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05/08/2009 - Ponte Vedra Beach, FL (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Alex Cejka posted a five-under 67 on Friday to move atop the leaderboard after the second round of The Players Championship.
Cejka finished 36 holes at 11-under 133 and is two clear of Ian Poulter, who managed a four-under 68 on Friday, at the famous Stadium Course at the TPC at Sawgrass.
Masters champion Angel Cabrera tallied nine birdies Friday, including seven in a 10-hole span, and ended up with a seven-under 65. That vaulted the two-time major winner into a tie for third at minus-seven.
"All tournaments are important to me. I really haven't changed the way I prepare for them," said Cabrera. "My tee shots were pretty much the difference today. I was able to get the hole started out right."
Tiger Woods managed a three-under 69 and finished two rounds at minus-four. The 2001 champion, who hasn't finished inside the top-10 here since that win, is tied for 22nd place.
Woods was even at the turn after a six-foot birdie at nine, but a 15-foot birdie putt at 10 and a two-putt birdie at 11 got him to three-under for the championship.
He failed to save par from a bunker at the 12th, but back-to-back birdies from the 14th got him to four-under for the tournament. Woods hit a spectacular punch shot from the right rough by a tree at the last, but could not hole his 10-footer for birdie.
"I made a couple of mistakes today, but overall I'm still right back in the ball game," said Woods, who found several terrible lies en route to his 69. "Take your medicine sometimes and move on from there."
One player who didn't have to take his medicine much on Friday was Cejka.
He parred the first hole Friday, but made a great save from left of the green at the par-five second for a birdie. Cejka knocked his tee ball to 10 feet at the par-three third and canned the birdie putt. Cejka made it three in a row at the fourth when he drained a 15-footer.
At the par-three seventh, Cejka hit a seven-iron inside a foot. He tapped in for a birdie, then converted a 30-foot par save at the very next hole to stay at 10-under par for the championship.
After he made the turn, Cejka hit his approach almost 20 feet left of the hole, but slightly off the putting surface. He holed that birdie effort to get to minus-11 and tapped in a short birdie putt at the par-five 11th to become the first player to get to 12-under par.
Cejka parred his next three holes, but found some trouble at the 15th when his approach landed in a greenside bunker. He could not get up and down for par and fell back to minus-11.
Cejka parred 16 and 17, but once again found some problems, this time at the par-four closing hole. He drove into the right rough and missed the green with his second. The best Cejka could muster was a pitch to 18 feet, but he ran home the par putt to finish at 11-under par.
"I didn't really hit the ball as well as yesterday. Yesterday was kind of flawless," said Cejka. "But I still made a couple good up-and-downs, and when I had a birdie chance I took it."
Cejka is quite an interesting leader.
At the end of last season, Cejka had neck fusion surgery and admittedly, came back too soon. He had an epidural injection in his neck just last week to curtail some numbness in his arm and fingers.
"It's still a little bit numb, but there's no pain," he said.
But Cejka's story predates neck surgery or the lead in the Players Championship.
When Cejka was nine years old, he and his father fled Communist Czechoslovakia. They went to Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Italy and eventually landed in Germany.
"I was too young to understand what's going on," said Cejka. "My dad told nobody what he was doing. I was nine years old. Back then I didn't know. For me it was a vacation, so for me it was a smooth ride."
That ride went by foot, by train, by bike and even through water.
"I think we swam across the Rhine," said Cejka, a four-time winner on the European Tour.
He hit a few balls in Czechoslovakia, but started taking lessons when he and his father settled in Germany. Cejka became more interested in golf in the mid-80s when Bernhard Langer started to burst on to the scene.
"I skipped school and I watched him even in pro-ams, and he was my inspiration," Cejka said of Langer. "He was the only German guy who was on Tour, the only German guy who won tournaments, the only German who won a major, so that was inspiration."
Cabrera was joined in third by 2001 PGA Champion David Toms (70), Kevin Na (66), Jason Dufner (70), John Mallinger (71) and world No. 9 Henrik Stenson (69).
Overnight-leader Ben Crane struggled to a one-over 73 on Friday and fell into a tie for ninth with Richard S. Johnson (72), Jeff Overton (67) and Tim Petrovic (70) at six-under 138.
The last two winners of this championship, Phil Mickelson (2007) and Sergio Garcia (2008), both made the cut on the number at even-par 144.
Among those who did make the weekend were: Adam Scott (145), Davis Love III (147), last week's Quail Hollow Championship winner Sean O'Hair (148), 2008 playoff loser Paul Goydos (148) and Anthony Kim (155).
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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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