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
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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.