10/31/2008 - Sonoma, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Andy Bean posted a six-under-par 66 on Friday to move atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship.
Bean finished 36 holes at 10-under 134 and is one clear at Sonoma Golf Club.
Overnight co-leader Nick Price, who is still searching for his first victory on the Champions Tour, birdied the last for a three-under 69 and is in the clubhouse at minus-nine.
Tom Jenkins fired an eight-under 64 and vaulted into a tie for third place. Scott Hoch (66) and Gene Jones (67) joined Jenkins at eight-under-par 136.
This is the final event of the season and it's reserved for the top-30 players on the money list, or in this case the top 29. Tom Watson is eligible but is recovering from hip surgery.
At stake, besides this tournament title, is the year-long Charles Schwab Cup Championship and its $1 million annuity.
Jay Haas leads Fred Funk by only 12 points, making this the closest race heading into the season finale. Bernhard Langer, Eduardo Romero and John Cook all can win as well, although the leader is in good shape.
Haas carded a three-under 69 on Friday and is part of a large group tied for ninth at minus-six. Cook shot a 68 to match Haas at 138, while Langer and Romero are tied for 22nd at minus-one.
Funk only managed a one-under 71 and is 28th in the 29-player field at plus- one.
Bean flew out of the gate on Friday with back-to-back birdies at one and two. He dropped his only shot of the round at the par-three seventh, but his play on the back nine jumped him up the leaderboard.
Bean started off his second nine same as the first. He birdied 10 and 11 to get to seven-under par for the championship.
At the par-five 13th, Bean rolled in an eight-foot birdie putt to tie for first. One hole later, he drained a long birdie putt to grab sole possession of the lead.
Bean polished off his third birdie in a row thanks to an 18-footer at the 15th. He had a putt of similar length for a fourth consecutive birdie at 16 but missed.
Bean nearly holed a chip from off the green at 17 but settled for par. He knocked his approach to seven feet at 18, but the ball stayed above ground.
However, Bean is in decent shape for a third win on the Champions Tour and a second this year. He took home the trophy at the Regions Charity Classic.
Price didn't do much on Friday. He birdied the par-three fourth but waited for his next birdie until the 15th.
The three-time major winner rolled in a 22-footer for birdie at the last to get into the final group on Saturday, when inclement weather is expected to hammer the area.
"I kind of scratched it around today and shot 69, so I'm really happy," said Price. "If the conditions are really bad, I don't think anyone's going to score well tomorrow."
David Eger shared the first-round lead with Price, but could muster only a one-under 71. He is tied for sixth place with Loren Roberts and Brad Bryant, who both shot 68s on Friday, at seven-under 137.
Haas and Cook were joined in ninth by Senior Players Championship winner D.A. Weibring (68), Tom Kite (70) and Mike Goodes (71).
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Landover, MD (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Redskins wide receiver Santana Moss is
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Palmer leads suspended Ginn sur Mer Classic. >>
Palm Coast, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Palmer only needed a one-under 71 on
Friday to grab sole possession of the second-round lead of the Ginn sur
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Palmer finished 36 holes at six-under 138 and is one clear
Palmer leads suspended Ginn sur Mer Classic >>
Palm Coast, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Ryan Palmer only needed a one-under 71 on
Friday to grab sole possession of the second-round lead of the Ginn sur
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Palmer finished 36 holes at six-under 138 and is one clear
Pistons officially ink Maxiell to extension >>
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Matthews steps down as Argos coach >>
Toronto, Ontario (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Don Matthews stepped down as the head
coach of the Toronto Argonauts Friday, and said his days as a coach are over.
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becau
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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The Indianapolis Colts know that winning the Super Bowl last season put a huge target on their backs, and they expect opponents to go all-out to knock them from the top of the mountain.
They’ll get their first test from the New Orleans Saints this Thursday night. The defending champs had nothing but good things to say about the New Orleans defense this past week, praising their opponents’ pass rush and run-stopping abilities.
"They play very aggressively," head coach Tony Dungy told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. "They play a lot of man-to-man coverage, and they come after you. They have good pass rushers, and they're going to try to pressure us, I'm sure."
Both center Jeff Saturday and quarterback Peyton Manning gave New Orleans’ front four props, admitting keeping guys like Will Smithand Charles Grant contained would be a tall task for the offensive line.
New Orleans ranked second in total defense during the preseason at a sportsbook, allowing just under 233 yards per game. Last season, the defense finished 11th in the league after giving up 307.3 yards and 20.1 points per contest.
Not so sound on the ground
If Indianapolis' efficient offense has a weakness it has to be its running attack. The Colts one-two-punch of Dominic Rhodes and Joseph Addai is no longer, leaving the bulk of the carries to Addai, the second-year back out of LSU.
Former Saskatchewan Roughrider Kenton Keith was named Addai’s backup this week after beating out DeDe Dorsey for the second-string position. Indy has only three backs on the roster right now, including fullback Luke Lawton, and coach Dungy is aware of the thinness of his ground game. Sports Betting lines on the game can be found at BettingExpress.com
“We’ll continue to look. Luke Lawton’s done a good job for us too. So probably getting a third true tailback is something that we’d like to do,” Dungy told the Indiana Tribune-Star.
Last season, Addai rushed for over 1,000 yards in his rookie campaign and scored seven touchdowns on the ground.
Brees says bring it on
Opening the season on the road against the defending Super Bowl champions is not the way most teams would like to kick off their year – unless you’re the New Orleans Saints or their quarterback Drew Brees. This internet Sportsbooks had the Saints as the favorites.
Brees told the New Orleans Times-Picayune that he is excited to get the regular season started and the Colts are a great challenge for him and his teammates. The 28-year-old QB, entering his second season with the Saints, is expecting a wild environment in the RCA Dome this Thursday when the franchise celebrates its 2007-2007 championship.
Brees said he sees the opening game scheduling as an honor and a testament to how well New Orleans did last season. The Saints missed facing the Colts in the Super Bowl by one game, losing to the Chicago Bearsin the NFC Championship game.
"I mean, people think we can hang with these guys," Brees told reporters. "Even if they didn't, it wouldn't matter what they thought because as a team we're very confident. We know what we can do. We're not satisfied where we finished the season last year. And we've been looking forward to this opportunity for a long time."
SportsBooks ready for a shootout
Oddsmakers are preparing for some fireworks this Thursday when the NFL season kicks off. online Sportsbooks have Thursday’s total set at a whopping 52 points, accounting for two of the league’s most explosive offenses.
“This is like must-see TV,” Saints cornerback and former Colt Jason David told the Baton Rouge Advocate. “It’s two exciting offenses with great players. You’ve got a lot of star power on offense. At any given time a big play can happen. If I was a fan, I wouldn’t miss a snap.”
New Orleans, who ranked No.1 in total offense last season, can go blow-for-blow with the Colts’ attack. Head coach Sean Payton’s offensive schemes will get even better production out of Drew Brees, Reggie Bush and receiver Marques Colston now that they’ve each had a season of playing together under their belts.
The Saints and Colts were the top two passing teams in the NFL last year, but while Indianapolis managed to put up almost 27 points per game, New Orleans struggled to capitalize on their efforts. The Saints ranked fifth in points per game.
“Yards are great,” running backDeuce McAllister told reporters, “but to be able to score more touchdowns would be important for us.”
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