14 I Friday, Dec. 3, 2010 Coach Hargis not worried about record By Dan Dißacco FOR THE COLLEGIAN After starting the season 2-0, the Penn State women’s swim ming team heads into the Georgia Invitational in <«u‘. - • Athens, Ga. this , A ■ V ’ weekend at 2-2 after losses to Virginia and Indiana in a dual meet, Nov. 19 and 20. Despite their record dropping to .500, coach John Hargis said he is not worried about his team’s Tiger Woods leads at Chevron World Challenge By Doug Ferguson ASSOCIATED PRESS THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. Those streaks of good play from Tiger Woods keep getting a little longer. In one of his most complete rounds of year, Woods missed only two greens and putted for eagle four times Thursday on his way to a 7-under 65 for a one-shot lead over U.S. Open champion Graeme McDowell and Rory Mcllroy in the Chevron World Challenge. Woods made it all the way until the 18th hole before an old flaw crept into his new swing. He popped up his tee shot, forcing him to pitch out from behind a tree and two-putt from 50 feet to escape with bogey. Even so, he matched his best score of the year, and was atop the leaderboard for only the second time in his trou blesome season. About the only club that didn’t cooperate was his new putter, although that’s nothing new. If anything has held Woods back from at least having a few chances at contending, it's not making many putts. Great iron play made up for that at Sherwood Country Club. "It's not too often you can say I shot 65 and only made one putt, but that's kind of what I did today," Woods said. "I only made one putt and it was on 9. The rest were either two-putts or kick-ins. It was a good ball-striking day.’The putt on the par-4 ninth was from about 15 feet with significant break. Steelers prepare for Ravens, dodge distractions By Alan Robinson ASSOCIATED PRESS PITTSBURGH The Pittsburgh Steelers checked their tempers for weeks, only to angrily voice their frus tration in unison as player after player accused = the NFL of targeting them. They’re convinced linebacker James Harrison is being unfairly singled out for fines and penalties. They believe Ben Roethlisberger, who is wearing a protective boot on his sprained right foot, doesn’t get the same protection from offi cials afforded star quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. They're also concerned about guard Chris Kemoeatu getting penalized four times for holding penalties in Buffalo. Wide receiver Hines Ward can’t believe the retnlnder follow c-olleg/an twitter Stay up to date on deadlines and 4 promotions! •gES’ 1 8148652531 ~*WiSr ./ record, and is more concerned with how his team is swimming and its times. And for now, Hargis is pleased. “The women battled well,” Hargis said, “I don’t think record is exactly what we’re concerned with. In our sport, it’s times.” Indiana and Virginia are both ranked in the CSCAA poll, Virginia at No. 9 and Indiana at No. 15, and Hargis was pleased with how the women competed against such highly ranked teams. “We were back and forth against Equally impressive were some of his shots into the par ss, particu larly the 3-iron into No. 2. Woods hit it so clean that he twirled the club, a sure sign of a good shot. He hasn’t done much twirling this year. "I have not," Woods said. "Usually, it’s point which way the ball is going to go incoming somewhere." McDowell and Mcllroy, the Northern Ireland duo who lost only one match at the Ryder Cup, would have been tough to beat in fourballs at Sherwood. They were paired together had would have had a best-ball score of 61. On their own, each settled for a 66. "A lot of birdies out there between us," McDowell said, and that includes a pair of eagles on the par-5 11th. Dustin Johnson faltered on the back nine and shot a 69, along with Stewart Cink, who is trying out a new putter and a new putting grip with an eye toward 2011. Luke Donald and Camilo Villegas each had a 70, and no one else broke par. With warm temperatures and a clear sky, the greens were quicker than usual. Sherwood has its share of trouble that is not hard to find, and that accounts for a few high scores. Anthony Kim is bringing up the rear at 79. This is Woods’ last chance to win a tournament in 2010, but it looks more like he is geared toward next season. It was his second straight 65, having closed with that score in the Australian Masters a few weeks ago. league is pushing for an 18-game schedule during a time when teams can barely nurse their play ers through a 16-game schedule. All these opinions were expressed, all these voices were raised, before what might be the Steelers’ most important game of the season Sunday in Baltimore. What the Steelers don’t know is whether all of this fretting, worry ing and fuming is distracting them or, conversely, is unifying them. Win, and the Steelers (8-3) could wind up with a first-round playoff bye. Lose, and they might be headed to the road as a wild-card team, while the Ravens (8-3) enjoy all the perks afforded a division champion. The Steelers believe that their us-against-the-world stance is bringing them together. But even they don’t know what their state of mind will be at gametime for what SPORTS Indiana, and Virginia is just a little bit deeper than we are,” Hargis said. “As a whole, those were some of the fastest times we swam all year.” Hargis said that the women cur rently aren’t a great dual-meet team, and he believes it showed the second day of the Virginia- Indiana meet as he saw his team wear down. However, the Lions can’t afford to wear down again this weekend in Athens, as some of the best teams in the nation will be com- This round, however, was differ ent. In Australia, he made two eagles on the last four holes and played his final six holes in 6- under par for his 65. In his singles match at the Ryder Cup, he played the last seven holes in 7 under. This time, Woods looked solid from start to almost the finish. "It was beautiful, wasn’t it?" he said of his tee shot on the 18th. Woods missed a few shots along the way, making one amazing par on the 12th from behind the green with a flop shot that lipped out. But whenever his swing got loose, he fixed the problem during the round, not on the range the next day. "It’s like what I told you guys earlier in the week, it’s a process," he said. "I was putting together streaks of holes earlier two, three, four, five holes of this and then I'd lose it for a little bit. Eventually, I needed to get to a full round and then eventually, a full tournament. And today was a full round, so that’s a good start." Woods has won his tournament the last two times he played, miss ing in 2008 because of knee sur gery and last year because of the crisis unfolding in his personal life. Previous wins have put a ribbon on a great year. This might be dif ferent. "If you play well, it does give you a shot of confidence," Woods said. "I’ve played well in this event. I've won it a few times, and I've gone on to get off to quick starts the fol lowing year. Late in the season, a lot of guys are either traveling, not practicing or playing all over the globe.” Ravens coach John Harbaugh calls the NFLs best rivalry by far. “It’s crazy because usually peo ple are talking (in advance) about the physicality of the game and how hard the hits are going to be,” wide receiver Mike Wallace said. “But people are talking about slowing down because they need their money and don’t want to be fined. So, it’s kind of taking away from it a little bit.” The Steelers are convinced they’ve somehow become the NFL team that gets the most policing, and not just because Harrison has been fined $125,000 for four infractions. They were flagged for a club record 163 yards in penalties dur ing a 35-3 win over Oakland on Nov. 21 and another 107 yards as they beat Buffalo 19-16 in overtime on Sunday. Tight end Heath Miller pointed peting against the Lions. “We have two very tradition-rich teams that we’re going to be going against,” Hargis said. “Auburn and Georgia have both won multi ple, multiple titles.” Aside from the two SEC power houses, Penn State will also com pete against Kansas, Harvard, and Virginia again. All of which have gotten votes in the Nov. 10 CSCAA poll. “It’s gonna be a good meet,” Hargis said. “We’re going to see, honestly, the toughest competition we've seen all year.” Gus Ruelas/Associated Press Woods watches a shot at the Chevron World Challenge golf tournament. to the numerous penalties and said, “There were a lot of negative plays (in Buffalo). We were con verting third downs on offense and we were able to run the ball, but when you add those plays where you’re moving backward, it makes it difficult to score.” “It’s affecting everybody that plays defense,” said linebacker James Farrior, the Steelers’ defensive captain. “We can’t just keep sitting here and taking it. Sooner or later, somebody's going to have to say something. We just can't keep quiet the whole time.” The NFL declined comment Wednesday when Harrison, Farrior, Ward and others suggest ed the league was targeting the Steelers. League executive Ray Anderson told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Thursday it’s not true. The Daily Collegian The Lions will compete Friday- Sunday, with the competition starting at 10 a.m. each day. Evening competition will begin at 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 3 p.m. on Sunday. Despite the tough competition, Hargis believes his team is ready, and will fare well this weekend. “I think we’re ready, I think we’re going to swim really, realty fast,” Hargis said. “Hopefully we’ll be coming out of that meet on Sunday night swimming faster than we’ve swam all year.” “I would say that’s misguided and, frankly, completely untrue,” said Anderson, the executive vice president for football operations. “Every team and every player, hopefully, will have the confidence that, if they play within the rules, we won’t have this problem.” Anderson and NFL assistant director of operations Merton Hanks, a former player, are in charge of levying fines. “We re just going to keep play ing the way we always have been playing and, if they fine us, they fine us,” Ward said. Earrior’s worry is the ongoing debate about whether Harrison is disregarding the rules with his punishing hits will cost the Steelers not just in the checkbook, but in the standings as they move forward. He hopes it’s not this week, of all weeks.