Gainey makes Nationwide Tour history

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07/17/2010 - Maineville, OH (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Tommy Gainey fired a 10-under 62 on Saturday and extended his lead after three rounds of the inaugural Chiquita Classic.

Gainey finished 54 holes at 24-under 192 and is four strokes clear at TPC River's Bend, as that 24-under score matched the Nationwide Tour's record for most strokes under par after 54 holes.

"It's a great layout. I'm not hitting it very far off the tee, but I'm hitting pretty straight," said Gainey. "I'm just making putts. I'm hitting some solid iron shots, hitting them pretty close and making putts. That's how I've shot the numbers I've shot so far."

Arjun Atwal was 24-under after three rounds of the 2008 Chattanooga Classic. Atwal went on to victory two years ago and if Gainey can match that feat, it would be his second win of the season.

Gainey captured the Melwood Prince George's County Open and is fifth on the Nationwide Tour money list. Even without a victory on Sunday Gainey is close to being a lock for a PGA Tour card next year through his spot on the money list. But another win would put him one away from the automatic PGA Tour promotion for winning three times in one season on the Nationwide Tour.

Colt Knost shot an eight-under 64 and is alone in second at minus-20. Justin Smith closed with a birdie and an eagle for a five-under 67 and is third at 18-under 198.

Everyone will be chasing Gainey, who got off to a great start on Saturday with a birdie at three and an unlikely eagle at the par-four second. Gainey two- putted for birdie on the par-five eighth and 11th holes, but was only two ahead.

Knost made three birdies in a four-hole span from the 11th to trim the margin to one. Gainey, playing in the group behind Knost, birdied 11 and hit a spectacular second from the rough to eight feet to set up birdie at 13. Gainey gave himself a tap-in birdie at the 14th to remain two in front.

Knost stopped making birdies, but Gainey didn't. At the 15th, Gainey hit his approach to six feet and drained the birdie effort. His putter stayed hot at the very next hole when he ran home a 30-footer for birdie to move four clear of Knost.

At the last, Knost made a birdie to momentarily cut the lead to three. Gainey reached the green in two at the par-five closing hole and converted his six- foot birdie putt to reach the Nationwide Tour record books.

Chris Kirk, the leading money winner on the Nationwide Tour, posted a four- under 68 and is tied for fourth place with first-round leader Peter Tomasulo (65) and Joe Affrunti (67). The trio is knotted at 17-under 199.

Jamie Lovemark (64), Darron Stiles (64), Scott Stallings (65), Dave Schultz (63), Geoffrey Sisk (66) and Brendan Steele (68) share seventh place at minus-16.

NOTES: Only 22 players of the 68 who made the cut failed to break 70 on Saturday...Gainey, known as "Two Gloves" since he wears gloves on both hands, was a contestant on The Golf Channel's "Big Break" series...With a win on Sunday, Gainey would move to first on the Nationwide Tour money list.

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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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