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01/19/2012 - George, South Africa (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Nicolas Colsaerts fired a nine-under 64 on Thursday to take the opening-round lead of the Volvo Golf Champions event.
He owns a four-stroke cushion after round one at the par-73 Links at Fancourt.
The field is an exclusive one with only winners from last year's European Tour schedule, winners from the first two events of 2012 and current tour members under the age of 50 with more than 10 victories.
Last week's Joburg Open winner Branden Grace, Thomas Aiken and Tom Lewis share second place at five-under 68.
Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington, 2010 British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen, David Horsey and Joost Luiten are tied for fifth at four-under-par 69.
Everyone is chasing Colsaerts, a Belgian who gained entry into the field this week thanks to his victory at last year's China Open.
Colsaerts broke into red figures with a 12-foot birdie putt at the second, then dropped a shot four holes later. He polished off his front nine with consecutive birdies at eight and nine.
Those back-to-back birdies before the turn kicked off an amazing run. He birdied 10 and 11 for four birdies in a row, then, after a par at the 12th, birdied the 13th.
Colsaerts parred the 14th hole, but got into the clubhouse in grand style.
He knocked his approach to six feet to set up birdie at the 15th. Colsaerts drained a putt of similar length for birdie at No. 16 and tallied his third straight birdie at the par-three 17th.
Colsaerts, now three shots ahead at eight-under par, two-putted from 35 feet at the par-five closing hole to sign for his nine-under 64.
"This is probably the best of my life. It's a serious test of golf," said Colsaerts. "I think the longest putt I holed was from 12 feet on the second."
Colin Montgomerie, in the field this week due to his career wins total, shot a three-under 71 and is knotted in ninth place with Matthew Zions.
The tournament is without a defending champion. Paul Casey won last year, but is out of action for at least two months after he dislocated his right shoulder in a snowboarding accident in Colorado.
Reigning British Open champion Darren Clarke only managed a one-over 74 and is tied for 24th, while last year's Masters winner, Charl Schwartzel, struggled to a two-over 75 on Thursday.
NOTES: Colsaerts led the European Tour in driving distance two years ago...This was not Colsaerts' lowest round on tour. He fired 62s in Indonesia in 2005 and the Netherlands two years ago, but both came on par-70 layouts...Ernie Els, who is still not eligible for the Masters, shot a two- under 71.
<< No shortage of storylines for this Super Bowl
Philadelphia, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Sibling rivalries have always made for
great tales. Think Cain versus Abel. Romulus and Remus. Marcia and Jan.
So the prospect of brotherly warfare as the backdrop for Super Bowl XLVI should
bring some add
<< Djokovic, Murray, Hewitt move on in Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champion Novak Djokovic
and runner-up Andy Murray were among Thursday's second-round winners, as was
home favorite Lleyton Hewitt, who beat an injured Andy Roddick at the
Australian Open.
<< Djokovic, Murray, Ferrer advance at Aussie Open
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champ Novak Djokovic and
runner-up Andy Murray, as well as fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer, were
each winners on Thursday, advancing to the third round of the Australian Open.
Djokovic
<< Djokovic, Ferrer advance at Aussie Open
Melbourne, Australia (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Last year's champ Novak Djokovic and
fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer were both winners on Thursday, advancing to
the third round of the Australian Open.
Djokovic, the tournament's top seed, rolled
Surprising Jazz entertain Mavs in Salt Lake City >>
(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Utah, perhaps the most surprising team in the Western
Conference, will aim to continue its stellar play at home against the reigning
NBA champion Dallas Mavericks.
After starting the season 0-2 the Jazz have rattled off ni
No. 15 Virginia heads south to take on Georgia Tech >>
Atlanta, GA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - ACC rivals square off in Atlanta tonight, as
the 15th-ranked Virginia Cavaliers tangle with the Georgia Tech Yellow
Jackets.
Virginia is enjoying a tremendous season to this point, logging wins in 14 of
its fi
Penn State plays host to No. 22 Illinois >>
University Park, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Off to an ugly start in Big Ten
Conference play, the Penn State Nittany Lions now have to deal with the
arrival of 22nd-ranked Illinois to Happy Valley tonight.
Outside of a 65-45 thumping of Purdue a c
Waves hope to crash down on 24th-ranked Gaels >>
Moraga, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Two teams heading in drastically different
directions when it comes to competing in the West Coast Conference meet in
Moraga, California tonight, as the Pepperdine Waves take their best shot
against the 24th-ranked
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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