Wie aces her way to Canadian Open lead

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08/26/2010 - Winnipeg, MB (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Michelle Wie aced the par-three 11th hole on Thursday en route to a seven-under 65 and the first-round lead of the Canadian Women's Open.

"It was a fun day out there today, it was a good pairing," said Wie. "Just went out there and tried to have fun. Obviously it worked out well for me on 11. But it was pretty cool."

Already three-under on her round, Wie hit a five-iron at the 183-yard, par- three 11th. The ball landed on the putting surface and rolled in for her second ace in tournament action.

"It was the first time I had actually seen it go in in a tournament," admitted Wie. "It was pretty cool. It was surreal. I didn't believe it actually happened.

"They make that sound like it's going to go in and make that noise and everyone's hands go up. It was pretty crazy."

Wie's hole-in-one wasn't her only heroics on Thursday. She holed out from a bunker at the par-four 17th that got her to seven-under par for the championship.

"It just was an uphill lie, uphill to the green, and I just really thought I could make it, and I went up there, really thought about it, just trusted it, and kind of did what I thought it would do," said Wie.

Sarah Kemp posted a four-under 68 and is alone in second place at St. Charles Country Club.

Defending champion Suzann Pettersen, who won this title last year at Priddis Greens Golf & Country Club, carded a three-under 69 and is alone in third place at minus-three.

"It was windy out there today," said Pettersen. "It was a little different wind than the practice rounds and the pro-am, but hit the ball pretty good, made my fair share of putts, and I mean, I think I hit 17 greens, so that was pretty good."

Wind aside, Thursday's story was Wie.

She collected her first birdie at the par-four third and added back-to-back birdies at five and six to get to three-under par.

Wie parred the next four around the turn, then recorded her ace at 11 to take the lead at minus-five. She bogeyed the next hole, but went on another mini- run to grab the lead.

She rattled off back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th, both par fives, and found herself two strokes clear at six-under par. Wie's hole-out birdie at 17 padded her cushion, and she took the first-round lead for the first time since her days as an amateur at the 2005 U.S. Women's Open.

"It's been a long time ago. It's pretty cool, you know, but it means nothing, really," said Wie. "Today is over and done with. We still have three more days of the tournament, so I've just really got to focus and try to play better every day."

Jiyai Shin, Jane Park, Meredith Duncan, Pernilla Lindberg, Ilhee Lee, Kristy McPherson, Karen Stupples and Amy Hung are knotted in fourth place at two- under 70.

NOTES: World No. 1 Ai Miyazato struggled to a two-over 74 and is tied for 63rd place...Cristie Kerr, who was No. 1 two weeks ago, was a stroke worse with a three-over 75...Shi Hyun Ahn and Ilmi Chung were disqualified on Thursday.

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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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