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Goosen takes 1-shot lead over Mickelson
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Phil Mickelson hits out of a sand trap on the third hole during the second round of the Bridgestone Invitational golf tournament at Firestone Country Club, Friday, Aug. 6, 2010, in Akron, Ohio. - photo by Associated Press

AKRON, Ohio — Phil Mickelson is closing in on No. 1.

The first step is to make up a one-shot deficit against Retief Goosen, the 36-hole leader Friday at the Bridgestone Invitational. Looking more inevitable is Mickelson finally supplanting Tiger Woods atop the world ranking.

Goosen turned bogey into birdie by chipping in from 25 yards off the green at No. 4, sending him on his way to a 4-under 66 that gave him a one-shot lead over Mickelson and Justin Leonard (66) going into the weekend at Firestone.

Even as Goosen led another assault on par in soft conditions, Woods continued to look as ordinary as ever. The seven-time champion at Firestone hit only three fairways and stumbled to a 2-over 72 — the first time he has ever had consecutive rounds over par at this tournament — that put him 13 shots out of the lead, and five players removed from last place.

Woods had no intention of speaking to reporters, instead walking to his car and driving away.

He has been No. 1 in the world since the week before the 2005 U.S. Open, but would lose his top ranking if Mickelson were to finish in fourth place alone and Woods — who is tied for 72nd — finishes out of the top 44.

"Obviously, it would be cool," Mickelson said. "It would be something I would love to do, being regarded as No. 1 according to the ranking. And I know that I've got a great opportunity this week. I know that I'm playing well, and this is my best opportunity."

But he still has 36 holes in front of him on a course that has rewarded good shots with low scores.

Despite a bogey on the final hole, Goosen was at 7-under 133 as he tries to win his first World Golf Championship. It doesn't figure to be easy, not so much because of Firestone, rather the number of players chasing him.

Sixteen players were separated by four shots going into the weekend.

That includes Bubba Watson (71) in the group at 5-under 135, Adam Scott (70), Lucas Glover (66) and Paul Casey (68) at 136, and Rory McIlroy (69) and Dustin Johnson (65) in the group at 137.

"Every part of your game needs to be good here, driving especially," Goosen said. "You need to hit it on the fairway, otherwise you're struggling."

As Woods and Mickelson showed, that depends.

Woods, who started on the back nine, didn't hit a fairway until the 17th hole, and it got so bad on the 14th hole that his drive landed in a bunker on the 13th hole. He still scrambled for par and was even on the front nine, but too many errant shots caught up with him.

Mickelson wasn't much better — he hit only six fairways — but he made the most of his chances.

"I didn't play great today. I was a little off," Mickelson said. "I hit some bad shots, and I was able to salvage a lot of pars today."

But he had a three-hole stretch of not making any pars, which is what makes Lefty so entertaining. His tee shot on the 14th went into the same bunker on the wrong hole that Woods visited earlier, only Mickelson tried to take it over the trees and clipped some branches. When he finally got around the green, he missed a 5-footer and took double bogey.

Mickelson followed with a 4-iron into 20 feet for birdie, and a 12-foot birdie on the 16th.

Even his last two pars were not typical. He drove it so far right on the 17th that before leaving the tee, Mickelson reached into his bag for a glove and signed his name with a frown and the words, "Sorry." He figured he had hit a fan, and he was right.

"The hazards of following me," Mickelson told him.

He got up and down for par with a deft chip over the bunker, then saved par on the 18th with a long bunker shot by the green that caught the top of the hill perfectly and rolled to within tap-in range.

Mickelson won at Firestone in 1996 when it was the old World Series of Golf, and he had an excellent chance in 2008 when Woods had the year off with knee surgery.

Woods has never finished worse than fourth at Firestone, which is certain to change.

He was hitting smother-hooks on the range and took that to the golf course, where only his short game kept the score from getting out of hand. Even so, Woods will be finished with his third round Saturday some two hours before the leaders tee off.

That means the world's No. 1 player — for the next two days, anyway — will go to the PGA Championship needing to play his best of the year to make the Ryder Cup team. And he might not last very long in the four-tournament playoff system on the PGA Tour after that.

At least he'll be back on Saturday.

That won't be the case for Lee Westwood, the world's No. 3 player who was paired with Woods for two days. Westwood has been battling soreness in his left ankle for the last month, and it finally reached a point where he withdrew Friday from the Bridgestone Invitational, and from the PGA Championship next week.

 

Georgia Southern hosts more than 300 at Volleyball Skills Camp
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Georgia Southern outside hitter Sam Bowron performs a drill on digging out tough shots while high school campers look on during the Eagles' camp. - photo by JOSH AUBREY/staff

The success of Georgia Southern volleyball has been spilling into the summer. 

The Eagles are coming off a season in which they went 22-7, including going a perfect 14-0 at home and, for the second straight season, head coach Chad Willis took the Eagles to the postseason.

Recently, Willis saw a record number of more than 300 high school players and teams come to the Georgia Southern campus to participate in their sixth annual summer team camp.

“It’s great to see the level of talent and teams that have been coming here for three or four years in a row,” Willis said. “To see their growth as teams and the trust they put in us to come back every year says a lot. It’s a great chance to give back to the community and to continue to foster relationships with coaches and players from throughout the state and beyond.”

This was actually the third camp the Eagles have hosted this summer, as they had their all-skills camp in June and then their college ID camp a couple of weeks ago. The most recent camp was to teach skill training and to allow the teams to go up against each other in friendly competition. Willis said the camps are not only a way to pass on knowledge to area teams but they also use them for recruiting purposes.

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Georgia Southern junior middle blocker Kayla Knowles gives instruction during the Eagles' high school summer volleyball camp held on campus. - photo by JOSH AUBREY/staff

“Obviously our college ID camp is the main camp for identifying talent, but we also see a lot this week with our team camp,” Willis said. “We have over 300 kids from Georgia and South Carolina here for three days so you get to expose them to our campus but we also see some younger age talent we get a chance to evaluate as well.”

Many of the teams in town came from at least a few hours away. The team with the shortest bus ride to Hanner was Statesboro High. Head coach Bob Massee and Willis have a great relationship and he feels it’s important for his team to get in as much work as they can in the off season.

“This is actually the first time in 15 years I have been able to bring our team to a camp in the summer,” Massee said. “We are seeing a lot of drills and are able to play a lot of games against other teams we don’t normally see too much. Coach Willis runs a smooth camp with plenty of opportunities for learning as well as playing which is great for our team.”

Helping to work the camps are members of the Eagle volleyball team. Willis feels this is a great opportunity for the players to not only understand where the coaches are coming from, but he thinks by teaching it also helps the players work on their fundamentals.

“Sometimes I feel we get as much as the players that are here watching and learning from us,” said Eagle outside hitter Sam Bowron. “It is cool to see how some of the drills we are teaching them can really improve a team just by doing it for a few hours. I never got a chance to go to a camp like this when I was in high school but I think something like this would have been great and we take a lot of pride in working with these players here.”

The Eagles open the season Aug. 23 as they take on South Carolina in an exhibition game at 7:00 at Enmarket Arena in Savannah.