio State, the Buckeyes play at USC on Sept. 13 before getting into the Big Ten schedule.

But of the teams in this week's top 10, USC and Texas are the only ones that don't play an FCS opponent, and the Trojans are the only team that doesn't play a team from a non-BCS conference.

Get the latest 2009 BCS Championship odds at MySportsbook.com.

The last team to drop from No. 1 after a victory was USC last season. LSU jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 when it beat Tulane 34-9, the same week the Trojans edged Washington 27-24 on the road.

The last preseason No. 1 team to lose the top spot after winning its opening game was Florida in 2001. The Gators beat Marshall 49-14, but preseason No. 2 Miami opened with a 33-7 victory over Penn State and the Hurricanes jumped to No. 1 with Florida slipping to second.

The next four teams in the new Top 25 stayed the same: No. 4 Oklahoma (two first-place votes), No. 5 Florida (five first-place votes), No. 6 Missouri (one first-place vote), No. 7 LSU (one first-place vote) and No. 8 West Virginia.

No. 9 Auburn and No. 10 Texas each moved up a spot, taking advantage of Clemson's big drop. Clemson, ninth in the preseason, fell out after losing 34-10 to Alabama on Saturday.

Also falling out after losses were Virginia Tech, Pittsburgh and Tennessee.

Moving into the rankings were No. 21 Fresno State, No. 22 Utah, No. 23 UCLA and No. 24 South Carolina.

Alabama moved up 11 spots after its big victory over Clemson.

The second 10 started with No. 11 Wisconsin, followed by Texas Tech, Alabama and Kansas. BYU and Arizona State were tied for 15th. Rivals BYU and Utah are both ranked for the first time since 1996.

South Florida was No. 17, ahead of Oregon, Penn State and Wake Forest at No. 20.

The final five were all the teams to move into the ranking, except for Illinois, which dropped four spots and tied South Carolina for No. 24.

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