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Monday, September 19, 2011
Justin Rose wins BMW Championship; in strong FedEx Cup position going into the Tour Championship
Rose finishes 2 strokes ahead of runnerup John Senden in the next-to-last tourney of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Justin Rose after chipping in for a birdie on the 17th hole during the fourth round of the BMW Championship. Rose won the tourney, the next-to-last event in the FedEx Cup playoffs.LEMONT, Illinois -- Right when it looked as though Justin Rose might blow a big lead, he chipped in for birdie on the 17th hole to secure a two-shot victory Sunday in the BMW Championship that sends him to East Lake for a shot at $10 million.
Rose closed with an even-par 71 in the rain at Cog Hill for his first win of the year, and it came at just the right time. He was not assured of making the FedEx Cup finale at the Tour Championship, and now is one of five players who only have to win at East Lake next week to collect golf’s biggest bonus.
But it wasn’t easy.
Five shots ahead with 10 holes to play, Rose’s lead was down to one after he drove into the trees on the par-5 15th and made bogey. From just short of the 17th green, however, the 31-year-old from England holed a chip from 35 feet for an unlikely birdie that sent him on his way.
John Senden shot 70, and his runner-up finish moved him from No. 55 in the FedEx Cup to No. 9, putting him among the top 30 from the 70 players at Cog Hill to advance to the Tour Championship.
Rose wasn’t the only big winner at the third playoff event. Geoff Ogilvy, who had to birdie the last hole at the TPC Boston two weeks ago just to stay alive in the playoffs, shot a 69 and finished alone in third. Now he’s in the Tour Championship, and qualified for the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne.
Indeed, there was more than one cup at stake on a dreary afternoon south of Chicago.
Rose captured the most important trophy — his third PGA Tour win, and the biggest of his career, that paid $1.44 million. The BMW Championship also was the final event for the top 10 players to qualify for the Presidents Cup.
Despite all the possibilities for the U.S. team, there was no change.
David Toms went from No. 10 to No. 8 with his tie for 10th. The heartache belonged to Bill Haas, who was tied for third at the BMW going into the final round. He was poised to claim one of the 10 spots until he posted a 42 on the back nine and shot 78, when a score of 75 would have been just enough.
“I knew if I played well, something good would happen,” Haas said. “And I knew if I played bad, nothing would happen.”
It’s the second straight year that Haas walked away from Cog Hill feeling empty. A year ago, he finished 31st in the FedEx Cup by a mere seven points.
Hunter Mahan and Jim Furyk nailed down the last two spots for the United States. The other seven who had locked up spots were Matt Kuchar, Steve Stricker, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Nick Watney, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson.
Nothing but the order changed for the International team, either. Its list is based on the world ranking. Ogilvy, who was narrowly No. 10, moved ahead of Ryo Ishikawa to No. 9. The other eight players are Jason Day, Adam Scott, Charl Schwartzel, K.J. Choi, K.T. Kim, Retief Goosen, Ernie Els and Y.E. Yang.
Captains Fred Couples and Greg Norman will make two picks after the Tour Championship. Couples already has said Tiger Woods will be one of his picks.
For the FedEx Cup, Bo Van Pelt nailed down the 30th spot by a comfortable margin over Martin Laird. Even so, there were some tense moments. Despite difficult conditions, Camilo Villegas made nine birdies and had the best round of the day at 66. But he made bogey on the 18th hole, walked off the green to check a scoring terminal and slammed his fist onto the table.
Turns out it didn’t matter.
The final round proved relatively flat, with only three players having a serious chance throughout the day. Rose was headed for a runaway when he birdied the sixth and seventh holes to reach 14 under, giving him a five-shot lead over Senden.
Back-to-back birdies for Senden around the turn, along with a bogey by Rose at the par-5 ninth, made it tight at the top. Rose did well to save par on the 13th and 14th holes.
Ogilvy, playing in the group ahead of Rose, ran off birdies on the 13th and 14th to get in the hunt. Ogilvy had good looks at birdie on three of the last four holes and failed to convert.
He made his goal of Royal Melbourne and East Lake. For a brief moment, he wanted more.
“It was a slightly flat feeling when you look back because I might have had a chance to win the tournament,” Ogilvy said. “But who am I kidding? It’s my best tournament in months.”
Luke Donald, the world No. 1 who opened with a 75, closed with a 68 and finished alone in fourth. The top five players going to the Tour Championship are Webb Simpson, Johnson, Rose, Donald and Matt Kuchar. If any of them win at East Lake, they win the FedEx Cup.
For more Cinesport video, go here.
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Mad Indy seeks to get back on track
Times wires
Saturday, September 17, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS — The usually quiet Colts are becoming a surly bunch.
Before their season opener, they bristled at the suggestion they would falter without star quarterback Peyton Manning. Afterward, they're downright ornery.
Players and coaches spent most of last week trying to figure out what went wrong during a 34-7 loss at Houston, how to make corrections and map out a game plan to rebound.
"It's not easy any time you get beaten like that," Pro Bowl center Jeff Saturday said. "But we've got too much pride in our team and our teammates to just take it."
Conventional wisdom suggests this is how Indianapolis will look without Manning, a four-time league MVP who had started 227 consecutive games before last week. He's expected to miss at least two months after having his third neck surgery in 19 months last week.
The Colts haven't started 0-2 since 1998, Manning's rookie season.
"Regardless of anything that happens — Peyton being there, Peyton not being there — it doesn't mean you're going to have a bad season," defensive end Dwight Freeney said. "It just means you had a bad first week. That's Round 1 out of 16 rounds. We lost Round 1. We just have to do things a little better."
Round 2 comes today at home against the Browns.
Indianapolis is coming off one of its most abysmal performances in years. The offense scored only seven points. The defense couldn't get off the field, and the punt return team gave up a touchdown in the final minute of the first half.
The coaches slowed things down for Manning's replacement, Kerry Collins. But the revamped offensive line broke down far too often, and Collins lost two fumbles over the first 15 minutes. They're hoping with another week of practice, Collins and the offense will look more normal.
With no Manning to bail out the Colts any time soon, fans are already fretting as players avoid panicking.
"Last week, people are up in arms about what happened, and this week is a new challenge," said defensive captain Gary Brackett, who will miss today's game with a left shoulder injury. "We can go out there and redeem ourselves and be sitting pretty again."
Bengals: The home opener was declared a blackout despite not being until Sept. 25. The team said there are so many tickets left, it has no chance of selling out its 65,500-seat stadium. It will be the Bengals' fifth consecutive blackout.
Broncos: Defensive tackle Ty Warren, who signed a two-year, $8 million deal as a free agent during the offseason, went on season-ending injured reserve. Warren tore his right triceps during training camp. Denver hoped to keep him on the roster until his projected mid November return. But with running back Knowshon Moreno hobbled by a hamstring injury, it needed his roster spot to promote Jeremiah Johnson from the practice squad.
Seahawks: Defensive end Dexter Davis went on injured reserve with a hip injury. Details on the injury weren't disclosed. Davis played in the opener but didn't practice all last week. Cornerback Kennard Cox, a special teams standout for Seattle last season, was re-signed.
Owens cited: Receiver Terrell Owens, a free agent while recovering from a torn ACL, was pulled over for driving alone in a carpool lane, overly tinted windows and an expired registration last week in Los Angeles, gossip website TMZ reported. The carpool violation is punishable by a $381, but the other two citations can be written off if he registers the car and brings the windows up to code.
Source: http://www.tampabay.com/sports/mad-indy-seeks-to-get-back-on-track/1192187
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Sunday, September 18, 2011
OK, Cleveland Browns fans, it's perfectly allowable to exhale: Terry Pluto
This is exactly the kind of game the Browns and their fans needed.
View full sizeScott Fujita (99) and Sheldon Brown made sure Reggie Wayne wasn't getting any extra yards after this first-half reception Sunday in Indianapolis.INDIANAPOLIS -- Feel better now?
Feel better that your team not only beat the Colts, 27-19, but did so with fourth-quarter conviction?
Feel better that generally everyone was lined up where they were supposed to be, and they handled the crowd noise and reacted correctly to snap counts?
Feel better that Pat Shurmur could regroup and reorganize his team after 11 penalties in that 27-17 loss to Cincinnati last week?
Feel better that Shurmur kept putting the ball into the hands of Peyton Hillis until something in the Colts broke down?
Feel better that the Browns are 1-1 for the first time since 2007?
No one is anointing this as a playoff team. No one is insisting that a team fumbling four times (lucky to lose only one) played an ideal game. But they played much better than a week ago -- a more determined game.
Consider the 24-yard touchdown rumble by Hillis with 3:55 left. It was his 24th carry. In his first 23, he never ran for more than five yards. Before reaching the end zone, he had only 54 yards for a 2.7 yard average.
So do you now believe that when Shurmur says he wants to run the ball, he does want to run the ball? The Browns ran it 34 times, threw it 32.
Or how about the West Coast offense? How about how Colt McCoy seemed so smooth, so in control? "Efficient" was the word used by both McCoy and Shurmur.
McCoy had a terrific throw off the run into the corner of the end zone, snared for a 16-yard touchdown by Evan Moore. He kept drives alive with rollouts and shrewd passes. Yes, there were times when he was "running for his life," as Hillis called it. But the game plan was for McCoy to keep on the move to negate the Colts' star defensive ends. He was sacked only once, and hit only four other times after making throws.
The defense kept the Colts out of the end zone until the issue was no longer in doubt. They stayed away from big plays, the longest gain being a 20-yard pass.
Special teams were just that -- special. Joshua Cribbs set up two touchdowns with a 52-yard kickoff return and a 43-yard punt return. Veteran Brad Maynard punted five times for a 40.2 average, and none were returned. Phil Dawson converted a couple of field goals. All was well.
This is exactly what the Browns and their new coaching staff needed. It didn't have to be where everything went right and luck was on their side. Instead, the Browns had to show their fan base -- and perhaps themselves -- that they could play a solid, organized and disciplined game. It was a major change from last week's errorfest against the Bengals.
The Browns had only three penalties -- two on Joe Haden for interference, one on rookie guard Jason Pinkston for a false start. No one did things that made you wonder if the Browns had even bothered to practice.
Sure, the Colts don't have Peyton Manning (neck injury). It seems Kerry Collins has been around since the days of Red Grange and leather helmets.
But a repeat of last week would have led to another loss this week.
Instead, Browns fans can exhale a bit, and yes, even dare to smile.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2011/09/ok_cleveland_browns_fans_its_p.html
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Berea High School volleyball team swept by Brecksville
Source: http://blog.cleveland.com/newssun/2011/09/berea_high_school_volleyball_t_1.html
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Getting the little things right led to a coveted victory: Terry Pluto's scribbles
The addition of a veteran punter, changes to the receivers and other little things help the Browns beat the Colts.
View full sizeUsama Young (left) and James Dockery reveled in Young's interception of a Kerry Collins pass in the fourth quarter Sunday afternoon.INDIANAPOLIS -- Pondering some scribbles following the Browns' first win of the season.
1. Brad Maynard provided exactly what was needed from a punter -- someone the team can count upon. His 40.2 average is rather modest, but none of his five punts were returned. He put three inside the 20, and coach Pat Shurmur also praised his work as a holder for Phil Dawson.
2. Maynard is 37, and has punted in the NFL for 14 seasons. He was put on waivers by Chicago (after 10 years) in the summer, then cut by Houston in training camp. "It was great to be back on the field punting and having guys yell at me about how terrible I am," he said. "Last week, I watched the games at home on my couch. I hated it. I still know I can play."
3. With regular punter Reggie Hodges out for the season with a torn Achilles, and the first-game fiasco with Richmond McGee punting poorly because of a bad back, Maynard should stabilize that area for the rest of the season. It's a part of the game rarely noticed until something goes wrong, as it did in the 27-17 loss to Cincinnati.
4. Joshua Cribbs started at receiver in place of Brian Robiskie. It was Mohamed Massaquoi, Greg Little and Cribbs who received most of the snaps. Shurmur talked about the need to "get the playmakers on the field." Those three guys were targeted with 15 passes from Colt McCoy, and they caught 12.
5. Massaquoi made a terrific catch for 28 yards, putting the ball on the Colts' 1 late in the first half, with Peyton Hillis eventually scoring. Greg Little caught four of five balls tossed in his direction, and Cribbs was 3-of-3. No significant drops for the receivers.
6. For those who thought Cribbs' decline in production in 2010 was because his reworked contract tempered his drive, his explosive start to this season validates what Cribbs said a year ago -- he was playing with a significant foot injury. He's averaging 13.8 yards per punt return, 34.2 per kickoff. His longest kickoff return in 2010 was 37 yards, and he's had two for more than 50 yards already. His longest 2010 punt return was 17 yards. He had a 43-yarder Sunday and a 21-yarder last week.
7. If Shurmur could do it over again, he probably wouldn't -- at least not the same way. The subject is Montario Hardesty not getting the ball until early in the fourth quarter. He carried it three times, twice inside the 5. He fumbled (Joe Thomas recovered) and didn't score. He had a net total of one yard. Shurmur said he wanted to use Hardesty earlier but simply didn't do it. He gave the impression that will change next week, because he wants to keep Hillis fresher for the fourth quarter.
8. Copley's Delone Carter carried the ball 11 times for 46 yards (4.2 average). The Colts' rookie is splitting time with Joseph Addai.
9. The defensive line of Jayme Mitchell, Phil Taylor, Ahtyba Rubin and Jabaal Sheard has been impressive, given only Rubin started last season. Taylor has been a force in the middle of the line. He batted down a pass and stopped a couple of runs. The 335-pound rookie from Baylor looks quick on this artificial turf. Rubin was even better with a sack, two quarterback hits and combined with Taylor to clog up the middle. Sheard had a nice game with a sack and forcing a fumble.
10. After three false starts and an offside penalty last week, the Browns' only false start here was rookie Jason Pinkston. Playing in a loud dome, the Browns often used a silent snap count that requires discipline and attention to detail. The improvement was dramatic.
11. Before the game, the Browns feared Colts' tight end Dallas Clark. He caught four passes, but only for an 8.0 average, the longest being 10 yards. Safety T.J. Ward deserves credit for much of the coverage.
12. In the second quarter, the Browns had a fourth-and-inches on the Colts' 46. They ran a sneak to McCoy, who picked up the first down. I hate that play (it came out of an empty backfield) because of the injury risk to a small quarterback. I do like Shurmur being aggressive and going for it.
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2011/09/terry_plutos_pregame_scribbles_30.html
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