Japan's Fudoh leads Women's British Open

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08/02/2008 - Berkshire, England (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Japan's Yuri Fudoh will carry the lead into the final round of the Women's British Open after shooting a three-under 69 in the third round on Saturday.

Fudoh, a 31-year-old star on the Japan LPGA Tour who is now chasing history on the LPGA Tour, stood at 13-under 203 for a one-shot lead over Ji-Yai Shin of Korea.

The two Asian players had shared the second-round lead after posting 68s on Friday, and they were still tied until Shin made a bogey at the 18th hole on Saturday to post a two-under 70.

Shin, who plays regularly on the Korean LPGA Tour when she's not competing in big tournaments on the LPGA Tour, was at 12-under 204 and one shot ahead of Japan's Ai Miyazato (68) for second place.

Seven-time major champion Juli Inkster, who is looking to become the oldest major winner at the age of 48, shot a 71 and shared fourth place with 2007 U.S. Women's Open champion Cristie Kerr (70) at 10-under 206.

Natalie Gulbis (70) led a four-way tie at nine-under 207, and defending champion Lorena Ochoa was still very much in the hunt for her third major after shooting a 71 for a share of 10th place at eight-under 208.

Ochoa ended the day five shots off the lead only after making three bogeys without a birdie on the back nine. The women's world No. 1 had moved herself near the top of the leaderboard with four-under 32 on the front side.

Further down in the pack, Annika Sorenstam posted her best score of the tournament (70) but remained too far off the lead to make a challenge for her 11th major championship.

The retiring Hall of Famer, who won the 2003 Women's British Open, stood at two-under 214 -- tied for 38th place in what could be her last major championship.

Fudoh is looking to become only the second Japanese player to win a major after Chako Higuchi at the 1977 LPGA Championship (Ayako Okamoto claimed the 1984 Women's British Open 17 years before it became an LPGA Tour major).

The first player in Japan to earn the equivalent of $10 million for her career, Fudoh has a world ranking of 22 despite not playing in an LPGA Tour event since the Mizuno Classic in Japan last November.

Fudoh owns dozens of Japan LPGA titles, but has never won on the LPGA Tour.

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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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