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01/21/2012 - Kaupulehu-Kona, HI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dan Forsman torched the back nine in 30 strokes Saturday to take the second-round lead of the Mitsubishi Electric Championship.
Forsman, who needed only nine putts on the back nine and 21 for the round, fired a seven-under 65 and finished 36 holes at 12-under 132. He leads by two strokes at Hualalai Golf Course, the site of the season-opener on the Champions Tour.
Tom Watson (65), Brad Bryant (64) and Jeff Sluman (66) are tied for second place at 10-under 134.
It was a tale of two nines for the leader on Saturday.
Forsman had a very average opening nine with eight pars and a lone birdie the par-five seventh. After the turn, he birdied 10 and 11, then played his final six hole brilliantly to surge to the top of the leaderboard.
At the 13th, Forsman's approach stopped nine feet from the hole and he poured in the birdie effort. He pitched his third at the par-five 14th to three feet and converted the short birdie putt to join the group in the lead at 10-under par.
After pars at 15 and 16, Forsman's tee ball at the par-three 17th came to rest 20 feet from the flagstick. He watched as his playing partner Michael Allen missed from a similar spot and the lesson paid off handsomely. Forsman poured in the birdie effort to take sole possession of first at minus-11.
Forsman's drive at the closing hole left him with a tricky angle to the pin, but it hardly mattered. He stuffed his approach inside four feet and rolled in the birdie putt to grab a two-shot lead.
"It was an exciting back nine for me," Forsman said in a televised interview. "I got off to a little bit of a rough start. The back nine I caught fire and finished 30 on the back for a 65."
Forsman endured through a rough 2011 season. He posted only one top 10, a tie for fourth at the Montreal Championship, but his 2012 has showed quite a bit of promise.
"I'm thrilled to be in the position I'm in," Forsman said on TV. "Early in the year, I'm getting started here. It's been magnificent at this point, hopefully it'll finish up nice tomorrow for me."
Allen bogeyed the last for a four-under 68. He is tied for fifth place with Jay Haas, who carded a three-under 69 Saturday, at nine-under 135.
Defending champion John Cook (67), Jay Don Blake (67), Denis Watson (67), Loren Roberts (70) and first-round co-leader Bruce Vaughan (71) share seventh at eight-under 136.
NOTES: Forsman owns two Champions Tour victories - 2009 AT&T Champions Classic and 2010 Regions Charity Classic...First-round co-leader and reigning Champions Tour Player of the Year Tom Lehman only managed an even-par 72 and is tied for 12th at seven-under par...Fred Couples shot a six-under 66 and shares 14th at minus-six.
<< Red Wings extend home win streak to 16
Detroit, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Valtteri Filppula scored the only goal of the
shootout as Detroit extended its franchise-record home winning streak to 16
games with a 3-2 victory over Columbus.
In the fourth round, Filppula quickly fake
<< Mississippi State downs Vanderbilt in OT
Nashville, TN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Dee Bost's layup with 51 seconds remaining in
overtime turned out to be the game-winner as No. 18 Mississippi State overcame
a double-digit halftime deficit to take down Vanderbilt, 78-77.
Vanderbilt had a
<< Tavares lifts Isles over 'Canes in OT
Uniondale, NY (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - John Tavares was what the Islanders needed on
Saturday night.
The All-Star forward netted both New York goals, including the game-winner at
3:58 of the overtime period as the Isles edged the Carolina Hurrica
<< No. 7 Rutgers downs South Florida
Tampa, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - April Sykes poured in a game-high 23 points and
grabbed 10 rebounds as seventh-ranked Rutgers took down South Florida, 72-66,
on Saturday.
Khadijah Rushdan finished with 16 points and seven rebounds, while Moniqu
No. 6 Ohio State routs Nebraska >>
Lincoln, NE (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - William Buford scored a game-high 15 points as
No. 6 Ohio State used a strong defensive effort to roll over Nebraska, 79-45,
on Saturday.
Jared Sullinger and Deshaun Thomas added 14 points apiece for the
U.S. defender Krieger sustains major knee injury >>
Chicago, IL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - United States women's national team defender
Ali Krieger suffered a torn ACL and MCL in her right knee, it was confirmed on
Saturday.
Krieger sustained the injury in Friday's 14-0 win over the Dominican Rep
Stuckey helps Pistons edge Blazers >>
Auburn Hills, MI (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Rodney Stuckey finished with 28 points and
the Detroit Pistons held on for a 94-91 victory over the Portland Trail
Blazers.
Tayshaun Prince added 17 points for the Pistons, who ended a four-game sl
Martin helps Rockets hold off Spurs >>
Houston, TX (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kevin Martin scored a team-high 25 points as
the Houston Rockets held off a late surge by the San Antonio Spurs to take a
105-102 victory.
Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic netted 14 points apiece, while Luis S
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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