Harrington Week Salvage Smash From Putt

Golf Betting Lines

Several big-name players missed the 54-hole cut of one-under-par 214. Paul McGinley (215), David Howell (217), defending champion Colin Montgomerie (220) and Darren Clarke (224) all missed Sunday's final round.

 

Cary, NC (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tom Jenkins used four back-nine birdies on Saturday to post a six-under 66 and move atop the leaderboard after two rounds of the SAS Championship. He stands at 10-under-par 134 and is one ahead at Prestonwood Country Club. Chip Beck, playing in his third Champions Tour event, fired a seven-under 65 and is tied for second place with overnight co-leader Loren Roberts, who shot a four-under 68. The pair is knotted at minus-nine.

 

Jenkins began the second round one shot behind the first-round co-leaders and did not make up much ground early. He parred his first four holes, but drew closer with back-to-back birdies at five and six.

 

Jenkins rolled in a 17-foot birdie putt at 13, while Adcock made a mess of the hole en route to a bogey. Jenkins was now one ahead, but Roberts was making a move.

 

Both Roberts and Jenkins birdied the 15th and 17th holes. Jenkins' 17-footer at 17 boosted him to 10-under par. Jenkins had 31 feet for birdie at the last, but two-putted for par. Roberts again had a makable birdie try from 13 feet at the last, but missed.

 

He ran home a nine-foot birdie putt at 12, then parred his next two. From there, Beck collected four consecutive birdies to close his round, including a six-footer at the last.

 

"It's a big horse race here," said Beck, looking for his first win since 1992. "I'm just so thankful to have the opportunity to play golf again. It's like heaven on earth."

 

Jay Haas, second to Roberts on the tour's money list, carded a six-under 66 and is alone in fifth place at seven-under-par 137. Last week's winner Andy Bean (69) and Jim Ahern (70) are tied for sixth place at minus-five.

 

St. Andrews, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Padraig Harrington carded a four- under 68 Sunday and ran away with his second Alfred Dunhill Links Championship title. Harrington finished at 16-under-par 271, five clear of the field. The Irishman also won this title in 2002.

 

Bradley Dredge, who played with Harrington, shared the lead with the Irishman as they went to the 11th hole. However, the Welshman struggled to a double- bogey on 11 and never was able to catch up. He drained a birdie putt at the last to finish alongside Anthony Wall and Edward Loar.

 

That trio shared second place at 11-under-par 276. World No. 6 Ernie Els closed with a 70 to take fifth at minus-10.

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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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