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Tuesday MLB — White Sox at Tigers, 10 a.m., WGN MLB — Giants at Rockies, 5:30 p.m., CSNBA NFL — Replay, Cowboys at 49ers, 6:30 p.m. ESPN2 Sports 1B Tuesday August 3, 2010 Cardinal volleyball tryouts coming up Tryouts for the Corning Cardinals volleyball team will begin Aug. 12. Incoming freshmen and returning student athletes will need to pick up a clearance packet and from the Corn- ing Union High School main office and pass a sports physical. It will take three days for the paperwork to clear, so all documents must be turned in by Monday. Tryouts will run for three days beginning Aug. 12. Varsity tryouts will run from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. Junior varsity tryouts will follow from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and freshman tryouts will run 3:30-5:30 p.m. Anyone with questions should call Mike Albee at 520-6204. Thomas sets course record in Junior PGA FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) — Justin Thomas of Goshen, Ky., set a course record with a 7- under 65 and leads the 35th Junior PGA Cham- pionship by one stroke. Thomas’ opening round Monday included an eagle, seven birdies and two bogeys on the 7,255-yard Jack Nicklaus-designed Sycamore Hills course, which hosted the event for the first time. Thomas is one stroke in front of fellow 17- year-old Oliver Schniederjans, of Powder Springs, Ga. Seven players are five strokes back. Mariah Stackhouse, 16, of Riverdale, Ga., and Kyle Roig, 17, of Puerto Rico, lead the girls side with 2-under 70s on the 6,395-yard setup. Two players were at 71. The field will be cut to the low 30 and ties after 54 holes. MCT photo Julia Brandt of Red Bluff competes in the 100-meter breaststroke duing the Far Western Championships. From July 28 to Aug. 1, 1,281 of the best swimmers from the United States, Canada, and Mexico com- peted in the Far Western Long Course Championships in Con- cord. One of those swimmers was SANTA CLARA (AP) — Alex Smith raised both arms then clapped his hands after a long completion to Brandon Jones. Sure, it was only the first full day of training camp for the San Francisco 49ers, yet the quarterback had reason to celebrate after several mis- cues only minutes earlier. A bonus: coach Mike Singletary watched the nice play from close by. These days, Smith calls out the cadence with a voice of authority and carries himself in the pocket with a poise that signals he is in charge again. At last. What a change from training camp a year ago, when the 2005 No. 1 overall draft pick began as the backup to Shaun Hill — only to unseat him as the starter come late October. Smith hasn’t been entrenched as the top guy for the 49ers at the onset of the preseason since the beginning of his tumultuous 2007 season. Without the pressure of fighting for a job, Smith is noticeably more comfortable with his situation now. Leading San Francisco back to the play- offs after a seven-year drought is all he cares about. ‘‘When you’re going through a competition like that, you’re really ingrained to you and the other guy and what’s going on between you two and that’s kind of it,’’ Smith said of his 2009 training camp mentality. ‘‘You kind of have that sin- gular focus on that. Now it’s different. My focus is to do every single thing we can to get ready for opening day. It’s easy for teams to just endure this, just to go through this, ’Hey, we’re going through this time with the pads, it’s not fun, two-a- days.’ It’s easy just to go through the motions and not get better.’’ Singletary has been declaring Smith to be the starter all offseason, even after the 49ers signed veter- an David Carr to be their No. 2. Smith is playing for pride, the playoffs and a contract. He’s in the final year of the two-year deal he restructured in March 2009 Julia Brandt from Red Bluff. To swim in this meet, a swimmer must achieve an AAA time and Julia qualified for three events and, in her first international meet, fared quite well. In the 100-meter breaststroke, QB Smith the man again for 49ers at start of camp Brandt just missed finals and placed 11th. The 50-meter breaststroke brought a 16th place and in the 50- meter butterfly, she placed 28th. It was an amazing experience to swim with the best swimmers from other countries, Brandt said. Ryder Cup players get exemption to PGA SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (AP) — Ben Curtis and Boo Weekley are going to the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits despite falling from the top 100 in the world ranking. The PGA of America changed its criteria last year to require that members of the most recent Ryder Cup team stay within the top 100. Officials offered special invitations to Curtis, Weekley and others to fill its 156-man field. The PGA Championship gave exemptions to everyone in the top 100 in Monday’s ranking who were not already eligible. It also invited three players outside the top 100 — Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano of Spain, Simon Khan of Eng- land and Seung-Yul Noh of South Korea. U.S. Ryder Cup player Justin Leonard fell to No. 101 but earned his spot through a PGA points list, which is money earned on the PGA Tour since the PGA Championship last year. The PGA Championship is Aug. 12-15. The final major of the year reserved two spots in case the winners of this week’s Bridgestone Invitational and the Turning Stone Resort Championship are not already eligi- ble. The first two alternates are D.J. Trahan and Matt Jones. MCT photo San Francisco 49ers quarterback Alex Smith (11) makes a throw next to David Carr (5) during training camp in Santa Clara Monday. that sharply reduced his base salary. He’s never been all about the money, though he knows full well his per- formance this year will do a lot to dictate his football future. Singletary expects Smith will only become more comfortable as the Sept. 12 season opener at Seattle nears. Smith is thrilled with his status — and he’s saying all the right things, too. ‘‘The expectations have definitely risen. We all expect so much more, expect more success,’’ Smith said. ‘‘This is an entirely new year. We haven’t accomplished any- thing.’’ This camp, Smith has one of his top targets in uni- form: second-year receiver Michael Crabtree, the 10th overall pick in 2009 who didn’t sign until early Octo- ber last year. He missed all of camp. Crabtree and Smith expect to get a lot of quality work in this month. ‘‘We need that chem- istry,’’ Crabtree said. ‘‘Just working with Alex, just try- ing to get better. I feel like this offseason we really hit it hard. I could have went harder but sometimes you have to take what they give you. I feel like me and Alex, we really clicked this sum- mer and we’re looking for- ward to really doing some- thing this training camp.’’ Smith started all presea- son and the first four games in ’07 before injuring his throwing shoulder. He sat out the next two games, then tried to return and played three ineffective out- ings in constant pain. He was sacked seven times in those three games — all losses — and that was it. He eventually had surgery in December, well after he wanted to get the procedure, but going on then-coach Mike Nolan’s preferred schedule. Smith missed the entire 2008 campaign. All that drama seems a distant memory to Smith, now a mature NFL veteran. ‘‘I have faith in our quar- terback,’’ said Pro Bowl tight end Vernon Davis, who’s coming off a career year. ‘‘He’s confident. He’s a leader. When I look at Alex, I look at him as a leader and someone who just wants to be successful. He wants to be successful real bad. He just wants it. That’s what we need around here. We need a quarterback to step up and take control. I think he’s doing a good job. He’s definitely working toward it.’’ Smith threw for 2,350 yards and 18 touchdowns last season but also had 12 interceptions and was sacked 22 times for 134 lost yards. ‘‘I know when I see him he looks a lot more confi- dent. I can see it in his eyes,’’ Crabtree said. ‘‘I’m just ready to go with him.’’ Smith took over for Hill at halftime Oct. 25 at Hous- ton and started the rest of the way for San Francisco, which finished 8-8 and ended a franchise-worst stretch of six straight losing seasons. All the work Smith did this offseason with other receivers like Crabtree could put the 49ers offense in a strong position at this stage — though Singletary won’t go that far, not this early in the preseason. There were plenty of mis- takes Monday. ‘‘There just are a lot of details that we have to con- tinue to get better at, and as we move forward, as we gain momentum, as we gain confidence, we’ll have a better idea,’’ Singletary said. ‘‘Even when we’re in pre- season, a lot of the defenses are not playing the way they would normally play. They’re not playing their normal defenses. They don’t want to give it away. So, once we get into the sea- son, I’m sure Alex Smith will talk to you in terms of how he plays.’’ PGA Championship field PGA Championship winners (lifetime): Y.E. Yang, Padraig Harrington, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Vijay Singh, Shaun Micheel, David Toms, Davis Love III, Mark Brooks, Steve Elkington, Paul Azinger, John Daly, Bob Tway. U.S. Open champions (five years): Graeme McDowell, Lucas Glover, Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy. Masters champions (five years): Trevor Immelman, Zach Johnson. British Open champions (five years): Louis Oosthuizen, Stewart Cink. Senior PGA Champion: Tom Lehman. Top 15 and ties from the 2009 PGA Championship: Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, Martin Kaymer, Ernie Els, Soren Kjeldsen, Henrik Stenson, John Merrick, Dustin Johnson, Francesco Molinari. Top 20 from the PGA Professional National Champi- onship: Mike Small, Sonny Skinner, Mark Sheftic, Danny Balin, Troy Pare, David Hutsell, Chip Sullivan, Mitch Lowe, Stu Ingraham, Keith Ohr, Scott Hebert, Rob Moss, Tim Thelen, Ryan Benzel, Jason Schmuhl, Robert McClel- lan, Rob Labritz, Kyle Flinton, Bruce Smith, Rich Stein- metz. Top 70 from the PGA Championshp points list from the 2009 Bridgestone Invitational through the 2010 Greenbrier Classic: Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk, Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose, Tim Clark, Robert Allenby, Jeff Overton, Heath Slocum, Ryan Moore, Rickie Fowler, Ben Crane, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Hunter Mahan, Scott Verplank, Sean O’Hair, Luke Donald, Bo Van Pelt, Jason Bohn, Retief Goosen, Nick Watney, Bubba Watson, Ian Poulter, Vaughn Taylor, Bill Haas, J.B. Holmes, Marc Leishman, Carl Pet- tersson, Paul Casey, Fredrik Jacobson, Kevin Na, Jason Day, Stephen Ames, Stuart Appleby, Steve Marino, Bren- don De Jonge, Ricky Barnes, Brandt Snedeker, Adam Scott, Brian Davis, Brian Gay, Troy Matteson, K.J. Choi, Charl Schwartzel, Sergio Garcia, Jason Dufner, Bryce Molder, Martin Laird, Charles Howell III, Kenny Perry, Ryan Palmer, Rory Sabbatini, Chad Campbell, Tim Petro- vic, Charlie Wi. Members of the 2008 Ryder Cup teams, provided they are in the top 100 in the world ranking published Aug. 2: Soren Hansen, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Robert Karlsson, Oliver Wilson. Winners of PGA Tour events since the 2009 PGA Championship: Cameron Beckman, Derek Lamely, Matt Bettencourt. Brandt competes internationally