Pavin joins Langer in lead at Carnoustie

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07/23/2010 - Carnoustie, Scotland (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - American Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin shot his second straight two-under 69 on Friday to join Bernhard Langer atop the leaderboard after the second round of the Senior British Open Championship.

Pavin and Langer, a first-round co-leader who carded an even-par 71 on Friday, finished 36 holes at four-under 138 at Carnoustie.

Former Masters champion Ian Woosnam shared low round of the day honors on Friday with a four-under 67. He vaulted into a tie for third place with Dan Forsman (71), Larry Mize (70) and Jay Haas (69). The group is knotted at minus-three.

Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion who is making his third Champions Tour start, posted his second straight one-under 70 on Friday and is alone in seventh at two-under 140.

Tom Watson, a five-time British Open winner and three-time Senior Open champion, posted an even-par 71 and moved into a tie for 24th place at plus- three.

They are chasing a pair of major champions from their days on the PGA Tour, but a duo who has yet to break through in one of the big five events on the Champions Tour.

Pavin, a tour rookie, started well enough with five consecutive pars. He broke into red figures with a birdie at the par-five sixth, his second in as many rounds at the 565-yard hole.

He closed with three straight pars, but went on a mini run to start the back nine. Pavin birdied his first two holes of the second side and reached six- under par when he birdied the par-three 16th.

Pavin found trouble at the par-four closing hole. Pavin, never one of the longest hitters in the game, hooked a five-wood approach shot out of bounds. He walked off with a double-bogey that cost him sole possession of first place.

"I played pretty solidly today," said Pavin. "Wish I could take that shot over on 18. I was pleased with the day - I played well. I had a few times when I put myself in a little bit of trouble, but extricated myself and made some good par putts coming in and a nice birdie on 16."

Langer, like Pavin, started decently with five straight pars on Friday. He hit a five-iron to 50 feet with his second at the par-five sixth and two-putted for birdie.

He made it two in a row thanks to a seven-footer at No. 7. Langer got it to six-under par for the championship and was in the lead with Pavin in the clubhouse, but, like almost everyone in the field, the back nine tripped up Langer.

The German Hall of Famer came undone on the two back-nine par threes at Carnoustie. He landed in a pot bunker at the 13th en route to a bogey, then three-putted from off the green at No. 16 for his second bogey of the second round.

Those two hiccups cost Langer first, but he was satisfied with his performance on Friday.

"Overall, I'm pretty pleased," said Langer, a 10-time winner on the Champions Tour, including two victories in 2010. "There's no real birdie hole or easy hole. This course can get you on any hole. The wind was really blowing all day. It made links golf that much harder."

First-round co-leader Jay Don Blake struggled to a three-over 74 on Friday and fell into a tie for eighth place with 2008 runner-up John Cook (72) and Russ Cochran (71). The trio is knotted at one-under 141.

NOTES: Pavin won the 1995 U.S. Open and Langer captured the Masters in 1985 and 1993...The third first-round co-leader Carl Mason, who is tied for most wins in European Senior Tour history with 23, shot a five-over 76 and fell into a tie for 13th at plus-one...Defending champion Loren Roberts is also one-over par...The 36-hole cut fell at seven-over 149 and Chip Beck, Craig Stadler and Sandy Lyle missed the mark.

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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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Kurt Warner to start, Matt Leinart to watch

Despite the debate that's swirling , Kurt Warner will remain the starting quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals, coach Dennis Green said today. The Arizona Cardinals are the +7 point underdog at online sportsbook MySportsbook.com for this Sunday's game.

Green's comment came in a statement released by the team following an ESPN report that Green decided that rookie Matt Leinart would replace Warner as starter for Sunday's game at Atlanta.

"Generally talking about the starting lineup is not something we do," Green told the AP. "However, given the speculation that was out there we want to make it clear. We're disappointed after last week, but we still expect to be a playoff football team and we fully expect Kurt Warner to be the quarterback that leads us. That has not changed."

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